| |  | DVD The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition) |  | | | | | | | | | | Rating:  - A Classic Documentary
This 1970's documentary is a great classic. Great footage and editorial comment by a number of historians as well as the combatants from all sides of the conflict. While this British produced piece shows a lot from the Anglo perspective, it really does have a good balance covering the war in it's entire scope. If you like a flag flying, victory by sheer might type of story, this is probably NOT the documentary for you.
If you want to get the "feel" of the war from the London blitz to the siege of Stalingrad to the beaches of the Pacific, you'll like this terrific classic piece.
Rating: - The World at War 30th Anniversary Edition
I first knew of "The World at War" in re-runs through cable TV.I had seen bits and pieces but never watched any one episode.When I became interested in studying the Second World War, I decided to purchase this DVD set.
To me, what is important in any documentary, is not only the footage of the war itself but also the interviews from people who lived during that particular period.At the time that this documentary was made, many who lived through the events of the Second World War were still alive in 1974.The World at War contains a wealth of information through personal interviews given by the politicians of the U.S., and Great Brittan, soldiers from the U.S., Japan, Great Brittan and Germany and the citizens of these countries.A few who lived through the holocaust were also present to tell their stories.Even former members of Hitler's S.S. were interviewed as well as Hitler's personal valet and his 22 year old secretary, Traudl Junge.
This documentary covers all areas of World War II and contains extensive footage of battles both at home and abroad.
The DVD set contained all 26 regular - 50 minute long episodes and 12 hours of bonus material.
The bonus material contained two 90 minute programs of "Hitler's Final Solution", one 90 Minute program of "Hitler's Germany" and a 45 Minute Interview of Hitler's secretary.Extended footage of German citizens, soldiers and high ranking officials was also included.One episode entitled, "The Two Deaths of Adolph Hitler" interviewed people who were trying to determine if the charred remains that they examined was really that of Adolph Hitler.
Many of the interviews in the bonus material, as well as war footage, is repeated from the original episodes but contained additional footage not seen in the regular episodes.Sir Laurence Olivier narrated the 26 episodes.Eric Porter narrated some of the bonus material.
2 additional programs covering the making of The World at War were also included.
For someone wanting a complete and thorough look at all sides of WWII, this DVD set is a must and is suitable for most audiences.
Rating:  - Great
It was not long after my family moved into the very first home we had ever owned, in our line's history, that I recall watching, with my dad, a really good television show called The World At War, which recounted the history of the Second World War. The documentary series was produced between 1971 and 1974 by Jeremy Isaacs of Thames Television and featured many key interview subjects, from the common soldier in all the armies to major powerbrokers such as Lord Mountbatten, war correspondent and novelist Lawrence Durrell, Hitler's architect and Armaments Minister Albert Speer, who disingenuously tries to weasel out of his responsibility for the Nazi genocide, German Admiral Karl Dönitz, Averell Harriman, Alger Hiss, film star James Stewart, who served in the US Army 8th Airforce, and General Eisenhower's driver, Kay Summersby, and Adolf Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge. There are even segments with the last survivor of the assassination plot against Hitler, Ewald Heinrich Von Kleist. It is an amazing filmic and journalistic feat that was accomplished, for so many aspects of the war that are missing from other attempts at visually documenting it are here. Isaacs got many honors for the series, from a knighthood to the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, L'Ordre National du Mérit, and numerous Emmy Awards.
Watching this series, again on DVD, and thinking back on my dad's removed fascination with it, when originally aired, made me realize that those days with my dad are now farther removed from the present than the war years the series documents were from his watching of them. Yet, I know why he was so rapt by the series, despite its flaws, and the fact that a more thorough and unbiased video history of the war is just begging to be made. It's because the series wisely focused on the ordinary person, like him. This focus undoes almost all the biases the rest of the series promotes, and makes the whole DVD set an easy recommendation for history buffs, yet to be used as a starting point, not an end all and be all. This series was not just the tales of the giants: Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Tojo, Roosevelt, Rommel, Mussolini, Eisenhower. It was tales of the ordinary man, and how his contributions changed the world.
Watching this series also nails the current lie that we are involved in some global struggle, a `clash of civilizations', on par with the World Wars, when we are really avaricious and unaccountable myopics absurdly trying to fend off some puny backwater terrorists. This series shows those claims for what they are- lies. Now is not a time of giants that will be studied in the future for their contributions in moving the world forward, but of small men with small agendas, which is a thing quite different, in the worst possible ways, from being ordinary men, like my dad was; ordinary men who helped change human history for the better, in The World At War.
Rating:  - The pathetic smugness and fact distortion of a winner
I will keep it short and won't repeat what others have said. The DVD set is 'visually' definitive in every sense of the word. I do not believe I have ever seen a more complete collection of WW2 material, be it films, photos, documents, and luckily they caught up with several eye witnesses who told the war in their own words. Something one should be thankful for, especially now all of those witnesses are dead, except maybe two.
The commentary was nowhere near subjective. For the most it's a shallow one sided storytelling, adequate for 1960s propaganda, but for 2008's mentality it's down right laughable. Especially for those who are in the know, and did not get their WW2 knowledge from American films and mainstream 'puppeteer' media.
For one, the series treats a very controversial subject, the Holocaust, as a historical fact. Something that does not set well today with the evidence presented by many respectable revisionists, and the fact that in most parts of the world you would land in jail for questioning it, even scientifically.
The editing and commentary sink to childish levels in many parts, telling the story of us "goodies" and them "baddies". An example among tens follows the surrender of the German Sixth Army after the battle of Stalingrad. We see lines of ill-treated German soldiers, then for some reason they play a clip of the same army's victorious march into Paris 3 years earlier, with the commentator's gloating voice asking where have those proud soldiers gone!! That was about as subjective as my younger brother's habit of sticking his tongue out to my face whenever I got grounded back when we were kids.
The program hardly touches the forced displacement of Americans of Asian origins to concentration camps in Utah's desert where they were subjected to worse conditions than the Jewish population in Warsaw's ghetto. Thanks goodness for google giving people the chance to search for Roosevelt's "War Relocation Authority". The series gives it less than 30 seconds, and portrays it as a mass joyride to an amusement park!
The series is pretty long, and there is no place to discuss every issue with it here. You watch it and make your own conclusions.Notwithstanding my criticism, I highly recommend it for the invaluable visual material, something the nearly 100 books I read on the subject wouldn't deliver.
Rating: - tour d'force
A subtle and powerful presentation of history. Factually excellent the series introduction specifies the intent and methodology comprehensively, and I strongly recommend viewing this intro.
Interviews with actual senior participants presenting their view of events, reasoning for same is often powerful but mostly trite(the poor reasoning!) while always interesting - all sides represented and well balanced. The inserting of original footage is often spectacular (Leni Refinstahl in particular)
I found mysef constantly surprised by the basic stupidity, awesome incompetancy, political greed & the indominable capacity for humanity to survive.
Truely excellent! I am sure many film historians have learnt much from this series, Ken Burns amongst them, bravo!
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