Gun Camera

Four Stars
I own dozens of war and aviation related documentaries, many of which are boring and monotonous. This is not one of them.

"Gun Camera" is a very interesting compilation of actual gun camera footage from World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars. Historians, analysts, and pilots provide commentary for the footage, which includes strafing trains and bombing ships in WW2, aerial dogfights in Korea, bombing jungles in Vietnam, and using smart bombs to take out strategic targets in Iraq.

My only complaints with the production are, 1) the repetitive aircraft information, which, although interesting, doesn't have a lot to do with the footage (many of the deleted scenes are more interesting), and, 2) the realism that is lost when sound effects (guns firing and explosions) are added to the normally silent footage, with no acknowledgment made.

Regardless of whether those two things bother you or not, I would recommend this DVD. It kept me entertained...

Interesting, some errors.
Overall I liked the DVD, the interview with the pilots who did the combat was good, lots of footage, and new information. However, they made errors in aircraft identification on several occasions. The directors identified large double engined aircraft that in reality were single engined fighters, etc. Seems a shame to go through all that trouble to make this and then cannot figure out the type and general dimensions of the targets. Is this from a lack of reading skills?

Aerial Gun Camera
...I work in the visual-effects industry, so I can claim this as business related reference material, but find it fascinating to watch none the less.

...We have all seen WWII Aerial footage of planes being shot down from the viewpoint of the attacking aircraft...( Pilot's-View! )...and this is exactly what this DVD contains. Whenever machine-guns were fired on aircraft, of both sides, a camera shot film to record the hits. This was used to verify pilot's claims of downed planes, but also for statistics and strategy, etc.

...Pilots comment on the footage as we see it, giving valuable insight into what is being seen as well as the intent of the pilots, so it is informative, historic, and frankly, a helluva lot of fun to watch!

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