War and Remembrance - Parts 8-12 - The Final Chapter

Rating:
Summary: A superb drama reaches its conclusion.
Review: Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War"-"War and Remembrance" miniseries ranks as one of the greatest miniseries ever. "War and Remembrance, The Final Chapter" is about 11 1/2 hours of viewing, and concludes the story with the conclusion of the war. I rate the whole miniseries a solid 5 stars, but after a fair amount of agonizing, I dropped "The Final Chapter" down to a four.

Several reasons. First of all, the fellow who plays Hitler in War and Remembrance (Steven Berkoff) does not do a good job. He is a caricature of the evil, formidable Fuhrer. Gunter Meisner, in "The Winds of War" is a far better portrayal of Hitler, and fully captures the malevolent genius of the man. This is true of several other characters. The chap who plays the Kommandant of the Theresienstadt concentration camp plays the role of being literally a beast in human form. The evils of the Nazi genocidal crimes are better shown, I think, when the evildoers perpetuating these crimes are shown to be human beings knowingly committing evil--not animals who could scarcely know better. By contrast, Gunther Halmer, who plays Rudolph Hoess, does succeed in this--this is an intelligent man who has decided, consciously, to carry out inhuman policies. To me that is far scarier than the notion that the SS-Nazis were simply animals. Well, that's my opinion.

"The Final Chapter" could have used more battle action. There was plenty of opportunity for this, what with this period covering the Normandy invasion, Patton's dash across Europe, the American victory over Japan, etc., but such is not the case here. Lovers of this series (myself included) probably do not mind this too much, but I felt that the first chapter of "War and Remembrance" with its incomparable, superb depiction of the Battle of Midway, constituted better entertainment. This is, after all, a series about World War Two.

Some of the graphic scenes of concentration camp genocide are not for children. Parents will want to exercise judgment if youngsters are present during viewing.

These criticisms aside, "The Final Chapter" is quite an achievement, if for no other reason it satisfactorily wraps up the whole series reasonably smartly. This miniseries will be an enduring classic.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, the whole thing available in one place!
Review: I found the prequel "Winds Of War" in a video club mailing, "Part 1" at an area video store (after a humongous phone search), but I didn't track this part down until I got a cheaply-printed flyer from a mail-order joint with a 1-800 customer service number. Now, years later, they're all right here, only a mouse click or two apart. And they say computers are only a way for Big Brother to keep an eye on us! Those who ducked the saga when it showed on TV, as well as those who can't stand miniseries, also blew the chance to see what Robert Mitchum really was capable of as an actor. Nothing, zilch, zero else he's done comes up to this! Mitchum's other work shows him to be a competent if somewhat generic macho actor, but it's as if Herman Wouk mentally pictured him when he thought Pug Henry up. There are problems, to be sure. Like Polly Bergen's "Rhoda" not being quite the airhead you see in the book. Two different "Natalies" (Ali McGraw died, replaced by "Dr. Quinn's" Jane Seymour). Two different Aaron Jastrows (John Houseman died, John Gielgud took over). Two Byron Henrys (I guess Jan Michael Vincent just tired of the role but Hart Bochner is a bit too dreamboat-ish). But Ralph Bellamy is a brilliant FDR! David Dukes does Leslie Slote as insecure as the book portrays him. Victoria Tennant is delightfully feminine as new love Pamela Tudsbury. If you have the bread, do like I did. Buy all three, view them in order. Unlike me, though, it won't take you for freakin' ever to track the whole thing down!

Rating:
Summary: A small correction to the previous review
Review: Like the other two reviewers of this mini-series, I found this to be an excellent, moving, gripping history of World War II. This series, as well as the previous series, Winds of War, should almost be required viewing for today's generation of high schoolers. I would also like to point out a mistake in the otherwise fine review by the fan from Brockport, NY.: Ali McGraw is not dead! The actress who played the first Natalie is very much alive. I will refrain from making a joke about Ali McGraw's character dying in "Love Story," because how can anyone mention "Love Story" and "War and Remembrance" in the same sentence?

Rating:
Summary: Best Mini-Series EVER
Review: The entire set, including the soon to be released DVD's of Winds Of War (FINALLY!) is a MUST OWN. Awesome spectacle, super features, and great great photograpghy and history telling!

Best telling of WWII on video today-it will never be done like this again due to costs-was $103 million for War And Rembrance, and that was back in the late 80's.

ABC could save itself TODAY if they would just rebroadcast both shows in their entirety again-and just THINK of the DVD sales it would generate! Most importantly, the story of the Holocaust NEEDS to be told, again and again, (...)P>Buy these DVD's-NOW-and you will treasure them for life.

Rating:
Summary: No other war story except Pvt.Ryan is as impactful as W&R
Review: The War and Remebrance/Winds of War video productions are a high water mark of the docu-drama of WWII. The thing that impressed me most regarding these episodes was the director's skill at imparting the sense of drama, despair, the feeling that must have pervaded peoples minds that were in the war. I cannot find the words to describe the the sense of historical impact I felt this production delivered.

Rating:
Summary: A must-see mini-series
Review: War and Remembrance" picks up where the infinitely superior "Winds of War" leaves off. This continuation has a multitude of problems and is not nearly as cohesive or riveting as its predecessor, but it's still worth watching and re-watching. Be prepared for a long sojourn in front of your TV however, it's 23 total hours of viewing time.

Some of the problems of its precursor have thankfully vanished... But the character of Natalie grates on the nerves. She makes one appalling choice after the other, until it's difficult to root for her. In addition, Seymour plays Natalie as a curiously flat character, and missing is the essential fire and determination of Wouk's Natalie. Hart Bochner is a marginal improvement over Vincent as the whiny Bryan, but his screen chemistry with Seymour is zilch. His scenes with Mitchum also betray his liabilities as an actor. Whereas Jan-Michael Vincent's Bryan was sympathetic and appealing, Bochner plays the part as a mean-spirited, spoiled and pompous prig: watch especially his scene with Mitchum when he whines about the picture of Pam Tudsbury on the table.

And what of the magnificent Robert Mitchum, the glue that holds the series together? He is much too old for the part of Pug Henry here and his limitations show. Whereas he was a trifle elderly for the Pug part in volume one, this was filmed six years later and Mitchum is downright doddering. Is he still sexy? You bet. Is it still believable that Pamela Tudsbury (played a bit insipidly by Victoria Tennant) would travel across the world to lie chastely in his arms for 10 minutes? Well... it's a stretch, but I wouldn't say no to Mitchum, would you?

The historical characters are, again, wretched. The Hitler they cast is absurd and one wonders how such a raving cretin as this could have held the German nation spellbound for twelve dark years. In fact, the Hitler scenes are riddled with absurd errors and if anyone believes that actual Hitler behaved like this ignorant maniac, please consult a non-fictional history. It's amusing that Pug Henry again meets all of the integral characters of WWII in one fell swoop: Hitler is on his dance card, as well as Churchill, Stalin, Mussolini and anyone else he chooses to see. It's silly, contrived and forced, but it still manages to rivet the viewer.

If you're expecting true-to-life World War II drama, forget it. But if you love Robert Mitchum, a good story of epic proportions, then this will suffice. I watch it every few years and love it despite its myriad problems.

Rating:
Summary: riveting though sappy
Review: Winds, was truly great, but I didn't go for Ali McGraw as much as others did. Though she was supposed to be older than Jan Michael Vincent in the story, she looked 40 and he looked about 25. Jan Michael was much older than that when he did the role, but, he acted and appeared quite young. Even though Ali was dressed all in white most of the time, her face had a hardness to it that dispelled too much wine and partying with Steve McQueen. On the other hand, her acting was quite good, and we were able to overlook it most of the time; still her scenes with Briny were not as believable as her scenes with Sloat. Mitchum was awful, Bergen quite good. Mitchum acted bored most of the time, and his girl friend Pamela seemed more than a bit blind to fall in love with him, especially since she is supposed to come across as a level headed, smart woman. I liked the rest of cast. Winds of War, as an overall story of course was excellent.

War and R. was a continuation, but many of the actors were changed and not for the better. While Ali may not have been available or too past her prime, Jane Seymour was not a good replacement. She showed none of the determination or fire that Ali did. Mitchum looked even older, fatter and more bored. Briny's substitute had no charisma, and I couldn't even connect with him as Briny, the screwy adorable character who captured Natalie's heart. Both Hitlers overacted, (or were poorly directed) and behaved like the maniacs they really were, but somehow I doubt he really acted that way with his inner circle. They would have shot him on the spot. The story line again, was great. The Nazis were hateful, the Allies the good guys. But my favorite actor in this whole set up was Barry Bostwick who played Lady and played 'him' very well. Sharon Stone was, well, Sharon Stone. The rest of the cast was OK, but the choice of Polly's 2nd boyfriend didn't make it. I think it was Mike Conners (Mannix), (real name: Ohanian Krecker; Armenian) a much older Mannix. He didn't look like the sort that upper-class Rhoda would get involved with. Much too dark and unpolished recalling Rhoda's remark about Irish Ali, "dark enough to pass for a Turk or an Arab", she commented to her waspy friends trying to hide Natalie's Jewish looks.

Bill Wallis was very good as the hateful Nazi and David Duke continued his very believable performance as Sloat. Ralph Bellamy played an excellent Roosevelt, Sammy Frey was very good as Rabinowitz (Natalie should have followed his advice more than once.) Topol was also good as Natalie's Polish uncle. The Russian cast (whoever they were, were also very good) Natalie's insistence on staying with her nutty, befuddled uncle over and over again, was simply an unbelievable part of the plot, as anyone with a lick of sense would have escaped the first chance they got. More than once, I wanted to throw something at the TV screen. True also of the romance between Pamela and Pug. I had hoped they wouldn't get together in the end, and that Pamela would find some dashing young Englishman to sweep her off her feet and stick out her tongue at Pug who would just sail off, into the sunset in his too tight uniform, sipping his martini.

The war stories were the best part, and despite poor casting in many important roles, there was enough good supporting acting to make up the difference. Worth owning.