The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition)
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Movie Reviews of The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition)
Movie Review: Great documentary, not always accurate.
Summary: 4 Stars
As many other reviewers already stated this is a very good summary of WWII, looked at from a British perspective.
Keep in mind that the war is over after volume 7. The remaining volumes are reruns of interviews with some more details.
It was mentioned that at the start of the war The Netherlands capitulated after Rotterdam was bombed.
As far as I know from Dutch historical documents, The Netherlands capitulated before Rotterdam was bombarded, but the bombers were already on their way and the Nazis did not bother to call them back, thus adding another atrosity to their long list of crimes to humanity.
Later there is an interview with historian Stephen Ambrose, who feels that the US profited from the war, since the US lost relative few people and now had Western Europe and Japan under its influence. This justified the occupation of eastern Europe by the Soviet Union, not more then fair. Never mind that there was an agreement with Stalin that all occupied countries should have free elections after the war. This (PBS?)'expert' does not seem to understand that the Eastern European countries were brutally oppressed by Russia, while the western European nations were free democracies.
There are other more interesting interviews with e.g. Hitler's secretary and German and allied commanders. Also with regular soldiers and civilians from Germany, Russia and the occupied countries.
Also footage about live in the occupied countries (Holland, Poland) and Germany during the war.
Overall well worth buying, a good historical overview of the rise and fall of Hitler. Of great historical value for present and future generations.
Movie Review: Just the best documentary on WW2
Summary: 5 Stars
This is perhaps the best documentary ever put together on WW2. It combines background information with in depth analysis of just about every major action complete with eyewitness testimony and accounts.
Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Dated but Authoritative
Summary: 4 Stars
I remembered watching this program as a boy, and remembered it fondly. I had been looking around stores without luck when I checked Amazon and there it was!
I sat down and started watching it again, and as soon as I heard the theme music and Olivier's narration was immediately transported back in time.
This thorough history of WWII begins in the first episode with the rise of the National Socialist party in Germany in the 20's and 30's, then takes us through the Rhineland, Anschluss, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia and leaves us looking at Danzig.
The second episode takes us into Poland and the start of the war. Each phase of the war is discussed in detail as it navigates its way chronologically, episode by episode, through the entire conflict.
Sir Laurence Olivier's narration is excellent, as is the archival footage.
My only criticisms are directly due to the age of the series - some of the graphics that are used to dramatise explanations between footage (fairly rare) are now quite dated and almost comical. Also, because the series was made so soon after the war, the depiction of historical facts is tilted towards the allies - for instance there is no mention of the genesis of the practice of bombing cities - two or three german aircraft accidentally discharged their bomb loads over London in August 1940, which was an accidental contravention of Hitler's ban on attacking the capital. This led to British bombing of Berlin, and the whole thing escalated from there. (The Hardest Victory, RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War - Denis Richards, Hodder and Stoughton, London 1995 pp82, 83). Facts such as these are not mentioned in this series.
All in all, this series is an excellent historical record of WWII. If only someone could undertake a re-make on such an epic scale, now that many official secrets of the time are de-classified, and graphical technology has improved exponentially, it would be well worth the effort.
Highly recommended.
Movie Review: a mixed bag, but mainly good
Summary: 4 Stars
The strengths of this doc are the eyewitness interview accounts + the flim archive material... lots of insight given into what was happening in civilian populations. The coverage of the campaigns themselves are spotty at best, unless it's something like a full hr devoted to the British in Burma. Narration is of mixed quality with respect to analysis. The doc is so skewed towards a British perspective, that one would never quite understand the scale of US involvment without prior info. Omaha beach is given much less time than Dutch and German resistance groups. I may be reading something unintended into it, but there almost seems to be a somewhat grudging less than grateful British viewpoint of American contributions... as if there was a measure of inconvenience involved. Kinda strange. For sure there will be British helmets and berets clearly visisible in most liberation victory parades footage. I wouldn't consider this to be THE definitive documentary, but rather a comprehensive collection of extremely interesting/informative interviews and film clips. Well worth watching, but a mixed and selectively edited viewing experience.Movie Review: Translations needed!
Summary: 4 Stars
This 30th Anniversary Edition of The World at War has been reviewed extensively at this site, and I agree with the majority of reviewers that this series is one of the greatest documentaries about World War II. However, I have to complain that translations are often wanting. For example, in the two-part bonus to the series on Disc 10, entitled The Final Solution, there are long stretches of archival footage of German-language speeches and documentaries that contain NO TRANSLATION into English. These sections of the series are a void to those viewers who do not speak German. The World at War series is an English-language production, but this bonus documentary, as wonderful as it is in other respects, fails to reach most of its audience when translations are not provided. It is frustrating to see and hear these stretches of documentary that are inaccessible to those of us who do not understand German.