Edward Steichen

Oscar winner William Wyler directed this 1944 "newsdrama," narrated by Lieut. Robert Taylor, USNR (Bataan), and photographed in zones of combat by the U.S. Navy. The film follows one of the many new aircraft carriers built since Pearl Harbor, known as THE FIGHTING LADY in honor of all American carriers, as it goes into action against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean in 1943. See the ship and its pilots undergo their baptism of fire, attacking the Japanese base on Marcus Island. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation.

“From the window of my bedroom I noticed a little shad-blow tree… I photographed it on 35-mm color film in every season and at all hours of the day… [Pare] Lorentz, like the great documentary film-man he is, immediately suggested that I transfer these pictures onto movie film and let one dissolve into the other. This struck me as a good idea. But then I thought, why turn these still pictures into a film? Why not start the series over again as a motion picture and take advantage of the wind and the rain and the movements of the water?” (Edward Steichen)