The Winds of War
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Movie Reviews of The Winds of War
Movie Review: "Winds of War--" Simply Outstanding
Summary: 5 Stars
In short, "Winds of War" on DVD deserves the highest rating. Casting, direction (by Dan Curtis), scenery, and production values for this 1983 miniseries are all tops. This is TV at its best, making the drivel we see today seem even more pathetic. On-location filming of Winds came out great in the transfer to DVD. Clarity of images and sound are so good we'd swear the film was shot only recently.
"Winds of War" tells the World War II story of a fictional American family, the Henrys. They are true-blue, U. S. Navy types, a vanishing breed. Victor "Pug" Henry is the father, memorably played by Robert Mitchum. Rhoda is the mother, also well done by Polly Bergen. Other stars include Ali MacGraw as Natalie Jastrow and Jan-Michael Vincent as the Henrys's son, Byron. Natalie is Jewish and older than Byron but he pursues her earnestly. They are living in Europe at the time and end up getting married. This leads to conflict after conflict. Then they have a son which complicates matters even further.
Back to the cast, Ralph Bellamy gives an excellent portrayal of FDR, our war-time president. Victoria Tennant does well as Pug's extramarital love interest, Pamela, and Peter Graves is good as Rhoda's outside flame. Ben Murphy does well as the Henrys' older son, Warren, and David Dukes is fine as the American diplomat, Leslie Slote. Jeremy Kemp plays a fictional German general, von Roon, and does a super job. Lesser work is done by the actor playing Winston Churchill and John Houseman, who plays Natalie's fugitive uncle, Aaron.
History purists may object to the liberties taken by Herman Wouk in his novel and screenplay which have some soap opera qualities. Nevertheless, the Henrys turn out to be a dysfunctional American family, not so unusual these days. Wouk's use of fictional characters to act out every day life during wartime makes an impression that pure documentaries can't. One minute we're invited to a scene where one of Natalie's young relatives is getting married in Poland. Next minute the same people are being ruthlessly attacked by German warplanes. In another sequence we see the happy peacetime life in Honolulu as off duty naval personnel celebrate good times. Next minute we see the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor which brings the conflict into closer, more human terms.
"Winds of War" starts in the late-1930's--before the war breaks out in Europe. The story ends with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. So, this is only part of the World War II saga. Five years would pass before the sequel, "War and Remembrance," would be produced. Many reviewers feel that "Winds of War" was superior in many ways, especially since Ali MacGraw and Jan-Michael Vincent were replaced by younger actors. We're not so sure, but will save our "War and Remembrance" review for later.
There are some far-fetched aspects that some other reviewers have pointed out. Pug happens to speak 5 or 6 languages which is no small feat for an ex-Annapolis jock. With these capabilities, he naturally becomes a confidant to FDR and is assigned all over the world to meet Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, and other dignitaries. Another feature that is hard to fathom is how Natalie's uncle, Aaron, could have her risk her life and her baby's life trying to save Aaron from the Nazis. He has bouts of guilt where he says they must escape to America, but then lapses into his old ways of waiting for the worst to happen. With as tough and independent as Natalie appears to be, it doesn't seem real that she would put up with Aaron's lethargy.
"Winds of War" is a thought-provoking story that deserves a place in any library on World War II. In addition, the "making of" features include interviews with members of the cast and crew. These help a lot with understanding the piece and how difficult it was to produce. Our advice is to buy the DVD at its current bargain price and get ready for 18 hours of excellent viewing. For my wife and I it was both entertaining and educational.
Movie Review: Well done, Paramount
Summary: 5 Stars
Paramount deserves major congratulations for doing right by The Winds of War with their DVD release.I was anxious to make sure this DVD measured up, so I watched it with my old VHS playing at the same time, and switched back and forth occasionally on the remote to see the difference. It's nothing less than astonishing. The old Winds videos look unwatchable when compared to the new image, which probably looks as close as possible to the way it was shot.
This is, of course, a TV miniseries from 1983, long before anyone imagined the resolution of DVD, so it's not going to look perfect. Still, almost every time I switched to the VHS, then back, I literally said "wow." Colors are distinct and deep, details are sharp and the variously-colored hazes that afflicted most of the VHS are gone. Having only seen the series this way, the DVDs were a revelation. These discs represent what is best about DVD and its success, bringing a long-quiet catalog title back to life.
Although Paramount usually mixes new 5.1 audio tracks for their old films, with 15 hours of film here, they can't be blamed for leaving the existing mono tracks, which are certainly decent and don't detract at all from viewing the film. (I can't understand the other reviewer who gave the DVD set one star, largely because of the audio. Doesn't he understand how prohibitively expensive a new sound mix of that length, for such a complex series, would have been? We're very lucky with what we've got.)
Paramount also fixed some framing mistakes on the VHS edition. Large portions of episodes 5, 6 and 7 were noticeably off-center when compared to the re-aligned DVDs. This had never caught my attention before, but when flipping back and forth, I could see that the tops of people's heads were actually lopped off quite frequently on the VHS.
I've read horror stories of missing scenes when TV shows find their way to DVD, so I was especially anxious to be sure that wasn't the case. Rest assured, every moment of the VHS version is here. The only difference is that the commercial break spots have now been lengthened to about five seconds, where they were almost instant cuts on the VHS. This gives more of a breather between acts, which I totally approve of. (As for the other reviewer who found scenes that were not on their old VHS, I can't imagine what they were watching, but it wasn't the official Paramount 7 VHS set, which was identical to this new DVD in film content.)
The extras are also pretty thorough for a title that's clearly not going to sell millions of units. There are a series of featurettes that actually run into a pretty comprehensive feature-length documentary. Almost all the surviving cast and crew are interviewed, with the standout being series producer/director Dan Curtis. Just what a labor of love the series was for him is quickly apparent, and he has wonderfully clear memories of the production, which he is given ample time to share.
Bravo, Paramount, for giving this landmark miniseries the careful treatment it deserved.
Movie Review: Keeping the Faith, with Herman Wouk
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the adaptations of literature for motion pictures and television that I've seen, folks, this one scores a 95%, with most other adaptations doing at best, say 73%, in regards to plot, character exposition, and the author's intent. It was most magnaminious of Mr. Dan Curtis to have Herman Wouk as an executive member of the team (TELEPLAY).
I'm sure that you fellow Mitchum fans savor the way his characters come into a mediocre namby-pamby situation, and shake 'em on down! He doesn't disappoint as Pug. If you read the story, you could easily shoehorn Bob Mitchum into your imagination's eye.
Polly Bergen's "Rho" is the comic relief to the saga, worrying more about her hair style, and intramural competion with other Navy and Marine Corps wives, to jockey their husband's careers to the most prestigious heights, rather than being concerned with the increasingly odious global events racing down upon her family and world. Just as Mr. Wouk intended.
Ali McGraw's "Natalie" is full of delicious spunk and mischief, as she teases, and then draws in, Jan-Michael Vincent's "Briny". She Keeps the Faith with Mr. Wouk's "Natalie", who incidentally, is my favorite literary heroine.
The cinematography is picture-postcard breathtaking; you almost forget you're watching the small screen and believe you're at your favorite silver screen palace. Fits in nicely with Mr. Wouk's crisp, concise, ultra-vivid, descriptive narrative style.
The choreography of the extras and the aircraft pilots was impeccable. These were the unsung heroes/heroines of this production.
The Nazi/German/Japanese villains were most hideously brutal of any production that I've seen anywhere. For example, Herr Meisner's "Hitler" captures the monster's mincing mannerisms perfectly. The best Hitler I've seen; even better than Richard Basehardt's (1961), who did a fine job in his own right.
Herman Wouk himself plays a cameo in the story, as Dr. Jastrow's friend, the Archbishop of Sienna.
Finally, Dan Curtis had come an astonishingly long ways from the low-budget "Dark Shadows" days. Like night and day. Keep an eye out for Ms. Barbara Steele, who a few years later, would play Dr. Julia Hoffmann, M.D., in the "Dark Shadows" NBC TV revival!
Movie Review: If only we had Ali MacGraw instead of Jane Seymour for the complete mini series
Summary: 5 Stars
I just spent an hour with reading all reader's reviews and agree with most of them, enjoyed reading the one by the history professor from Zagreb the most!
However I totally disagree with the reader's review from Tracy Marks on 9/14/2006. I did read the Wouk books before I watched the mini series and always felt that there was no better cast choice for the part of Natalie Jastrow than Ali MacGraw. I've seen "Love Story" and found it quite nice, but when I watched "Winds of War", I was completely taken with the undeniable chemistry between Ali MacGraw and Jan-Michael Vincent and their good acting. If they were only acting that they were in love, then these were the most convincing love scenes I ever saw on the big screen or on TV in more than 40 years.
How big was my disappointment when I started watching the sequel "War and Remembrance" and had to accept that Dan Curtis (or his casting agency) had replaced the vivid and passionate Ali MacGraw by sleeping pill actress Jane Seymour (I was already wondering way back in the early seventies when I watched the James Bond movie "Live and let Die" how Seymour got that part???).
The actor who replaced Jan-Michael Vincent as Byron Henry was not bad, but he was simply lacking Vincent's charisma. Vincent might not be the world's greatest actor, but he certainly has sex appeal and charisma. So has MacGraw.
At first I watched the whole series, all 19 parts. When I watched it a second time about 2 years later, I fast-forwarded the Seymour scenes (they are unbearable to watch) and focussed on the remaining good actors like Mitchum, Tennant and a few others.
Lately I only watched the first 7 parts.
I once did read somewhere that Ali MacGraw did not get the part offered again in "War and Remembrance", because she was considered being too old. I had no clue that she was over 40 when she played 28 year old Natalie Jastrow. She looked and acted like late twenties to me. She WAS Natalie Jastrow. If Curtis would not have waited 5 years, before he started filming the sequel, she would have been 5 years younger and as perfect as in the first part of this mini series. I think even 5 years later she would have been perfect still. In any case hundred times better than the sleeping pill :). But that's just MHO.
Movie Review: Very memorable
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember watching this series on television when I was much younger. It made a great impression on me and I had wanted to re-watch it again for many years. Obviously production techniques have improved much over the years and in some ways the effects seem quaint by today's standards. However, the story itself holds up very well. The memorable aspect of this series is how it gives the feel for what it was like to actually experience the events and witness what was happening at the time. Everyone knows all of the famous stories and the outcome of World War II now, but at the time, many things were in doubt and nobody really knew what to expect. This comes through very clearly in the series. In spite of the length and the fact that this series only covers events up through 1941, much has to be skipped and there are some considerable jumps chronologically. However, at the same time, that way the story is written, one or more of the main characters ends up witnessing most of the famous and critical events of the period. As such, you end up feeling like you have seen the complete story.
The acting is generally very good, the stories are interesting and engaging and the characters are likable in most cases. However, I would say that the weakest part of the story is the first episode. Some of the characters seem a bit wooden at first and only come into their own as the story progresses. By about the second half of the first episode they seem to hit their stride and you feel very comfortable with them. By the end, you hate to see the series finish and desperately want to see more. Fortunately, the second half awaits in War and Remembrance.
I highly recommend this series to anyone who has not seen it. There are certainly more intense war movies now with better effects that deal with individual battles or events, but to my knowledge, there is nothing that gives the big picture "what it was like to be there" feel for those who witnessed the gathering winds of war at the time better than this series. It was an amazing accomplishment for this series to be made in 1983 and it is still relevant today even though historical opinion about some events may have evolved since then.