Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)
by M. Clay Adams
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DVD details
Director: M. Clay AdamsBrand: A&E
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Black & White, Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 690 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-09-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
DVD Reviews of Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)
DVD Review: victory at sea
Summary: 5 Stars
it has been too many years since I have seen this documentary. A welcome addition to my military DVD library. item received as described.DVD Review: Victory at Sea DVD collection
Summary: 3 Stars
Superior historical footage; interesting and informative. Black and white footage filmed in realtime during the conflict truly amazing. As a historical document, interesting for the 1950's perspective on America's war at sea. Not very detailed on the efforts of other nations- perhaps more accurately named "America's Victory at Sea"; nonetheless, I had seen the shows on cable and thought enough of them to make this purchase. DVD quality good, no problems with the disks themselves. Even my kids liked it. As an aside, two friends asked to borrow this set after I mentioned it in passing; neither had previously disclosed any great interest in U.S. WWII naval history, and both thought it good. DVD Review: Style quite dated & often annoying but the content often provides a different perspective on aspects of WW2
Summary: 2 Stars
This DVD uses ancient reviews to substantiate its claim to being an excellent video. Whilst it might in its day have been the epitome of excellence, the whole production now seems excessively melodramatic with the accompanying music far too loud & dramatic. This aspect tends to detract from ones viewing pleasure.
I am always wary of productions produced so soon after the war as the emotions were still too raw to allow for a balanced factual account of the events. This video must plead mea culpa to this charge. Certain episodes are more prone to this weakness. The one on the island hopping campaigns comes across as subliminal propaganda & with even a hint of jingoism. It would probably rate one out of ten for objectivity. This is extremely irritating & distracting.
In addition a number of scenes are clearly re-enactments after the fact but the video itself makes no mention of this fact.
On the positive side, there are a number of episodes where fresh views, from this reviewer's perspective, were obtained of events, albeit minor in the greater scheme of events. Despite the tone of the episode on the Leyte Gulf battle being inappropriate, this is the first complete exposition of this climactic sea battle that I am aware of on video. In the battle, the Japanese navy staked all to achieve the destruction of the American fleet. This entailed the convergence of no less than four Nippon battle groups. The Oriental nation's aims were easily thwarted often with a dollop of good luck but the American fleet prevailed. The capture of the Philippine islands meant that their umbilical cord to the oil & other raw material was irrevocably severed. The lack of this vital sustenance would ultimately & ineluctably mean the demise for Japanese military aggression & its political construct, the so-called Greater Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere.
The time dwelt on each aspect covered bears no relation to its importance in the war but rather, one suspects, to either available footage, the producer's proclivities or American bias. Certain actions deserve more focus due to either their importance to the war effort or because of its consequences or lessons learnt. An example which quickly springs to mind is the battle of D-Day which is scantily dealt with. Nowhere does one get a sense of its significance.
This is the most comprehensive account of the naval dimension of WW2. This focus provides a peek into a different component of the war. One gets no sense of the strategic thought processes in this video but one is rather shown a series of unrelated events with no binding central theme apart from its naval dimension. The purchase of this DVD is not recommended unless one is an aficado of naval history. For the rest of you, rather wait for another version which, given the enduring interest in all matters relating to WW2, cannot be long in coming.
DVD Review: Nice improvement over VHS
Summary: 5 Stars
I have loved the series since watching it as a child on TV with my father and uncles who had all served in that war. The subject matter and the wonderfully appropriate musical score strike an emotional chord in me. I have owned Victory at Sea in VHS format for several years and wanted to upgrade so in spite of some reviewers crabbing about the sound I bought the DVD set anyway. I love it. It is a huge improvement over the tapes. The picture quality is much better and any sound problems during narration that I've noticed are minor and not a reason to pass this up.DVD Review: Impressive!
Summary: 5 Stars
A must see for anyone interested in an accurate depiction of major events of World War II. Free from revisionist accounts of this history, Victory at Sea uses actual footage gained from both sides of the conflict to meld together an accurate picture of the battles. While the music is a bit too loud, the story is nevertheless clear and leaves the viewer with a profound sense of the magnitude of this war. Every American should see this series to understand the role and contributions of the "greatest generation" to our history.
Description of Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)
Considered the most influential documentary in television history VICTORY AT SEA in the words of Harper s Weekly "created a new art form." The 26 half-hour episodes were culled from over 13000 hours of footage shot by the U.S. British German and Japanese navies during World War II. Narrated by Leonard Graves and set to a score by Richard Rodgers this program offered a remarkable look at the realities of naval warfare and the extraordinary challenges faced by the Allies. From U-boat "Wolfpacks" to the epic battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa every major naval engagement of World War II is captured in some of the most riveting combat footage ever shot.Now the complete landmark series is available on DVD for the first time. And to celebrate this 50th anniversary release television legend Peter Graves (Mission Impossible) enriches the viewing experience by framing each classic episode of this Emmy? and Peabody? award-winning series against the World War II cultural and political landscape. From U-boat "Wolfpacks" to the epic battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa every major naval engagement of World War II is captured in some of the most riveting combat footage ever shot.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC:?733961709674 Manufacturer No:?AAE-70967A 26-episode World War II documentary, Victory at Sea is one of the most important series in the history of television. Made in 1952, the show was a huge success, winning many major awards and even spawning albums featuring the orchestral score by Richard Rodgers, best known for his musicals with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Produced with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, each 26-minute program consists of black-and-white wartime film set to a narration by Leonard Graves. The two years leading up to America's entry into the war are dismissed in episode one, while the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor gets a show of its own, the raid depicted in a brilliantly edited montage that almost certainly contains "docu-drama" footage. Each episode contains at least one powerful stand-alone sequence in the tradition of Serge Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), these action-suspense set-pieces giving the programs an urgent, surprisingly modern feel. Indeed, the emphasis is at least as much on entertainment as information, the factual content delivered in poetic narration, the score transforming the war into a more than usually serious Hollywood adventure. The documentaries are nothing if not wide-ranging, covering parts of the land war despite the title, and including everything from the Atlantic convoys and U-boat "Wolfpacks" to war in Alaska, the South Atlantic, and the Far East, the Pacific War, and the Fall of Japan. There is an attempt to include other nations--certainly the D-Day episode acknowledges the British far more than Saving Private Ryan--but inevitably the focus is on America's war. The very dated narration gives a fascinating insight into how America saw WWII in the early 1950s, while the dynamic cutting and often genuinely remarkable wartime footage make Victory at Sea still gripping today. Twenty years later, Granada's The World at War would become the definitive television WWII history, but this release offers a unique opportunity to see a series of great importance from the very early days of television. --Gary S. Dalkin
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