George Stevens - D-Day to Berlin

Rating:
Summary: Bright colors, new footage, but short and superficial
Review: Adding color to the grainy black-and-white films that have become the public memory of World War II makes this footage invaluable and illuminating. Directly comparing color and black-and-white film makes the contrast even the more vivid. The war in color is how people who were there saw and lived the war.

Yet the footage itself is mostly of the photographers themselves, the ones who spent 99% of their time shoooting the black-and-white footage. And the narrator uses these shots to explain who the men were, what they did later, and make them the feature players of the story. Yes, there is some shocking footage of dead bodies, Dachau, and destruction, but there is even more footage of mundane scenes of jeeps and soldiers, scenery, devastated cities, and ceremonial meeting sin Paris and on the Elbe. And shots of the film crew shaving, eating, meeting dignataries, opening Christmas presents, and looking like a bunch of duddies filming their fishing trip. The film takes on a strong home movie element that effectively separates us from war action and the men who fought the war, diluting the power of the message and of the memory.

This is a nice way to color and revive memories, to honor the service of the men who defeated the Nazis. But this DVD is short, superficial, and oversold.

Rating:
Summary: A great D-Day documentary focusing on the souls of soldiers.
Review: George Stevens's inlook on the AEF from D-Day to Berlin presents an astonishing and macabre focus not on the battle, but the eternall journey to V-E day. Along this journey, Mr.Stevens brings into delight the horrifying death and exterminating camps of Dachau. The color sots are vivetting, careful not to turn our stomachs with "gross" scenes, he does show the reality of war and the wage of war on man's delicate souls, including death. A must see for all genertions, and why we need a memorium for the over 400,000 KIA, MIA men/women of all ethnic backgrounds of Americans in WWII. I am black, and realize that hatred is evil, the Holocaust justified that demeanour.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most extraordinary WW II documentaries...
Review: I certainly concur with Mr.Meminger's highest rating for this extraordinary documentary. The idea of seeing World War II in color is really quite astounding since our sensibilities are firmly formed in black and white. Showing the horrors of war,and even its poignancy, George Stevens Jr.'s narration along with the musical score by Carl Davis, makes for quite a compelling document. Even after watching this film 25 times or more, I am affected deeply by it with each viewing. I also recommend another documentary comprised of mostly color combat footage (and includes the Pacific theater, which "D-Day..." does not cover),entitled "World War II In Color" (available from Amazon.com), which was released in 1998 (90 min.). Incidentally, another WW II documentary, for which I cannot vouch, is also entitled "D-Day to Berlin"--look for George Stevens Jr.'s name in association with the film in question. "D-Day to Berlin" is, quite simply, indispensable.

Rating:
Summary: It's great to see these images in color
Review: I just wish it were longer. There is actually a fair amount of color film shot from the war (I believe Stevens himself shot far more than this tape shows), and what's been released so far is just the surface. I'd like to see the rest made available.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I purchased this video for my father for Christmas 1999. He watched it three times just on Christmas night! A veteran, he considers it our obligation to educate today's youth about the war...he found this video an excellent means to accomplish this task.