AllMovie

This edition of the Discovery Channel's popular Movie Magic series explores what it takes to make war movie scenes look real. Filmmakers faced numerous challenges while capturing World War II events for such films as The Longest Day and Das Boot. Talented experts have also been needed to recreate Vietnam War scenes for films like Platoon. Set designers, pyrotechnicians, makeup artists, and other cinema mavens share their thoughts about the challenges they face in making celluloid wars look real. Since bombs must explode on cue and fake blood must appear immediately after a soldier is injured, these technical wizards spend many hours striving for the realism that makes war films so compelling.