Watching "The World at War" 20 years later

[Worf101]

I recently purchased the "30th Anniversay" edition of this title for my first complete viewing of the work in about 20 years. Now having all the Home Theatre goodies I didn't have then I'm surprised to find how much of this documentary was/is in color. What is even more amazing is how brilliantly even handed this series is. There is very little "preaching" by Olivier or the producer. Some things are just put out there for you to see and hear and then judge for yourself.

In that this series was made while the former Soviet Union was much alive it does NOT contain some key bits of history that was only found out AFTER the declassification of of many Russian documents. For instance Stalin's offer to help Nazi Germany should it's war against Britain and France go badly. This bombshell was unknown at the time TWAW was being made. My one quibble with this series is it's obviously Anglo-centric bent. Still it's amazing for it's time how much credit they give the Russians for breaking the back of the Nazi's and they also grudgingly recognize that America whipped the Japanese practically on their own.

The only technical problem I have with the DVD set is the lack of a Dolby Digital, DTS or better soundtrack. After all these years how hard would it be to give us proper sound. This led me to take only one star from what would be an obvious perfect rating.

Worf

[Kam]

worfster, on a related note, (and this may be a blashemous question to ask along the lines of asking a movie buff if they heard of imdb but) have you read the 6 part Churchill series "The Second World War?"

I've heard some pretty amazing things about it, but haven't read it myself yet.

[Worf101]

worfster, on a related note, (and this may be a blashemous question to ask along the lines of asking a movie buff if they heard of imdb but) have you read the 6 part Churchill series "The Second World War?"

I've heard some pretty amazing things about it, but haven't read it myself yet.

I've read 2 of the volumes. Well written with great style, however in that Churchill was "in it" so to speak and fully in love with his own legend and myth you'd need to balance his "view" of historical events with other accounts. Still I'd love to finish the entire work.

Worf

[thekid]

Worf thanks for the review I remember watching that series years ago. Pretty amazing footage and the narration of Sir Laurence Olivier was top notch. Did not know it was out on DVD.

[Woochifer]

The Military Channel started showing the series about a month ago. I saw a few episodes when my high school history teacher showed them in class.

This is a great series, easily one of the best chronicles of WWII. For whatever reason, most of the newer WWII documentaries rely on a similar set of film footage. The World at War seems to go with a different library of stock footage, so a lot of it is new to me.

[Worf101]

The Military Channel started showing the series about a month ago. I saw a few episodes when my high school history teacher showed them in class.

This is a great series, easily one of the best chronicles of WWII. For whatever reason, most of the newer WWII documentaries rely on a similar set of film footage. The World at War seems to go with a different library of stock footage, so a lot of it is new to me.

Recent documentaries like Ken Burn's "The War" and The History Channel's "WWII in HD" were and are fine programs but they only focus on the American side and with this narrowed field of focus you're only gonna see the same ole footage again and again. Thame's Television's TWAW took a far more global tack and therefore you saw engagements and theatres of the war covered that most recent documentary series don't cover. You really expect an American made series to cover Stalingrad, Leningrad or Burma? Pheh...

Worf

[Woochifer]

Recent documentaries like Ken Burn's "The War" and The History Channel's "WWII in HD" were and are fine programs but they only focus on the American side and with this narrowed field of focus you're only gonna see the same ole footage again and again. Thame's Television's TWAW took a far more global tack and therefore you saw engagements and theatres of the war covered that most recent documentary series don't cover. You really expect an American made series to cover Stalingrad, Leningrad or Burma? Pheh...

Worf

I have seen quite a few documentaries covering the eastern front. Not sure though if they were actually American made or simply British or other European productions with American narration. You're right that hardly any documentaries cover the war in southeast Asia, just the battles in the Pacific.

The World at War is 26 parts long, so it has the luxury of going more in depth than other documentaries.

Lately, I've been watching the The First World War series, which is also quite good. Yet, I haven't really seen anything documenting WWI that goes anywhere near as in depth as some of the WWII series have gone. In many ways, I find WWI a much richer and more complex story, and more of a pivotal moment in history because of how it marks much of what we now define as the modern era.