The Search: Decoding John Ford | The Plot Thickens (S5 E4) | TCM

[@azohundred1353]

Excellent episode, TCM. This also serves as a reminder about the importance of archival history organization.

[@jubalcalif9100]

So true!

[@ricksand6477]

Incredibly moving tribute to the men who made the greatest sacrifice on June 6th, 1944. Thank you, Ben. I've enjoyed every THE PLOT THICKENS podcast, but this episode went in a direction I didn't expect it to take. Well said and well done!

[@dsnyguy1]

Ben -this is wonderful! Thanks again!

[@jubalcalif9100]

My sentiments exactly !

[@williamowen9528]

Thanks again, Ben!

[@jubalcalif9100]

I heartily concur !

[@timothyhibarger2568]

I have loved the plot thickens since its Inception! Flying off to London in search of rare film, can I call you Indiana Mankiewicz?

[@VictoreeatC]

BTW, the "Anacostia" Ford was referring to was not a National Archives film storage facility. He was talking about the Naval Photographic Science Laboratory at Anacostia Naval Air Station. Some Field Photo personnel were assigned there. NPSL had production facilities used to make training films. Ford may have been spinning a tale, but he was probably very familiar with the NPSL. There was probably a lot of WW2 material still stored there in 1964.

[@elbradavid533]

This is the fun part of being a historian - the search!

[@johnmulvey5121]

Well done!

[@jubalcalif9100]

This new season about John Ford had been incredibly informative & entertaining!

[@jubalcalif9100]

Another incredibly fascinating episode! Well done, everyone! 👍

[@darryljorden9177]

If the footage ever existed, I'd put my money on the nitrate fire taking it out. So much of our cultural film history were lost by those damn fires.

[@BlueBaron3339]

Outstanding series except for this episode. Halfway through I skipped to the next episode. Well...I can see from the comments that many listeners found the search for the lost film fascinating rather than an exercise in an unhealthy degree of obsession. And I can understand given how utterly unique John Ford was. I suppose he can inspire deep dives into bizarre rabbit holes. 😂

[@Mike-wr7om]

You should look for corroborating evidence among all those cameramen and editors who Ford claimed worked on the film. Find out who the cameramen and editors were, or if you don't know who they were, speculate as best you can who they would most likely have been (the crew that worked with him on The Battle of Midway would be a good start). Since they are probably all dead now, look in their memoirs, journals, letters, interviews, etc. for any corroborating evidence on the shooting and editing of this film. Also, interview their children (or surviving spouses, if still alive), and ask if they ever spoke about working on a D-Day film with John Ford. You act as if, absent finding the film itself, we can only go on Ford's word about the project. You seem to forget that dozens of people potentially worked on the project. If you can corroborate even just two or three independent accounts of the project, then you have proven that the project existed, and that Ford wasn't lying.

[@eoeo4916]

I came here to make the point you’ve made so clearly. An inquiry that didn’t consider looking for the crews and technicians that would have been essential to making a D-Day film isn’t much of an investigation.

[@VictoreeatC]

I am in the process of gathering the names of the Field Photo men. I have about 70 ID'd so far. It is a big job. I'm grateful Ben M. moved the ball down the field. It is up to other researchers to continue the work. There are some interesting finds, but the research continues.

[@Mike-wr7om]

@@VictoreeatC It's important work. Thanks for doing it, and best of luck.

[@bbailey7818]

Ford mentioned color footage Kodachrome. I don't think that was nitrate but safety film. If true, the Kodachrome footage should not have been destroyed by fire.

[@VictoreeatC]

Excellent! Very nicely done! I've also been researching the "missing film" since I read Stephen Ambrose's book. I've learned a lot about Field Photo's work on D-Day - what it did and what it didn't do. I was afraid this would be a myth supportive piece. It was not! You discussed Ford's propensity for confabulation and his obsession with being seen as super masculine. If only he could have settled for just having served honorably, he never would have made up the lost film myth and we would not have been looking for leprechauns for forty years.

[@coarsgold]

When the Legend becomes fact, print the Legend...Ford never set foot on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

[@metamoralia]

Haha ...yes, subtly misleading, at least not on D-Day itself. Zero evidence for that ... This episode is as guilty of the same kind of mythification as Ben snidely, and weirdly, ascribes to the entirety of Russian/Soviet film history.

[@robb7398]

Sorry but Valentine's Day? Who cares? Isn't that for kids?