Rating: 
Summary: Baseball time travel
Review: I sometimes dream in black and white, and when I do, I'm usually watching an old baseball game, one played before there was TV, even. Doubtless my dreams are influenced by all the old books I read as a kid, and from watching "When It Was a Game" when it originally aired on HBO a decade ago. I decided to buy the DVD for myself after seeing some of the memorabilia from the Baseball Hall of Fame currently on display in the "Baseball As America" exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.And while many of the players and ballparks captured on film here were gone long before I was born, I recognized most of them anyway. I especially thrilled in seeing the black & white footage from the 1934 World Series -- the hard slides, the beanballs, the old-school herky-jerky pitching deliveries -- and the color footage from the '38 Series at Wrigley Field. Here you also get to see the fabled Green Monster at Fenway Park, before it was either Green, or called "Monster" -- covered in billboards for razor blades or Lifebuoy soap. If I had to complain, I'd say that for a beginning or casual fan, the footage presented is confusing at first, since graphics and explanatory voiceovers are kept to a minimum in the first twenty minutes. Eventually, however, all the ballparks shown are identified by name, as are many of the players. The narration is misty-eyed and minimal, and not all of the poems or literary passages recited may be to your liking. However, it should be understood that HBO is quite adept at this form of documentary, and "When It Was A Game" was at the forefront of the HBO revolution. And it's also hard to argue with hearing Burgess Whitehead and Eldon Auker and Tommy Henrich speak for themselves. Go out and watch "When It Was A Game" for yourself -- with the sound on, painting a word-picture of a time you can no longer see for yourself, or even with the sound off, just to look at the footage (Pepper Martin's juggling trick has to have been done with mirrors!). Then when someone asks you what you watched on TV yesterday, you can say, "Oh, the 1934 World Series..."
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I'll keep this short. If you are a baseball fan (you're a dying breed) then you will love this. This series magically takes you back in time to a place where the game was played for sport and pride and not money. Before free agency there was a thing called respect. Baseball helped to make hard times a little easier and to forgot lifes troubles for awhile. Buy this DVD and show your children what sports used to be. What men used to be.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: if you have even a passing interest in the history of baseball do not hesitate...BUY THIS DVD NOW! incredible footage of the classic ballparks and the past greats of the game.i was left wishing that when it was a game 2 was available on dvd.(it is available on vhs)one of the best shorts that HBO has ever done!
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: If you like baseball you will like this movie. It gives footage, IN COLOR, of some of baseball's most beloved moments and most beloved teams. It brings everything to life for you. Whether your an adult and want to relive the memories or a child and want to see it for the first time, When It was the Game is the DVD for you. Also, if you like this, try When It was a Game 2 and When It Was a Game 3.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: If you like baseball you will like this movie. It gives footage, IN COLOR, of some of baseball's most beloved moments and most beloved teams. It brings everything to life for you. Whether your an adult and want to relive the memories or a child and want to see it for the first time, When It was the Game is the DVD for you. Also, if you like this, try When It was a Game 2 and When It Was a Game 3.
Rating:
Summary: Scored Big With Me
Review: Incredible DVD. James Earl Jones' voice overs are great. It's only of 8 and 16mm video footage with NOTHING else! What a great way to watch a movie! It's very well done, lots of cool little facts and tidbits about the good ol days. For example, before the 1940s, players used to just leave their gloves on the field when they went in to bat. They even have footage showing this. Something you never would've known or seen otherwise. I can't wait for the other 2 to come out on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Great DVD for baseball fans and history buffs!
Review: Incredible DVD. James Earl Jones' voice overs are great. It's only of 8 and 16mm video footage with NOTHING else! What a great way to watch a movie! It's very well done, lots of cool little facts and tidbits about the good ol days. For example, before the 1940s, players used to just leave their gloves on the field when they went in to bat. They even have footage showing this. Something you never would've known or seen otherwise. I can't wait for the other 2 to come out on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: A Grand Slam
Review: Re-live baseball's glory days.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: Simply the greatest documentary on baseball ever produced
Rating:
Summary: Terrific, magical
Review: This is not just for baseball fans, and I really mean that. This documentary touches the very heart of American sentimentality about the game. It's more of a documentary about America than baseball. Every single American has a romantic notion of baseball deep inside and the way that it once was... when baseball was truly the national past-time and the symbol of everything American. When It Was a Game is the de-facto summation of that and touches deep-down, much like the Olympics also touches American nationalism. When watching this back in 1992 on HBO for the first time, my mouth was ajar for most of it, and my eyes were misty at the conclusion... and I don't even like baseball (as it is now). If you're cynical about the state of our national past-time and share that romantic notion of baseball long-past, do yourself a favor as an American, watch this documentary, and re-live a time in the history of our national past-time "when it was a game."
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