World War 1: American Legacy

A carrier pigeon named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a French military honor, during World War I for his acts of bravery, which included carrying a message through intense artillery bombardment and thereby saving the lives of 200 men. The stories in World War 1: American Legacy are often like this: combining the horrors of modern warfare with the heroics of another age. Filmed in high-definition, director Mark Bussler's examination of “the war to end all wars” draws upon a rich selection of historical photographs, propaganda posters, and newspaper drawings and cartoons. Narrated by David Carradine, the documentary sketches the precipitating event—the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand—and the alliances that swiftly formed in the aftermath and drew the major European powers into war, but as evidenced by the title, the emphasis here is on American involvement, both before and after the U.S. officially declared war. Profiles of American soldiers who fought in the trenches with the French Foreign Legion, pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille, an African-American regiment called “The Harlem Hell Fighters,” and the bilingual “Hello Girls” who operated switchboards are all presented here, along with mentions of several writers (including e. e. cummings and Ernest Hemingway, as well as Alan Seeger and Joyce Kilmer, both of whom died in the war). World War I has not received anywhere near as much attention from documentary filmmakers as WWII, so this is a welcome overview of a conflict that influenced much of the 20th century. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Wadland)