The Great War: The Complete History of World War I
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Great WarBrand: Koch International
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, Content/Copy-Protected CD, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 377 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Koch Vision
Movie Reviews of The Great War: The Complete History of World War I
Movie Review: What a disappointment!
Summary: 1 Stars
I buy quite a few books and CDs and DVDs each year, but this is the first time that I have felt impelled to write a review. Anyone who has seen the excellent series on the Civil War by Ken Burns can't help but gag at this boring work on the First World War. It is nothing but a chronological presentation of the battles, with the same film clips used over and over and over. After seeing the same film clip used for the 6th or 7th time I got pretty tired and even irritated, and had to turn it off from pure boredom. There are countless excellent photographs from that war. Why were they not used rather than re-using the same film clips a dozen times? One wonders what kept the makers of this documentary from using other sources (letters from the soldiers for example) rather than droning on about the rudimentary information on the battles? I am sorry I paid money for these DVDs.
Summary of The Great War: The Complete History of World War I
Strong feelings of nationalism throughout Europe prior to the war created an atmosphere where war was imminent. The spark that finally ignited the flame was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914. Within two months France, Russia, Germany and Great Britain were entrenched in what would become five years of conflict, resulting in massive carnage and the deaths of millions. This illuminating 4 DVD set examines the conflict year by year, highlighting significant turning points in the war until its end in 1918.While World War II has practically monopolized the TV channels dedicated to military history, the drama and tragedy of World War I has been often overlooked, given scant attention, or viewed only in relation to World War II as a cause. The Great War: The Complete History of World War I makes a contribution to remedy that by taking an in-depth, year-by-year look at the war to end all wars. Five programs delve into what happened each year the war played out, and another program examines the developments in land warfare, sea, and air power technology. The amount of original footage presented here is impressive, most of it cleaned up and restored as much as is possible, give the aged condition of the film. However, much of the narrative structure seems disjointed and unmatched to the footage, and the sound effects are somewhat puzzling and amateurish. A line of soldiers firing rifles is accompanied with the sound of a machine gun, while a massive howitzer shoots off in silence. Some of the visuals leave a lot to be desired as well, as an overview of battles in Eastern France presents explosions on a topographical map, but with no lines of battle drawn or movements displayed it's impossible to get a sense of the armies' relative positions to each other. Patrick Boniface's narration strikes the appropriate tone, but the reality is that having only one narrator to cover the scope of the program gets a little monotonous. The resulting experience is a little like sitting in a history lecture: it's very informative, and the images are interesting to take in, but it remains distant and academic. As a result many viewers are unlikely to be drawn in any emotional way and may find the end result disappointing. It might be best to approach this one in a purely educational sense; you will certainly learn a lot about the particulars of the war, but it probably won't engage you much beyond that. --Daniel Vancini
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