The Fighting Lady
About The Fighting Lady
Navy cameramen follow one new aircraft carrier, called on screen only the Fighting Lady and later identified as USS Yorktown (CV-10). The first half stays with ordinary duty as she goes through the Panama Canal into the Pacific. She then hits Marcus Island for three days from 31 August 1943, strikes Kwajalein, makes a hit-and-run against ships near Truk, and fights in the Marianas Turkey Shoot. At the end the men who appeared are named again, and Lt. Robert Taylor says some of them have since been killed.
Cast & crew
More about The Fighting Lady
The working title was The Big Y. Lt. Comdr. Dwight Long began the 16mm Kodachrome coverage of Yorktown; Edward Steichen supervised the Navy photographic unit. In May 1944 the Navy gave Fox several thousand feet of that footage plus a story outline by Commander Frank Wead. Louis de Rochemont compiled it. Fox paid to blow the 16mm up to 35mm Technicolor, kept 30 percent of the gross for distribution, and turned the profits over to the Navy Relief Society and the Naval Aid Auxiliary. John Stuart Martin and Eugene Ling wrote the narration. 20th Century Fox released the picture on 21 December 1944. A few landing shots were made on Yorktown's sister ship Ticonderoga.
Themes
Background
Yorktown (CV-10), an Essex-class carrier, was in the Pacific by 1943. The film takes her from the Panama Canal through the Marcus raid of late August 1943 and on to the Marianas.
Making
AFI calls it the first film made by the U.S. armed forces to be released by a commercial studio. Editor was Robert Fritch. Some battle scenes used a camera synchronized with the machine guns of the plane.
Reviews
The New Yorker's Current Cinema column of 13 January 1945 says that of about an hour on screen, probably less than twenty minutes is contact with the enemy, and that John Stuart Martin's commentary, spoken by Lieutenant Robert Taylor, treats the waiting as the larger part of the war.
Look
Steichen's unit and Dwight Long shot 16mm Kodachrome in combat zones, including pictures from cameras synchronized with aircraft guns. Fox blew the footage up to 35mm Technicolor.
Music
Alfred Newman directed the music, with additional scoring by David Buttolph. Robert Taylor narrates the English version.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved the film in 2018.
Notes
- Charles Boyer narrates the French version only. Hugh Gray contributed to the narration of the British version.
- It is not the 1954 fiction film Men of the Fighting Lady, with Van Johnson.
- During filming Yorktown was commanded by Captain Joseph J. Clark. Harry Morgan supplies Clark's voice, uncredited. The AFI catalog says the on-screen commander, called Captain Dixie, was drawn from Commodore Dixie Kiefer, and that the ship was billed as a composite of Pacific carriers.
- Alfred Newman's theme had first been used in Vigil in the Night and was reused in Hell and High Water and in many 20th Century Fox trailers.
- The carrier's name was withheld. A New York opening followed on 17 January 1945, and the film was shown aboard Yorktown on 6 February 1945 while she was at sea.
- A Wikimedia file of the picture runs 1 hour and 58 seconds. Catalogues list 61 minutes.
Awards
- Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (17th Academy Awards)
- National Board of Review Top Ten Films (1945)
Scenes
- The carrier passes through the Panama Canal before any of the raids.
- Planes strike Marcus Island across three days beginning 31 August 1943.
- Gun-camera views cover the hit-and-run near Truk and the Marianas Turkey Shoot.
Also available
- Internet Archive (FightingLady)
- Wikimedia Commons (TheFightingLady-1944-USNavy.ogv)