The World At War
Part One
This review is sponsored by
Details At A Glance
General
|
Extras
|
Category |
Documentary |
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 |
Rating |
|
Year Released |
1974 |
Running Time |
412:55 minutes
(Not 417 minutes as stated on the packaging)
|
RSDL/Flipper |
Dual Layered |
Cast & Crew
|
Start Up |
Menu |
Region |
2,3,4,5,6 |
Director |
Jeremy Isaacs (Producer) |
Studio
Distributor
|
Thames
Warner Vision
|
Starring |
Sir Laurence Olivier (Narrator) |
Case |
Dual Amaray |
RPI |
$59.95 |
Music |
Carl Davis |
Video
|
Audio
|
Pan & Scan/Full Frame |
Full Frame |
English (Dolby Digital 2.0, 224Kb/s) |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio |
1.33:1 |
16x9 Enhancement |
No |
Original Aspect Ratio |
1.33:1 |
Miscellaneous
|
Macrovision |
? |
Smoking |
N/A |
Subtitles |
None |
Annoying Product Placement |
N/A |
Action In or After Credits |
No |
Plot Synopsis
55 million people is a lot of people. That would represent
close to three times the current Australian population. It was roughly
the size of the total pre-war German population.
It was the number of people killed during the Second
World War.
I start my review in this fashion because it is the
human toll taken by the war, rather than the pure recitation of historic
facts, that is the primary theme of The World At War. I will
admit to quite a bit of trepidation when I began the task of reviewing
the series, containing, as it does, 32 hours of video spread over 10 discs
and presenting a summary of the background and proceedings of the entire
Second World War. This was to be a significant task, but I quickly realized
that the task was nothing compared to that undertaken by the more than
50 production staff over 3 years to create the documentary series in the
first place. Of course this, in turn, was absolutely insignificant compared
to the unimaginable horror and suffering experienced by hundreds of millions
of people from almost every part of the globe during the lead-up to and
duration of the war. To this day, 55 years after the onset of peace, the
European continent continues the process of recovery and rebuilding.
It is perhaps easy for young Australians to discount
the significance of World War II in their day-to-day lives. After all,
the majority of our population were born since the war's end - some children
would now represent the third post war generation. With the exception of
the Darwin bombings and the Sydney Harbour submarine attack our continent
was spared the destruction of battle. However, our entire world has been
shaped by the outcome of the war. The cold war, our alliance with the US
and the impact that nation has had on our culture, the creation and subsequent
breakup of the Soviet empire and the massive migration emerging from its
former republics, the rise of Japan as an economic powerhouse (even with
its political and economic difficulties of the last decade) and the break-up
of global empires to be replaced by a myriad of frequently unstable and
impoverished new nations can all be traced directly to the effects of the
war. Even a short visit to central or eastern Europe will show the scope
of cultural loss that will last forever.
So, enough of my poor commentary on the war itself.
Let's say something about these discs and the series they contain. The
World At War was made back in the early 1970s, about the same length
of time after the war as we are now from the series' premiere. The "Making
of" featurette included on Disc 1 sets out the aims of the series' producers,
but in essence they can be described as bringing the first coherent telling
of World War II to television in a format that showed both the large scale
issues (those affecting armies and nations) and the more personal issues
affecting normal individuals. The latter have been brought to life by the
recollections of many people from a diversity of positions.
Clearly, no single work can describe in detail all
of the important aspects of an event that involved so many people over
more than six years. Television is good at some things, primarily in telling
a linear story with the support of sound and images, but bad at others,
in particular in providing detailed analysis of the "whys" and "hows" of
complicated, interrelated strands of events. Jeremy Isaacs admits that
he was only able to concentrate on 15 major battles plus a small number
of related historical items during the series. Therefore, as excellently
as the series achieves its goals, it is forced by the medium to ignore
almost all of the posturing, ideology and argument that went into decision-making.
This is a shame but that's practicality.
The entire series is contained in five double DVD
box sets. Four of these sets each cram 7 hours of video material plus photo
galleries and simple biographies onto their two discs, the other has 4
hours of material. To date I have only identified minor variation in quality
between individual discs so I shall primarily consider the series set by
set rather than disc by disc.
Part 1, Disc 1
-
The Making of the Series (48:14 minutes)
Perhaps this could have been considered to be an extra, but given the
format of the discs into a series of 52 minute episodes, this item struck
me as almost like "Episode 0". In fact it was made in 1989 and features
the producer, Jeremy Isaacs, in a very personal, fireside introduction
to the purpose and philosophy of the documentary makers. Isaac's obvious
feeling for the human side of the war is clear. He also uses this as an
opportunity to present an honest appraisal of the material being shown.
In most of the cases of original newsreel and other film archives there
was no soundtrack to go along with the pictures. One of the more significant
jobs that went into the making of the series was the dubbing of widespread
sound effects - it is worthwhile to remember this when viewing the material.
Another admission is that wherever some uncertainty existed in the interpretation
of events the producers presented their view as fact. This, of course,
is a dangerous route to follow. I found the overall effect of this "episode"
to be quite emotional and more than worthwhile. One lasting memory for
me was an interview with a German housewife in which she relates the horrific
secret she has lived with since the war. This, as much as anything else,
shows the evil that was spread during those days.
-
Episode 1. A New Germany (1933-39) (51:52 minutes)
As an opener to this episode and to the series as a whole, we are shown
the ruins of a French town that traced its history back a thousand years
- its inhabitants murdered by German troops as they retreated from the
allied onslaught during 1944. We are told that many of the soldiers responsible
for the murders were themselves killed in battle over the ensuing weeks
and months. Thus we are presented at the outset with the fruits of war.
The leadup to the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor and the subsequent
activity of Germany leading to the outbreak of war can really be traced
back to the end of the First World War. Hitler's imprisonment following
his putsch of 1923 allowed him time to develop and publish his ideologies
and strategies, and he remained remarkably true to these until his death.
His actions after he came to power say as much about his opponents as they
do about him. The rise of the Nazi Party and the political intrigues that
preceded 1933 make fascinating reading, yet these are ignored entirely
by this episode (see my comments above regarding the need to keep things
simple for TV). However we are given a glimpse of the state of mind of
the German people during the 1930s, living in a state of economic and political
collapse, and the attitude of appeasement on the part of the British and
French governments. The environment was right for the emergence of a strong
leader but it would be more than 10 years before the German people realized
the true nature of their new Fuhrer.
-
Episode 2. Distant War (September 1939 - May 1940) (51:48
minutes)
Following Chamberlain's declaration of war in September 1939, the British
population experienced the period of "phoney war". The German military
machine ground on through Poland and made preparations for the invasion
of Norway while France and Britain showed all the ability of a troop of
boy scouts. Winston Churchill's venture to assist Norway met with similar
success to his campaign at Gallipoli over 20 years previously.
-
Episode 3. France Falls (May - June 1940) (52:24 minutes)
Britain's great hope in the early days of the war was the French army.
The fact that both France and Britain were living in the past was shown
by the speed with which the Wehrmacht swept through France and into Paris.
Within a few months, the entire continent had been conquered by Germany,
with Italy as her ally in the south. Russia used the chance to occupy eastern
Poland and the Balkans. Great Britain stood as Hitler's sole opponent.
Part 1, Disc 2
-
Episode 4. Alone in Britain (May 1940 - June 1941) (51:35
minutes)
The evacuation from Dunkirk is shown (why do so many British military
"triumphs" involve total defeat, e.g. Charge of The Light Brigade, Gallipoli,
Dunkirk?) and the end of the Battle of France. There followed the Battle
of Britain - the British Empire's "finest hour". London and many other
English cities felt the might of the Luftwaffe, but British fighter command
was able to defeat the Germans with a big dose of home ground advantage,
cunning and not a small amount of technical advances. British and Commonwealth
(that's us) armies attempted a counter attack in Northern Africa and Greece,
but the latter again turned to disaster. The German inability to conquer
Britain was one of the critical factors leading to her ultimate defeat.
-
Episode 5. Barbarossa (June - December 1941) (52:26 minutes)
The German-Soviet Pact of 1939 had allowed Germany to pursue her objectives
in Europe while giving Russia free entry to Eastern Poland and the Balkans.
However Hitler's ultimate aim, described in full in Mein Kampf in the mid
1920s, was to defeat the "evil communist empire" of Russia. At the heart
of this was the central Nazi principle of the superiority of the German
race over that of the Slavic races to the east. Hitler saw the vast Russian
nation as a rich source of raw materials, slaves and "living room" for
the German people. That belief led to the biggest killing fields in military
history as first the Germans, and then the Russians, seized the opportunity
to slaughter their enemy. This episode includes a very small number of
scenes from original film footage showing some of the victims of this slaughter
- they are not pretty to watch. The suffering of civilians and soldiers
on both sides was appalling, and the presentation in this episode is a
passionate argument against war. Germany's defeat in Russia was the first
step towards her ultimate defeat several years later.
-
Episode 6. Bonzai - Japan Strikes (1941 - 1942) (51:58 minutes)
I found this episode to be the weakest so far. Perhaps this is a result
of the Anglo-centric view of the producers, but the background to the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbour seemed to be presented in a particularly abbreviated
fashion. That's unfortunate, because the average European, and Australian,
viewer (including myself) probably has a lot to learn about that aspect
of modern history. The Japanese campaigns in China (including several "horror"
scenes from the Nanking Massacre), Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore
and, of course, Hawaii are presented here with little significant interpretation.
-
Episode 7. On Our Way - USA (1939 - 1942) (52:38 minutes)
The episode begins with a solemn President Roosevelt proclaiming in
September 1939 that he trusts that America will stay out of the war being
fought in Europe. The US public was very much split on this topic. Film
footage from a large meeting of the US Nazi party is a chilling reminder
that not everyone around the world saw Nazism in its true light. This divide
also extended in the opposite direction, with American trade unions disrupting
shipping to England on the basis of their ties to Russia and that nation's
1939 pact with Germany. Pearl Harbour, and Hitler's immediate declaration
of war on the US, changed that feeling immediately. If this episode does
nothing else it clearly portrays the mighty industrial powerhouse of America,
her resultant military capacity, and the impossibility of Germany's position
as her adversary. The Battle of Midway is presented, almost as a sideline.
This may be the particular view of the British, but of course it was the
turning point for the war in the Pacific.
Transfer Quality
Video
It is important to bear in mind the nature of the material
on show here. The majority of pictures are from original newsreel, propaganda
and war film sources. This is supplemented by a large number of modern
(i.e. 1970s) personal interviews and the odd modern scenic reference shot.
A number of simple animated graphics, largely based on large-scale European
and Pacific maps are also used. The quality of the material varies from
the (rarely) terrible to the (slightly less rarely) excellent. Even the
modern photography varies considerably, presumably because of the large
number of filmmakers involved and the wide range of conditions and equipment
with which they had to work. We can be quite relieved, however, that all
of the footage was shot on film, rather than on video tape, so we never
have to suffer through horrible video-induced artefacts.
Being made for television, the disc is presented
in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. 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.
With the exception of some of the personal interviews,
predominantly those with former senior British political and military leaders,
the pictures exhibit varying degrees of lack of sharpness. The few exceptions
display quite marvellous clarity together with very realistic colours and
skin tones. Graininess is a constant companion. Some of the best images
are exhibited by footage from German propaganda films, which had achieved
considerable sophistication during the year's following the Nazis' rise
to power. The depth of blacks and the very good contrast and cleanliness
of much of the footage suggest some form of restoration has been carried
out. In fact, evidence of this is provided by The Making Of episode
in which Isaacs illustrates some of his personal comments with excerpts
from the series. The quality of these excerpts is rather ratty - colours
are faded, pictures display considerable scratches and other artefacts
and the sound is badly affected by crackles and pops (bear in mind that
this episode was made in 1989). In comparison, those same scenes within
the series proper are surprisingly clean. Obviously, footage captured by
some very brave/foolish cameramen in the midst of battle suffers from lack
of control over lighting and just about anything else. In Part 1 the material
that suffers the most is from the Russian front, where fighting was particularly
brutal and where the effects of cold weather further aggravated the situation.
I would guess that the film stock used by Russian cameramen was of lesser
quality than that of their German or American counterparts. In some cases
the overall effect is reminiscent of very early, heavily-deteriorated silent
films - clarity is close to nonexistent and scratches are prolific. Nevertheless
I prefer these few absolutely poor cases to the alternative: a restaged
event involving thousands of Soviet troops purely for the sake of the cameras
(an example of which is included).
Other than the modern footage, all film stock is
black and white. There is never any intrusion of phantom colours. The modern
colour footage tends to show undersaturated colours.
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
Layer DVDs (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 |
|
Film-To-Video Artefacts |
|
Film Artefacts |
|
Overall |
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Audio
The soundtracks are made up of four distinct components:
Lawrence
Olivier's commentary, sound effects dubbed over the top of original
film footage, modern personal interviews and some occasional original recordings
of political leaders or entertainers. Olivier's voice is nigh-on
perfect for the job, providing a level of authority that sets the series
apart from many others. He is able to turn a single word or phrase in such
a way as to make the horror of what he is describing just a little more
real for the viewer. The sound effects are so natural that you simply accept
them as being real (perhaps some are).
There is only a single English Dolby Digital 2.0
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 |
|
Extras
Time Line Menu
The menu is ingeniously designed
in the form of a time line, with each episode represented by a bar showing
its chronological relationship to the war itself and to the other episodes.
The menu is common across all discs, and all episodes are shown even though
only a small number would be accessible on the disc in the player. It takes
a little while to get the hang of it all, but after 32 hours and 34 episodes
you'll have well and truly mastered it.
Photo Galleries
Each episode is presented with
its own sub-menu, from which a small selection of relevant archival photographs
can be accessed. The selections are not large, typically comprising only
two photographs. For this reason I don't consider them to be of huge value,
although I was fascinated to see Hitler and Chamberlain's entire Munich
Agreement (the "Peace In Our Time" agreement) included, complete with signatures.
Insert Points
Each episode's sub-menu also
provides the viewer with the ability to jump directly to points of particular
interest within the episode, generally under the headings of "Speeches
and Quotes", "Graphics" and "Songs and Poems". This facility, again limited,
could nevertheless be useful for history students searching for some particular
item.
Episode Summaries
Provides a short summary of
each episode in turn.
Brief History of The World At War
A history of the series itself,
not of the world's wars. I think this is pretty much an opportunity for
the series' makers to brag a little about their achievement.
Biographies of Major National and Military Leaders
Painfully brief bios of 17 of
the major political and military leaders from the US, UK, Germany, Italy,
Japan and Russia. Handy if you've never heard of Douglas MacArthur or Joseph
Stalin, but if that's the case you need a serious review of your history
lessons!
Web Link
Links to the sites of the series
and the Imperial War Museum.
R4 vs R1
I could find no reference to the series either for sale
or reviewed in the US, so I must assume that we have the definitive product
available here.
Summary
This series provides an excellent overview of the story
of the Second World War. The quality of presentation on disc is probably
as good as we will ever see of this material. Perhaps its greatest strength
is the obvious humanity it brings to the topic without ever making moral
comment on the subject material, even though the viewer is frequently left
with clear cues as to the right or wrong of any case. A wealth of film
archive material is woven into the tale, and fair success is achieved in
showing how the most important strands of events related to each other.
No doubt books remain the sole source for any proper study of the period
but this series remains as a very worthwhile contribution to the topic.
It is a shame that the cost of the complete set is so high that it will
prevent many people from owning it.
Video |
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Audio |
|
Extras |
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Plot |
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Overall |
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© Murray Glase (read
my bio)
30 January 2001
Review Equipment
|
|
|
DVD |
Toshiba SD-K310 (S-Video) |
Display |
Pioneer SD-T43W1 16:9 rear projection. Calibrated with
the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder |
Built in (amplifier) |
Amplification |
Pioneer VSX-D906S. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version
of Video Essentials. |
Speakers |
Richter Wizards (front), Jamo SAT150 (rears), Yamaha
YST-SW120 (subwoofer) |