The Cold Blue

We are left with a valuable record of an extraordinary period. The vibrant colour lends the images an immediacy that strips away the decades.

'The Cold Blue' gives a real sense of what it was like to be strapped into one of these jolting, juddering, bomb-filled crates. They were called the greatest generation for a reason.

There is a succession of poignant images: very often of that piercingly blue sky - the hostile "cold blue" - in which the Memphis Belle and the other B-17s flew their missions.

The visuals captured by Wyler's crew are overpoweringly mesmerizing. Even in the midst of combat, there's an unreal quality to the 16mm footage. It could almost be counted against the film that it doesn't quite convey the danger.