The Battle of San Pietro

For the actual World War II battle, see Battle of San Pietro Infine. For the 1734 battle of the War of Polish Succession, see Battle of San Pietro.
For other uses, see San Pietro (disambiguation).
The Battle of San Pietro
Directed byJohn Huston
Written byJohn Huston
Narrated byJohn Huston
CinematographyJules Buck
Edited byJohn Huston (uncredited)
Music byDimitri Tiomkin
Production
company
Distributed byWar Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry
Release date
  • May 3, 1945 (1945-05-03)
Running time
32 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Battle of San Pietro is a documentary film directed by John Huston about the Battle of San Pietro Infine, 60 mi (97 km) from Naples, during World War II. It was shot by Jules Buck. It was released in the US in 1945 but shown to US troops earlier.

Huston and his crew—which included the British novelist and screenwriter Eric Ambler[1]—were attached to the U.S. Army’s 143rd Regiment of the 36th Division. Unlike with many other military documentaries, it was claimed Huston’s cameramen filmed alongside the infantrymen as they fought their way up the hills to reach San Pietro. However, Huston's claim that the film was made during the battle was proven false by the research of Peter Maslowski in his 1993 book, Armed With Cameras.[2]

  1. ^ Thomson, David (4 May 2014). "The Best World War II Documentary Was Faked". New Republic.
  2. ^ Maslowski, Peter (1993). Armed With Cameras: the American Military Photographers of World War II. New York: The Free Press. pp. 83–94.