Review of The Cold Blue

The Cold Blue is not a remake or restoration of William Wyler's original Memphis Belle film from 1943; it's a documentary about the people not the aircraft, and is about the price they paid. It includes some German footage and shows some of the terrible consequences of war on the ground and in the air. Wyler's original 16mm colour footage has been remastered in 4K HD and they have added a sound track, voice-overs and specially recorded Foley. Although it was a simpler process, the result is much more convincing than Peter Jackson's colourisation of archive film from the First World War. I was particularly struck by a couple of airmen who were sporting black eyes and by the black bursts of flak that resembled mushrooms or sinister octopuses. The film doesn't fly straight and level from A to B, but weaves traditional documentary tropes of rostrum work, voice overs, talking heads and the original film into chapters, and it's edited to feel like the viewer is watching archived clips. The 'making of' section and the before and after restoration comparisons were interesting but I'm not sure the section on Richard Thompson's music added to the film. However, scenes showing veterans viewing the restored footage, which were used to spark their recollections, reassures the viewer that the filmmakers got it right. Refreshingly, The Cold Blue acknowledges that the United States Army Air Force engaged in area bombing. The film is also not scared of allowing the veterans' testimony to contradict each other. While one veteran says he was never scared, another claimed that everyone was frightened and anyone who says any different is deluded.