Rating: 
Summary: Not Technicolor
Review: Just to correct a pervious review, the color footage in this documentary was not shot on Technicolor, a trade mark for a type of 35mm color process that would have been much too elaborate and expensive for military photographers in the field. Most of the color footage shot by U.S. military photographers was done on 16mm Kodachrome.
Rating:
Summary: Not Technicolor
Review: Just to correct a previous review, the color footage in this documentary was not shot in Technicolor, a trademark for a type of color process that would have been much too elaborate and expensive for military photographers in the field. Most of the color footage shot by U.S. military photographers was done on 16mm Kodachrome.
Rating: 
Summary: WWII Color Archives
Review: Much has been said already making the quality of this dvd obvious, but I think another person listed as completely satisfied is in order here. I cannot explain how completely eerie it is to see some of these events recorded in color. You will never forget the scenes from the concentration camps, and how you are assured with color that these things were allowed to happen not that long ago. The complete and utter destruction of 'modern' cities in color is so very strange to see. Should be in every history class. Nice to see Canadians getting recognition for their contribution too!Incredible, eerie, mesmorizing, well-edited and educational.
Rating:
Summary: WWII Color Archives
Review: Much has been said already making the quality of this dvd obvious, but I think another person listed as completely satisfied is in order here. I cannot explain how completely eerie it is to see some of these events recorded in color. You will never forget the scenes from the concentration camps, and how you are assured with color that these things were allowed to happen not that long ago. The complete and utter destruction of 'modern' cities in color is so very strange to see. Should be in every history class. Nice to see Canadians getting recognition for their contribution too! Incredible, eerie, mesmorizing, well-edited and educational.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Images of the 20th Century's Most Significant Event
Review: My husband loves these DVDs. He can't stop talking about them. I guess I need to watch them too.
Rating:
Summary: BEST PRESENT I EVER GOT MY HUSBAND
Review: My husband loves these DVDs. He can't stop talking about them. I guess I need to watch them too.
Rating:
Summary: The best documentary I've seen
Review: Others have given more lengthy reviews, so I'll just mention a few key things you may want to know: 1. There's no filler in this, just original color footage from the war while Edward Hermann narrates and various others read sections from letters, diaries, etc as the images go by. 2. The producers found about 600 hours of film, viewed about 300, and selected these three. 3. This originally aired in the UK under the title "The Second World War in Colour" with John Thaw the overall narrator. I don't know why this American edition replaced him. Mr. Hermann does a good job, but the original was fine. 4. Most of the footage is from Europe. 5. The same people have done a second one (called "Britain at War in Colour" in the UK), available in the States as "World War II in Color-The British Story" which is almost as good.
Rating: 
Summary: the lost archives appear to be still lost
Review: The footage in this film is fantastic but in no way whatsoever does justice to what the individuals who participated in the war experienced. Unlike the Land of the Czars or other films produced this production does not provide enough detail for any of the events listed in the contents. It is almost like fast forwarding through the war. There is no way i would subject my students to this film. I would be boring them to death and I would here about it.
The purchase of this dvd was a total waste of money. I would sooner use many of the dusty copies in our library.
pjk
Rating:
Summary: Simply Incredible
Review: The review above says it all, but I felt I needed to reinforce how astounding the quality of this video, and its powerful emotional impact really is. Seeing the screaming, cheering hordes in Nazi rallies, death camp and Hiroshima survivors, and the SS activities in full color cannot be described sufficiently. Every aspect of the war is here, and b/c of the clearness of the video, appears to have taken place far more recently than 55 years ago. If you have any interest in WWII, this is a MUST buy. 2 complaints: I wish it were longer (it is about 3 hours), and I believe that there were some factual errors mentioned in the video. Hopefully, A&E/History Channel will come out with an additional "color set" as they mentioned that this video set came from "hundreds of hours of color film."
Rating:
Summary: Eerie, hypnotic, gut-wrenching
Review: This is an astonishing set of videos. First there is the jaw-dropping, almost hallucinogenic experiance of seeing WWII events in technicolor. It reminds one of how much black-and-white film aestheticizes and abstracts events. Admittedly our eyes don't see in technicolor either, but the color makes you feel far more psychologically "there" so to speak. The second thing is the amazing quality of most of this footage. It hardly seems to have aged at all in 55-60 years! When you consider that film from the 1960's sometimes looks atrociously degraded and washed out, the almost pristine look of this footage is remarkable to say the least. It must have been stored well and never projected. (Of course, the producers could choose the best-looking bits from what was reputedly hundreds of hours of rediscovered film.) Watching this film is a tremendously emotional experiance, sometimes frightening, sometimes grueling, sometimes stomach-turning. The voice-over narration makes heavy use of contemporary letters and diaries of soldiers and civilians, and is often touching. The cumulative impact of all this----the island fighting, Nazi rallies, shipyard workers, civilians hanged by Nazis, radiation victims, Pearl Harbor wreckage, air war footage, death camps, and on and on----is almost overwhelming. Like having your nose shoved into the sheer mess and folly of mass war. Now that I hear that the UK version of this documentary was narrated by the redoubtable John Thaw I'd love to see THAT version, but otherwise I unreservedly recommend this to anyone and everyone. Too many people think of documentaries as boring but this demonstrates how mesmerizing they can be. For anyone too young to have first-hand memories of it (which is most of the population now) this makes WWII far more visceral than you ever thought possible.
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