John Huston's WW2 documentary on the Aleutians campaign.I was intrigued by this documentary as the Aleutians campaign is not covered much in history books or documentaries. Directed by the great John Huston, with some rare footage, what can go wrong?Well, actually, a lot. The biggest problem is that John Huston decided to narrate the movie himself. His delivery is incredibly off-putting: flowery, bombastic, verbose and all about style rather than substance. Yes, it was a propaganda film, so a bit of salesmanship was required, but a bit more subtlety would have helped the message go down. The content itself, while showing the daily operations on the US forces in the Aleutians, especially the USAAF, well, doesn't have much of the bigger picture. All we know is the US are on one island, Adak, and the Japanese are on another, Kiska, and the Americans are bombing Kiska on a regular basis. (Don't get me started on how many times Huston says "Kiska"! I grew sick of the word quite quickly). That's it.Quite disappointing.

During the war, Hollywood became an official propaganda arm of the US government. This unusual relationship meant that Hollywood could use its money and expertise to make high quality films...much higher than the military itself could normally make. That's why the likes of John Ford and Frank Capra made documentaries...very good ones at that. In the case of "Report from the Aleutians", the young but very successful John Huston helmed this project.The film is about a portion of WWII that few would remember today. Believe it or not, war DID affect Alaska and some tough battles between Japanese and American troops occurred. This coincided, at times, with the attack on Midway Island....as the Aleutian attack was meant as a diversion...one that ultimately failed.Using excellent footage of the day, nice narration (by the director's father, Walter) and an overall high quality of the project make this one worth seeing...especially if you are a history lover like me.

*Spoiler/plot- 1943, A documentary film of the work and challenges of getting supplies and soldiers to stop the Japanese expansion into the North American continent in the Alaskan Island chain.*Special Stars- Director: John Huston *Theme- Determination and planning will win battles.*Trivia/location/goofs- Color documentary. John Huston almost killed in bombing raid over an island. These island battles were often called: 'The Forgotten Battles'. Actor Charlton Heston was another veteran of these cold island operations.*Emotion- An enjoyable documentary made up of live action combat or newsreel footage. But it is extremely educational and does what a narrative simulated war film can do.

Report from the Aleutians (1943)*** (out of 4) John Huston directed and narrates this Academy Award winning documentary that takes a look at the American troops who went up to protect Alaska during WWII so that it wouldn't be open to attack from the Japanese. Frank Capra, William Wyler, John Ford and many other legendary directors made these documentaries during WWII but of all I've seen (and I've seen most) it was Huston who really delivered something different. He made a handful of these documentaries and they were all quite different from others and I'd say that if you know his reputation then you'd understand why. Huston was always known for being a man's man as he loved to fight, drink, have a good time and live adventure. His documentaries were so different from the others because he seemed to focus in on things that the others wouldn't dare do. Apparently the U.S. government objected to some of the stuff he shot here but the director stood by his guns and these scenes are actually the most entertaining in the movie. These scenes involved showing what the soldiers were doing when not on actual duty. This includes them shaving, cleaning their pots and pans and just wrestling around in front of the camera. It's really these scenes here that give you a great idea of what it was like out in the field and we get to see things that other directors often didn't show. Most of the time it was just about rules, bravery and the actual combat footage but Huston goes an extra mile and gives you a complete idea of the scene. Most of the action comes at the very end as we see some combat missions with the B-17s.