Top positive review
9 people found this helpful
The yardstick by which others are judged...
By Kenneth Michael Pizzi on Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2006
As documentaries go, this one is a legend. Quite simply this documentary series has few peers; it is equal to, if not greater than Sir Kenneth Clark's "Civilization" or Alistair Cooke's "America." Rarely has global conflict on television been presented so well and so completely. From start to finish, and without the gee-whiz CGI and animation that characterize so many lesser documentaries on the History Channel, "World at War" still stands out at the top of the heap. Now, even after 30 years (the series was produced in 1973), this series is exemplary in both narration and the original (and rare!) film footage used. Retrospectives and interviews with the director and other individuals involved in the production share illuminating and revealing thoughts about the making of the series. The installments and footage on early Nazi Germany are surprisingly good as is the coverage of the war in North Africa. Unlike the BBC's "History of WWII" there are no "re-enactments" of Dunkirk using extras--this is, for the most part, a straight-forward presentation of the war, the facts behind it, its aftermath, and how it has shaped the world today. The series has a number of interviews with many of the principal players from both sides including Albert Speer (Hitler's architect and Minister of Works) and Adolf Galland (one of the most decorated German flying aces from the war) and other notable personalities from the war that are now, of course, deceased. They tell us candidly of Hitler, his ambitions, and his madness. Rarely does a documentary series stand the test of time like this one does. A rare find; we are fortunate it is now available in DVD format. Snatch it up before your neighbor does.
Top critical review
51 people found this helpful
Amazing documentary, horrible decision to change the aspect ratio to 16:9
By J. York on Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2015
This is a classic documentary, probably THE definitive documentary for World War II. Each episode discusses a particular aspect of the war and the fact that it was shot in the 70's means that the interviews and recollections of those that experienced things first hand (from both Axis and Allies) are lucid and informative. The problems I have with this is in the restoration. They did a good job of the conversion to HD, sound mixing and general image restoration but made what I believe to be a poor choice in converting the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. In doing so, the images have been cropped and what you see is not what was originally shot. The team who did the conversion did try to compensate for this by rejigging what portions of the image would be cut but the effect is particularly jarring during the interview footage where parts of heads have been cut from the frame. I understand that most people now have HD 16:9 televisions but I would have really liked for this to have been released in its original aspect ratio and if people want to stretch it out and lose part of the frame through modification of their TV settings, then that's their choice. I'll keep this but if I were to have the choice again, I'd just pick up a set of DVDs in the original format.
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