preserved. went and sat by myself in the screening room and up on the screen came this blue sky, ships, barrage balloons in the sky, and i said, my god, that s 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 340e7mo of the war as when they met on
of their game. john ford, john huston, william wyler, frank capra, and george stevens. these guys were artists, so they wanted to make great movies. they were patriots, so they wanted to serve their country, and just as men, they wanted to tell the truth. reporter: filmmaker george stevens, jr. remembers when his father signed up to serve. he saw the triumph of the will, the film about nuremberg. and the next day he arranged to go in the army. reporter: but it was a discovery that stevens made in his father s archive almost 40 years ago that would change forever how we view d-day and the war in europe. some old rolls of film perfectly preserved. went and sat by myself in the screening room and up on the screen came this blue sky, ships, barrage balloons in the sky, and i said, my god, that s