Task Force (film)

Task Force 1949 is a war film filmed in blackandwhite with some Technicolor sequences about the development of U.S. aircraft carriers from the USS Langley CV1 to the USS Franklin CV13. Although Robert Montgomery was originally considered for the leading role, the film stars Gary Cooper, Jane Wyatt, Walter Brennan, Wayne Morris, Julie London and Jack Holt. Task Force was the only film Gary Cooper and Jane Wyatt made together, and was the last of the eight films Cooper and Walter Brennan made together. The U.S. Navy provided complete support in not only loaning naval vessels and facilities, but also allowed the use of archival footage of the development of naval air power.

In 1948, Warner Bros. obtained archival U.S. Navy footage documenting the rise of naval aviation as well as Technicolor footage filmed during the war in the Pacific, including the Battle of Midway, the Japanese attack on USSYorktown and a kamikaze attack on USS Franklin. Encouraged by the offer of support from the U.S. Navy, when the production received permission to proceed with a film, a decision was made to shoot the first segments in blackandwhite to merge into the original footage of the USSLangley, the first American aircraft carrier, and the USSSaratoga. Principal photography began in late 1948 on the escort carrier, USS Bairoko CVE115 to replicate the USS Langley, as well as Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego. The U.S. Navy provided access to naval facilities with costs amounting to as much as 24,000 a day being incurred when an admirals barge and jet fighters were commandeered. Additional work took place at the Burbank studios to cover interiors and process shots. Production finally wrapped on January 5, 1949.Near the end of the film, the film changes from black and white to Technicolor in order to unobtrusively use actual combat film shot in color. The change comes just after a scene showing a contentious meeting in Washington D.C. in which Brennan and Cooper argue with a senator who wants to stop building carriers. After some aerial shots of a task force at sea and an aircraft landing on a carrier, still in blackandwhite, a shot of a sailor in combat gear silhouetted against the sky is in color, but filtered to make it sepia, a technique similar to that used on the transitional shot of Dorothy opening the door of her house to reveal Munchkinland in The Wizard of Oz. This is followed by Cooper at night walking the deck of his first command, still in sepia, and aircraft taking off at night. The next shot, of a naval task force with air cover, is in full color. ........

Source: Wikipedia