Benhur. In fact, his career goes all the way up to 1970 when he retired just before making the movie that he had really hoped to be able to make, which is the movie that became patton. Mark harris is the author of five cameback a story of hollywood and the Second World War, and among the directors he features, william wyler. Thank you very much for being here with us on cspan3s American History tv. Thank you. Youve been watching a special presentation of our reel america series. Join us every sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern for more archival films by government industry, and educational institutions. Watch as these films take you on a journey through the 20th century. Again, thats reel america, every sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv on cspan3. We want to tell you about some of our other American History programs. Join us every sunday at 6 00 p. M. And 10 00 p. M. Eastern for a look at american artifacts. Travel with us to historic sites, museums and archives to lea
Director john houston and the battle of san pietro a 32 minute film depicting the 1943 battle which destroyed the town of san pietro, italy. Praised for a realistic portray portrayal of a battle that killed over 1,000 americans the film was composed almost entirely of reenacted scenes. Before showing the film we speak with film historian mark harris. The book is titled five came back a story of hollywood and the Second World War and joining us from new york is mark harris. As we look at some of the leading directors from this time period including john houston. What can you tell us about him . Well houston was a really fascinating, larger than life figure. His career in hollywood was just starting when the war broke out. He had had a kind of neerdowell adolescence, and early 20s, he had been involved in a few car crashes. He fled to paris at one point. His reputation was really not great. And then he came back to hollywood, started to build a reputation as a screenwriter, particularly