"FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER"
David Von Pein
>>> "Wonder why the purveyors of the official story and their Hollywood shills can't come up with a film of this [Oliver Stone's "JFK"] power." <<<
They have. And it came out less than one year after Lee Harvey Oswald
killed President Kennedy. It's a 2-hour film from United Artists and
David L. Wolper, and it was nominated for an Academy Award in the
category of "Best Documentary Feature" for the year 1964.
It's called "Four Days In November", and it's easily the very best
film ever made about the events of November 22, 1963:
www.YouTube.com/view_play_list?p=33FE4B18F8CA43E5
www.amazon.com/review/R1ACSVLKDMJIL2
David Von Pein
MOVIE REVIEW -- "FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER" (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=33FE4B18F8CA43E5
========================================
"In the memory of man, few events have shocked the world as
those Four Days in November. Here, with scenes never presented before,
is a complete motion picture chronicle of that incredible time in
Dallas. Here is the minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day story
-- with every detail revealed, every question answered."
http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/184977.1020.A.jpg
http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product.asp?cmio=&sku=2035&dept_id=1869&master_movie_id=1869
-----------------
The words quoted above appeared on some of the United Artists
promotional movie posters advertising one of the best documentary
films ever made (and, in my opinion, THE very finest documentary film
dealing with the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy)
-- "Four Days In November" -- which debuted in American movie theaters
on Saturday, November 21, 1964, which was just one day shy of the
first anniversary of JFK's assassination. (The film had a New York
premiere on October 7, 1964, a month-and-a-half prior to its general
USA release date.)
"Four Days In November", a black-&-white documentary film directed by
Mel Stuart and skillfully narrated by actor Richard Basehart, remains
my all-time favorite JFK-related program (whether it be a movie or a
TV special). It's an expertly-edited chronological documentary which
guides the viewer through all four of those dark November days that
shocked the nation and the world in late 1963.
"Four Days" received a significant amount of attention and was, in
fact, nominated for an Academy Award (for "Best Documentary Feature"
of 1964). The film was released on VHS videotape by MGM/UA Home Video
in 1988, and was re-released on video by MGM in the year 2000.
Via several "re-creations" of the actual Dallas events (using some of
the people who were directly involved, such as Wesley Frazier, Linnie
Mae Randle, Earlene Roberts, Johnny Brewer, and William Whaley), this
David L. Wolper production gives the viewer a true feeling of being
able to re-live the events of November 22-25, 1963, when America's 46-
year-old leader was gunned down on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas.
"Four Days" was made only a matter of months after the assassination,
which helped in making the re-creations all the more effective, since
the people involved, the locations, the landmarks, and even the
automobiles had not changed much at all since the tragedy occurred. I
truly had the sense of being there BEFORE it happened because of the
very good re-created scenes.
One of the film's re-created segments that has an especially eerie
quality to it is the scene where we see Buell Wesley Frazier driving
his 1953 Chevrolet sedan toward the "drab bulk" of the Texas School
Book Depository, which looms ahead in the foreground. Frazier was the
19-year-old Book Depository co-worker of Lee Harvey Oswald's who gave
Oswald a ride to work on the morning of President Kennedy's
assassination.
In addition to the re-created portions of the movie, there's an
abundance of stock news footage presented throughout the documentary.
In fact, the majority of the film is composed of TV news footage and
archival film clips, including some pre-November 22nd footage covering
JFK's activities in the days leading up to that terrible Friday in
Dallas (including some rarely-seen footage of President Kennedy's mid-
November trip to Florida and his visits to San Antonio, Houston, and
Fort Worth on 11/21/63).
Another very big reason for why I hold "Four Days In November" in such
high esteem is its outstanding Elmer Bernstein musical score. Mr.
Bernstein's stirring musical arrangements fit "Four Days" just
perfectly, adding emotional impact to each and every portion of the
film.
Wolper Productions thankfully sidestepped all the conspiracy theories
and stuck by the Warren Commission Report's "Lone Assassin" verdict
for this documentary.
The narration spoken by Richard Basehart in "Four Days" was written by
Theodore Strauss. Below is an excerpt concerning Mr. Strauss that I
copied directly from the original 1964 pressbook for "Four Days In
November" (which was an advertising guide distributed to movie
theaters in advance of the film's release):
"When the executive producer of "Four Days In November," David
L. Wolper, asked best-selling author Theodore White "who would be the
best man to write this important narration?", White immediately named
Theodore Strauss. .... [Quoting Strauss:] "I can't recall any
assignment, anywhere, that has been as exacting as this one. In the
first place, to record these four unimaginable days accurately is a
frightening prospect alone. The world sat over our shoulders, and to
select just the right words to tell the story is a rather nervous task
at best." [End quote.]
Many of the facts surrounding President Kennedy's assassination have
been disputed and debated by researchers for decades. And this tragic
crime will likely remain a topic that shall cause heated debate for
many more years to come.
But what the film "Four Days In November" does accomplish is to allow
the viewer to re-live those sorrowful November days, in the order in
which the events transpired, based on the evidence available.
Anyone who has a collection of John F. Kennedy-related videos and DVDs
should definitely own a copy of this remarkable motion picture.
David Von Pein
July 2001
August 2006
February 2008
==========================================
http://amazon.com/Four-Days-In-November/dp/6301969308
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XAHVMMABL._SS500_.jpg
http://amazon.com/review/R1ACSVLKDMJIL2
http://imdb.com/title/tt0059197
http://mgm.com/title_title.php?title_star=FOURDYNO
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/18312/Four-Days-in-November/overview
http://DavidVonPein.blogspot.com
http://JFK-Audio-Video-Page.blogspot.com
http://box.net/static/flash/box_explorer.swf?widgetHash=7x7co2jkkg
==========================================
David Von Pein
www.google.com/group/alt.assassination.jfk/browse_thread/thread/47c08540609ced17
>>> "["Four Days In November"] has a narrow focus on the assassination. It parrots the WCR. What a surprise. No wonder "DVP" likes it." <<<
Damn right, Pam. I love it. Have for years.
And that movie is just as fresh (and more importantly, valid) today as
it was when it was first screened in New York City on October 7, 1964.
And that's because David Wolper and Mel Stuart FOLLOWED THE EVIDENCE
WHERE IT LED THEM -- to Lee Harvey Oswald and his guns.
"Four Days" isn't tainted and marred by the conspiracy "crazies" like
Jim Garrison and Mark Lane (etc.), because the movie was completed
well BEFORE the Warren Commission even finished its work. And that
fact has always amazed me somewhat too.
I've often wondered how the film could be based (at least in part) on
the Warren Commission's findings, which it clearly says it is during
the opening credits of "Four Days" (with the Warren Commission being
listed at the very top of the credit marked "Film and Research
Sources"), when those Commission "findings" weren't even known to the
public until a mere 10 days before the movie debuted in NYC on
10/7/64?
Perhaps Mr. Wolper and company were privy to some "inside" info from
the WC before the Commission made its conclusions public on
9/27/64. ????
In any event, Wolper and Director Stuart and writer Strauss probably
also utilized a lot of their own common sense when putting the film
together (plus there's a "United Press International" credit in the
opening titles as well).
So even without the benefit of having some kind of advanced knowledge
of the Warren Commission's findings and conclusions regarding the
assassination, there would still have been a whole lot of accessible
"Oswald Did It Alone" material to work with between November 1963 and
the film's New York City premiere in October 1964.
Not to mention the fact that the film's executives talked to (and
filmed) several of the actual witnesses related to the events of
November 22, 1963 -- such as Buell Wesley Frazier, Linnie Mae Randle,
Johnny Brewer, and William Whaley.
And as we all know, still to this very day, there is absolutely no
hard evidence of a conspiracy in JFK's murder....which makes David L.
Wolper's "Four Days In November" as accurate and praiseworthy in 2009
as it was in 1964.
=======================================
RELATED VIDEO:
David L. Wolper's television "companion piece" to "Four Days In
November" -- entitled "A THOUSAND DAYS: A TRIBUTE TO JOHN FITZGERALD
KENNEDY" (1964):
www.YouTube.com/watch?v=B5YV-TSvfMY&feature=PlayList&p=302AF54066C6F0DE
www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=302AF54066C6F0DE
=======================================