D-Day: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition (1994)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1994
Running Time	51:58
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Powell Robert
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	De Wolfe

    On June 6, 1944, the largest invasion force in history, comprising British, American and Canadian forces, stormed five beaches in Normandy, France. Known as D-Day, it was the first step in reclaiming Europe from Nazi German occupation and marked the start of the defeat of Hitler.

    This historic event was recreated as the opening battle scene in Saving Private Ryan, which depicted the landing of American forces on one of those beaches, code-named Omaha. D-Day: 60th Anniversary Edition is a documentary which looks at that pivotal day in history, and the results of it.

    The scale of the invasion was truly mammoth. Over 1700 tons of bombs were dropped prior to the invasion, 14,500 aerial missions were flown to support the landings, some 112 warships bombarded the coast and over 150,000 troops were landed by boat or parachuted in. Never before or since has there been a military campaign of this magnitude.

    Telling the story through narration and archival footage, this is a documentary that will interest anyone who wants more background on this event (if you've seen Saving Private Ryan and want to know more about its basis, for example), but gives little new information to those already reasonably familiar with World War II history. I did find the information on some of the specialty armoured vehicles developed specifically for the landing interesting.

    This documentary is actually titled The Century of Warfare: Normandy to the Rhine - Western Front 1944-45 and is copyrighted 1994. It is one of a series of documentaries covering conflicts over the last century. I suspect this particular episode was released as a special to coincide with the D-Day 60th anniversary last year.

Video

    The programme is presented in full frame and this appears to be the correct aspect ratio. It was obviously made for television as there are clear breaks to allow for ads to be inserted, and the old newsreel footage is unlikely to be widescreen.

    The majority of this documentary is archival film footage from 1944 so, aside from the opening credits and a few explanatory maps, it is presented in Black & White. Due to the age of the film, grain is very evident and there are a large number of film artefacts, scratches and dust being the most obvious. This is not a criticism of the transfer (the age of the newsreels used almost guarantee these artefacts), and it could be argued that a full restoration would make them look unauthentic.

    These (expected) artefacts aside, the transfer has been handled well. I only noticed one brief instance of pixelization at 13:59 during a scene change, but that was being picky.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
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Audio

    My equipment showed this to be an English Dolby 2.0 2 channel audio track, but only the centre speaker was really used. Still, this is to be expected given the source material and the fact that it is a narration. Fortunately, the narration is clear and crisp, making for easy listening.

    There was no call for the rear speakers or subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

     A  montage of film clips plays behind an otherwise static menu with options to play the feature, select a scene or play the only extra. The theme music plays while the menu is displayed.

3D Graphic Sequences (61:59)

    This is a series of brief looks at ten key events of World War II using 3D animation to illustrate the battles. They are generally handled well although not in any great depth. Along with the graphics they use a lot of archival footage, mostly black and white, but some historical colour footage has been used in some segments. While the 3D animations  are well done, I felt they were over-used and it was like watching someone playing a video game on many occasions. For me, the video game-like appearance detracted from the information being given.

    In all, this was a good overview of some significant battles of the war and a good introduction for those not familiar with this period of recent history.

    A solid documentary. Not one that excites, but not so dry as to cure insomnia, it is a good introduction to the events around D-Day. It neither does anything wrong, nor does it do anything extraordinary.

    The video is good, given the source and nature of the material.

    The audio is clean, if basic.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall