The World at War-Part 2 (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio & Animation Synopsis-Episode Summary Notes-Brief History Of The World At War Biographies-Cast Web Links Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	415:32 (Case: 432)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Jeremy Isaacs
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Laurence Olivier
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$59.95	Music	Carl Davis

    Part 2, Disc 1

• Episode 8. Desert - The War in North Africa (1940 - 1943) (52:25 minutes)

Churchill desperately needed some good news after the string of total defeats that characterised the early years of the war. Unable to pick a fight anywhere on the continent, he decided to do so in Northern Africa where the Italians were trying to conquer themselves an empire. Early results were remarkably good and demonstrated that the average Italian really didn't relish the reality of war. This situation changed suddenly when the German Afrika Korps under Rommel moved in to essentially take over from the Italians. Their development of modern, disciplined tank battle tactics were too much for the British, who were forced into fast retreat. Tobruk remained a Commonwealth stronghold during the first year of the battle, probably because it wasn't defended by the British. Its ANZAC troops get a single mention, but nothing about the Rats of Tobruk (unfortunately, this is another case of the Anglo-centric nature of the series). In any case, after the British took over the town's defense during the second year they lost it too. The fallback continued to El Alamein where final British resolve and the nature of the terrain broke the German army's back.

I find this campaign to be quite fascinating, probably because of the free ranging nature of the tank battles that characterised it. It is well explained in this episode.
 

• Episode 9. Stalingrad (June 1942 - February 1943) (51:51 minutes)

Here we are, back in the nightmare of the Russian campaign. More useless slaughter, more torturing weather and more refusal on the part of Hitler to accept reality. The German army was finally defeated in the second year of their Russian campaign. Over a million of their soldiers taken as prisoners of war by the Russians didn't survive. Could it have been different? Could it have been worse? Let's hope it never happens again.
 
• Episode 10. Wolfpack U-Boats in the Atlantic (1939 - 1944) (51:50 minutes)

Once Admiral Doenitz was given command of the German navy he had an opportunity to test his theories concerning the waging of large-scale submarine warfare on the merchant shipping bringing supplies to the UK. The theory was fine, and the resources Germany brought to the battle were formidable. However, by the time it all started to work Allied anti-submarine warfare had developed to the point where the hunters became the hunted. I personally found this to be one of the more disappointing episodes of the series. I don't know exactly why this was the case - perhaps (by necessity) it relied on contrived newsreel footage that was not directly related to the action being described.
 
• Episode 11. Red Star - The Soviet Union (1941 - 1943) (52:49 minutes)

What, more of the Russian campaign? Haven't we all had our cheery moods ruined enough for one week? Perhaps the only way the Russians could have defeated Germany was by having a leadership as ruthless as the Nazis. The Russian people were truly to know the meaning of "total war" as their entire lives and country were turned to the job of defense. Individuals counted for nothing and terror was employed by the Communists as a means of keeping civilians and soldiers in line. The cost was monumental - the show quotes the number of 20 million Russian dead - but the invincible German army was eventually beaten back.
 

• Episode 12. Whirlwind - Bombing Germany (September 1939 - April 1944) (52:10 minutes)

After the Battle of Britain, the Allies began counter-attacking by launching ever more massive bombing raids of their own. With British by night and Americans by day, thousand-bomber raids began to flatten German cities. Again, I found the content of this episode to be a little light on and disappointing. Perhaps some more discussion on technical aeronautical or navigational topics could have provided interest. In the event there was quite a lot of dialogue with little real direction.

The atrocities perpetrated by members of the Axis forces can be explained and understood - they were initiated by plainly evil men with ideologies based on hatred, and the perpetrators were punished accordingly wherever possible. But how evil was the strategy of carpet bombing employed against Germany? How much did it contribute to shortening the war? Should "the good guys" have rained such horror on the common German civilian who was just starting to realise what was going on with their leadership? Do we, or I, have the right to judge from our comfortable position over 50 years on? I don't have answers to these questions. Perhaps there never were any answers - that's just what happens in a state of total war against a ruthless enemy.
 

• Episode 13. Tough Old Gut (50:08 minutes)

The Americans, who seemed to know something about fighting a war, wanted to invade the continent from France and work eastwards. However the British, and Churchill in particular, were convinced that if they struck through Italy they could quickly move northwards into the heart of Germany. They got the chance to test their theory, with unfortunate results. Apparently without too much thought about terrain or support, the Allied forces landed in the south and, after the initially soft resistance from the Italian forces, came upon the hard line of German defense. Yet again, the senior British military commanders displayed their apparently 19th century ideas of warfare. The situation was only relieved with further landings and significant reinforcements, after which Rome fell without a gunshot. This is another good episode, with a strong narrative helped along by a fundamentally interesting story. It also features the senseless obliteration of a medieval monastery incorrectly believed by the Allies to contain a German garrison. Did I mention that this series continually stresses the futility of war?
 
• Episode 14. It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow - Burma (1942 - 1943) (52:07 minutes)

Just for a change from the agony of Europe we have a brief escape to the jungles of Burma (sorry, that's Myanmar, one of those little former colonies I referred to in my review for Part 1). Burma provided the buffer between the Japanese army and India, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, and as a result became a very different kind of battleground. The Japanese had learnt how to use the jungle to their advantage and quickly pushed the British back to the Indian border. Very slowly the British discovered those same jungle tactics and eventually pushed the Japanese back. The fighting was a hard, muddy slog. This episode is an interesting description of the monsoonal world the soldiers found themselves in.
 
• Episode 15. Home Fires - Britain (1940 - 1944) (52:12 minutes)

This is a worthwhile little diversion into the lifestyle of the British population during the war. The British Isles were in a state of virtual siege, and were forced to adapt every aspect of their lives to the fight. This was obviously a very different experience to the total war suffered by the Russian population, but all-embracing nonetheless. No doubt it took all of the eccentricity of the Pommy character to come through it all with a bit of a smile.

Video

    Being made for television, the disc is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Even if this weren't the case, so much of the archival footage was shot in this format that it would have been senseless to attempt anything else.

    I felt that the video quality on Disc 1 was of considerably lesser quality than that of previous episodes, and any other discs for that matter. The explanation for this relates entirely to the original newsreel sources for these particular episodes. The Italians obviously couldn't compete with the Germans when it came to their photographic expertise, and it shows in every scene involving the Italian army in Africa. I've already commented on the quality of Russian film footage in my review for Part 1, and there is little improvement here. Finally, what little original footage exists of U-boats and their prey tends by necessity to be blurred, jumpy and poorly lit.

    Of course these comments apply to the original film footage - the modern footage throughout Part 2 is of a similar standard to that in Part 1. Furthermore, the original footage on Disc 2 returns to the general quality level set by Part 1.

    The involvement of the Americans in the Italian campaign introduces colour footage of the war (the Yanks just had to have their war in colour!). Of course, all of the difficulties that face any war photographer are in evidence here, so that colours are well undersaturated and graininess seems to be enhanced.

    I've already commented on the general nature of the footage. Film artefacts are, of course, abundant, but much less than expected given the age and nature of the material. I couldn't detect any MPEG compression problems, but in the midst of all the other marks they might be hard to find. All in all I got the impression of a quite competent transfer. This is commendable given the sheer volume of material on each disc and the need for heavy compression.

    Although all the discs are formatted as dual layered (with 7 hours per disc, I'd hope so!), I never found the layer changes. I would have guessed they were placed at the end of episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only a single audio track. The bulk of the sound is modern, and is almost virtually totally free from noise. The interviews exhibit a mild style of hollowness that reflect their recording in living rooms rather than professional studios, but you would have to be very picky to notice. I found no audio sync problems.

    The music is by Carl Davis, and I must say it brought back a flood of memories from the time when the series was first broadcast here. I was too young to either view or understand it so that the sound used to waft through to my bedroom from the family room where Dad would be watching it. It is simple but captures well enough the mood of the series.

    The impact of the series is through pictures and the spoken word. There is no need or use made of the surround channels or the subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Time Line Menu

Photo Galleries

Insert Points

Episode Summaries

Brief History of The World At War

Biographies of Major National and Military Leaders

Web Link

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall