Five Came Back (2017) on Netflix
NR20173h 15mDocumentaryWar
John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens serve in World War II. They make films to bring the truth of the war to the American people.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb8.2/105,726 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
During World War II, five Hollywood directors, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens, serve in the military and make films for the war effort. Their aim is to bring the truth of the conflict to the American public. The documentary draws on more than 100 hours of archival footage to follow their frontline experiences and examine key works such as Ford's The Battle of Midway, Capra's Prelude to War, Huston's The Battle of San Pietro, Wyler's The Memphis Belle, and Stevens's Nazi Concentration Camps. It also includes reflections from later filmmakers on the impact and legacy of each director. In the process, the series shows how the war changed both Hollywood and the men who documented it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Five Came Back (2017)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Meryl Streep recorded the narration for Five Came Back on January 17, 2017, the same day she received her 20th Oscar nomination, for Best Actress in Florence Foster Jenkins.
- To make the series, the filmmakers went through more than 100 hours of newsreel and archival footage, over 40 wartime documentaries and training films by the five directors, 50 of their studio films and 30-plus hours of raw war footage.
