d-day. >> reporter: a war that was in black and white in our collective memory. >> the full drama of the fateful hour. >> reporter: suddenly in vibrant, startling color. >> you see along the roads going through france, they'd see dead german bodies, and you see the picture, and there's just something so personal to see it in color, and the festiveness of the liberation of paris. you know, the girls in their summer dresses. august 25th, 1944, my father and his friends had the greatest day of their lives. >> reporter: stevens recorded some of the most joyous moments of the war as when they met on the elba river to seal the defeat and some of the most sinister, discovering the depths of nazi depravity. >> stevens said he could never direct a comedy again.