The World At War - Complete Set

Rating:
Summary: Real History
Review: Real is the best word to describe The World at War. This is real people telling real stories of events that happened and the atmosphere surrounding those events. This is not a biased compilation like most television specials or documentaries that have limited interviews and instead are dominated by a single narrator. In addition Laurence Oliver, the narrator for War of the Worlds, does a great job and does not sound like he is reading a stuffy old history book in the background. I enjoy history but unfortunately do not find myself interested in sitting and watching a documentary in my down time but once I saw one of the clips of this set I was hooked. This set was billed as "the definitive history of World War II." It is a must have for any history buff and I would highly recommend it for those who think history is boring.

Rating:
Summary: Documentary heaven!
Review: I decided to spoil myself and by this for my x-mas, and I haven't been disappointed. This is a spectacular review of World War 2.

For me, the best thing about it is that it produced in the 70's, so the vast majority of the interview's are first hand accounts. Whether it's people who were close to the main protagonists, general's in the field, or civilians who were affected directly by the combat.

Secondly, it does not take a judgmental stance. I haven't watched the episode's that deal with the discovery of the concentration camps, but I'm assuming that they will maintain their editorial integrity at that stage as well. The fact that they are relating the facts to the viewer, without colouring the accounts about who was being a "goodie" or a "baddie". Accounts from German (particularly) soldiers are given as much credence as those from the allied powers.

This is truly a masterpiece of documentary film making, which has been beautifully compiled onto DVD. Laurence Olivier's narration is perfect for the piece, and the sheer scale of the footage used is breathtaking.

Would make a spectacular (if rather pricy!) present for anyone interested in the genre. If you have an interest in the Second World War, don't shirk because of the price, you'll love every single minute of this DVD, and treated right, you'll have it for another 30 years.

Rating:
Summary: Journalism and not history
Review: This series was made by journalists from mostly newsreel films. As a result it contains the standard journalistic mixture of important, trivial, direct falsehoods, and falsehoods of ommission with the absence of the remaining important information.

The general style is called "flash and trash" within the journalism community. There are all sorts of photos of cannons firing but no or little coverage of the intellectual aspects of the war. One example of a gross omission because of this is the D day landing. It fails to explain that the reason for the initial lack of German response was caused by several things. Through espionage it was learned that the Germans expected the landing elsewhere. Elsewhere was bombed twice as much as everywhere else. During the landing, the German radars were jammed at the real landing site and airplane carrying radar spoofing equipment flew to the expected landing site and made radar returns of a large ship formation approaching it. At the same time the underground in France was signaled to attack and destroy all sorts of transportation networks.

This series was made before the really important information was declassified and the results of US decoding of Soviet spy messages was made public. This latter information revealed that some of the people interviewed for this series were Soviet agents and the information they tell can now be seen to be Soviet propaganda. The 'historians' interviewed are sometimes not the acknowledged first ranking experts.

Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: They did a really good job with this. Worth buying and
watching.

Rating:
Summary: 2001 and 2004 editions compared
Review: As best as I can determine (I only have the 2001 edition), these are the differences between the two editions (2001, 2004) of World at War. Basically, disc 11 of the 2004 30th anniversary edition has the new material. It would be nice if disc 11 were separately available so owners of the 2001 edition could update their set a lower cost.
***** OLD (2001) VERSUS NEW (2004):
HBO VIDEO, released 20 Nov. 2001 VS A&E HOME VIDEO, released 24 Aug. 2004
5 discs (2-sided) VS 11 discs
graphics: red, splashy, each case different VS black-gray, dull, each case the same
box thickness ca. 3" (5 DVD cardboard cases) VS ca. 4" (11 thin DVD plastic cases)
remastered: apparently not for 2004 edition, but material rearranged, with new material on disc 11
"Play all" option absent VS present
episodes with 10-33 chapters VS 6-12 chapters, especially 6
***** CONTENTS OLD VERSUS NEW:
1) old disc 1A = new disc 1
Note: "Making of the series" first item VS last item.
(2) old discs 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A = new discs 2-7
Note: Items 1 and 2 = original 26 episodes plus "Making"
(3) old discs 4B, 5A = new discs 9, 8
Note: The new sequence is more logical.
(4) old disc 5B = new disc 10
Note: Items 3 and 4 = original bonus material (6 episodes, two double).
(5) Each of the 10 discs of 2001 version repeat these items:
(a) 17 biographies = on new disc 11
(b) a brief history = ditto
(c) photo gallery = ditto
(d) weblinks = not on new?
(e) WW2 timeline = ditto
(6) new episodes on 2004 version (on disc 11):
(a) Making the series--a 30th anniversary feature length retrospective TT122:29
(b) Experiences of War--unseen interviews from the film archives of the Imperial War Museum TT58:25

Rating:
Summary: THE definitive WWII documentary!
Review: Last Tuesday was such a great day! I was chomping at the bit to get out of the doctor's office and rush out to buy THE WORLD AT WAR-30th ANNIVERSARY DVD set as soon as I could! I remember watching every episode as a teenager during the early '90s on A&E and taping each one...so what a great gift to be able to see these commercial-free on DVD! And, A&E didn't skimp on this set either! There are 11 discs of pure documentary heaven...and for those who love to study the Third Reich...and the European theater of operations in general....it's pure paradise! The video comes in crisp and clean...the audio is very sharp. Sir Laurence Olivier sounds so British...so right...it's great! Jeremy Issac's documentary will leave you breathless....there is no greater visual history of WWII than this. Plus, the bonus features on this set are wonderful...over 12 hours of extra documentaries...mostly Euro-and Third Reich-centric...that allow the viewer to expand their minds past what they have seen in the main episodes. I am so glad that I didn't buy the earlier box set...and waited for this! It's one of the best documentaries of the 20th Century...all from the British point of view (no American fluff!) and well worth the money. If you don't believe me, get it and find out for yourself!