World War II - War in the Pacific

Rating:
Summary: THERE'S A REASON IT'S CHEAP
Review: First, the good news. You get about 3 hours for about fifteen bucks. Some of the combat footage is incredible. And, the documentaries are enjoyable.

Now, the bad news. Video and sound quality are poor. This is not DVD quality. Video of studio shots (the announcer, maps, etc.) are blurry and appear to be a dub of a VHS tape onto a DVD. Sound on the first disc is gated to reduce hiss; unfortunately, this leaves the sound rather choppy and unnatural-sounding, and lacking in upper frequencies (which reduces the intelligibility of the voice-over). Sound on the second disc is thankfully not mangled, but instead there is noticeable tape hiss. Since it's almost all combat footage (sometimes jerky, sometimes not focused, often poor contrast) the poor video quality is not as much an issue, especially since the footage is edited in sections barely longer than a few seconds each -- you barely have time to focus on it before it cuts away to something else. As far as the sound, I would not be surprised if it was manufactured later with sound effects. And by the time you reach the last documentary, you begin to recognize some of the footage which they had already used for another battle.

Also, this is not a comprehensive history of the Pacific War, but a collection of 20-min. documentaries from the mid-'80's each covering a key battle or some other subject. At least they do generally have them arranged in chronological order.

The verdict? It's a chance to get a lot of combat footage for cheap (although it's almost all American footage, and told from the American point of view). I'm generally happy with it, but the DVD quality sure could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Great footage, historically accurate but . . .
Review: I purchased this set after buying the companion "WWII: War In Europe." On "War in Europe" I enjoyed the footage, and the scripting for that set was historically accurate and well conceived. The same is true for footage and scripting on "War in the Pacific." The vintage (remember the original footage is over fifty years old) video was good.

I do have complaints about "War In the Pacific," and that is the muddy sound track. There is no excuse for such a shoddy job; it sounded better on broadcast TV. It is most noticeable if you play the sound through your stereo/home theater system. The distorted sound is a little less noticeable through standard television speakers. The sound track on the companion volume, "War in Europe" was less distorted than "War in the Pacific."

Another reviewer mentioned that the video quality on the narrator shots (with Patrick O'Neal) was also poor. I reviewed it recently, and have to concur. The video deficit is especially easy to see if you have a TV with a Super VHS or Component Video input.

I gave "War in the Pacific" 3 stars due to poor sound and slipshod video work on the introduction/narration studio shots. If the soundtrack was not muddy and the intro shots were reproduced better I would have given it a 5 star rating. The good news is that, even with the deficits, the scripting and the vintage video are worth the modest price.

Rating:
Summary: Any one have a map, magic marker, and a pointer.
Review: There are some really good shots of actual combat, but the 2 D.V.D. set completely lacks any sense of the overall picture of the war. The actual conflict between MacArthur and the Navy, why Midway was so important,in fact the overall strategy of the Navy is never really explained. I would have thought the History Channel could have done better. The best part is the story of Bull Halsey.

Rating:
Summary: Great footage, historically accurate but . . .
Review: This is a collection of pieces on WW II in the Pacific theater; each one stands alone so there is no unifying narrative or sequence. As a result, you can come away from this DVD without any overall feeling for the war against Japan - just particular episodes. A curious selection of what was included and what was not. The best part by far is the combat footage itself, and there is a lot, but the commentary that does exist is mediocre and dated. Good for what it does cover, but not comprehensive by any means.

Rating:
Summary: very so-so overall
Review: This is a collection of pieces on WW II in the Pacific theater; each one stands alone so there is no unifying narrative or sequence. As a result, you can come away from this DVD without any overall feeling for the war against Japan - just particular episodes. A curious selection of what was included and what was not. The best part by far is the combat footage itself, and there is a lot, but the commentary that does exist is mediocre and dated. Good for what it does cover, but not comprehensive by any means.