TV Show Review - Five Came Back

I'm a big fan of film and history, so a mini-series like this is right up my alley.

Five Came Back is a 2017 3-episode mini-series. It is rated TV-MA for language and graphic images of war and is appropriate for teens and up.

The Good

The History. This documentary does an excellent job of covering the careers of 5 top Hollywood film directors, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens, how they got into film, what they shot before World War II, what their role was in that war, and how it forever affected them. I've heard parts of these stories from time to time, but it was wonderful to see them all together.

The Visuals. This documentary included shots from many films of the era, many photographs of what went on behind the scenes, and plenty of new visuals to tell the story. It looked like a big budget Hollywood production unlike most documentaries that show their small budgets.

The Pace. While this is a documentary, it moves at a much quicker pace than most documentaries. I never found myself getting bored or watching the clock. It moved at the pace of most 1940s films, which was very appropriate.

The Perspective. Too often people have a habit of judging the past by current fads and thought, which makes no sense since the past was a different time with different circumstances. This documentary does an excellent job of keeping the proper perspective and judging the men and their films by the standards of their day. And several modern day directors give very insightful observations about their films and the effect they have on us even today.

The Bad

...

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I was totally satisfied.

Overall

Five Came Back is a 2017 3-episode mini-series. This documentary does an excellent job of covering the careers of 5 top Hollywood film directors, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens, how they got into film, what they shot before World War II, what their role was in that war, and how it forever affected them. I've heard parts of these stories from time to time, but it was wonderful to see them all together. This documentary included shots from many films of the era, many photographs of what went on behind the scenes, and plenty of new visuals to tell the story. While this is a documentary, it moves at a much quicker pace than most documentaries. I never found myself getting bored or watching the clock. It moved at the pace of most 1940s films, which was very appropriate. Too often people have a habit of judging the past by current fads and thought, which makes no sense since the past was a different time with different circumstances. This documentary does an excellent job of keeping the proper perspective and judging the men and their films by the standards of their day. And several modern day directors give very insightful observations about their films and the effect they have on us even today. I highly recommend this show and give it 5 out of 5 remotes.