Arthur Mainzer (1923-) was a cameraman in the 4th Combat Camera Unit of the 9th Air Force. The Combat Camera Unit was tasked with creating Air Force training films at Hal Roach Studios. After completing training at the Air Force Photo Technical School in Denver, CO and the First Motion Picture Unit in Culver, City, CA, Mainzer was deployed to Europe. He was filming bomb damage by the Allied Air Forces with Captain Ellis Carter when they heard about Buchenwald and drove there by jeep on April 13, 1945. Mainzer and Carter filmed conditions at the camp on Kodak color film stock using two handheld 16mm film cameras. The footage was then sent to headquarters in London for processing.
Transferred by Brodsky & Treadway in May 2010. The film stock used is all Kodachrome, some manufactured in the US in 1944 and 1945, and some manufactured in the UK in 1943. There are considerable differences in the gamma and hue of intercut images, owing to manufacture, exposure (three cameras were used, at least one with several lenses), and exposures, as well as changes in lighting. Some cuts were overexposed, and some underexposed. One camera lens lacked center definition. The cameramen seemed to be working without exposure meters. Almost all scenes were filmed at 16 frames per second, which is the rate of this archival film transfer.
June 1945 wedding ceremony of Sergeant Arthur Mainzer, a combat cameraman who filmed the liberation of Buchenwald for the U.S. Army Air Forces, to Germaine Girardot, a French woman. The film was taken by other combat cameramen and photographers with the Ninth Air Force as a gift to Arthur. Various CUs of a crowd outside the church in a suburb of Paris preparing for the wedding, including military cameramen in uniform and the wedding party. Germaine, the bride, and her father begin the procession into the church. INT, church and wedding ceremony with priest (dark). Audience seated in pews. 01:08:26 EXT, church with townspeople and guests greeting the newlyweds. U.S. military exiting the church. Various CUs of the bride and groom posing for photographs. Tying flowers to the wedding car. Candid views of cameramen filming the wedding guests and activity outside the church. Wedding party departs in a U.S. military vehicle. French civilians wave goodbye. Candid CUs of military men, smoking and joking around. French spectators in apartment windows. Arthur and Germaine, the newlyweds, wave from a window above a cafe and kiss. More shots of U.S. combat camermen. The members of the 4th Combat Camera, 9th Air Force Unit and photographers from Photo Finishing, 9th Air Force who attended the wedding and are pictured in the film are: Sgt. John Killorin, Pvt. Verl E. Luzena, 1st Lt. Robert J. Fleck (best man), Cpl. John Killorin, Pvt. Paige J. Nelson, Pvt. Mario Mongini, Cpl. Pasquale Mirabella, Sgt. William E. Kelley, Pvt. Harold Citron, Pfc. Sherman Snider, Cpl. Lamoine Wark, Sgt. Louis F. Schadlich, Sgt. Ralph Lopatin, Pfc. Henry S. Rapaez, Nick Toth, and Sgt. Elmer H. Merkel. See Film and Video departmental files or attached document for more specifics.
1945 wedding of combat cameraman