|
World War II - The Lost Color ArchivesRating:
Release Date: 15 August, 2000 Retail Price: $44.95 OUR Price: $39.99 You SAVE: $4.96! Cast: |
World War II - The Lost Color Archives Reviews
Good, not great
Based on reviews I'd read beforehand, I expected something big with this 2-disc set. To its credit, it runs 2 hours and 51 minutes. But it's on the pricey side and a lot of what's shown here has been on other more recent (and less expensive) DVD's, like "Hitler, in Color," which is really outstanding. I also expected this DVD set to be better than "World War II in Color, the British Story." On the contrary, the latter costs less than half of this one, ran over an hour longer and had more unique footage and commentary. The "British Story" is all on a single, collector's edition, digital disc.
For those building a DVD library on World War II, especially color features, this 2-volume set belongs in your collection. For those operating on a budget, choose the two DVD's noted above, first. Then, consider "Visions of War, Vol. 2--Hitler, in His Own Words," and various pieces on Winston Churchill, for greater value.
Eerie, hypnotic, gut-wrenching
This is an astonishing set of videos. First there is the jaw-dropping, almost hallucinogenic experiance of seeing WWII events in technicolor. It reminds one of how much black-and-white film aestheticizes and abstracts events. Admittedly our eyes don't see in technicolor either, but the color makes you feel far more psychologically "there" so to speak. The second thing is the amazing quality of most of this footage. It hardly seems to have aged at all in 55-60 years! When you consider that film from the 1960's sometimes looks atrociously degraded and washed out, the almost pristine look of this footage is remarkable to say the least. It must have been stored well and never projected. (Of course, the producers could choose the best-looking bits from what was reputedly hundreds of hours of rediscovered film.) Watching this film is a tremendously emotional experiance, sometimes frightening, sometimes grueling, sometimes stomach-turning. The voice-over narration makes heavy use of contemporary letters and diaries of soldiers and civilians, and is often touching. The cumulative impact of all this----the island fighting, Nazi rallies, shipyard workers, civilians hanged by Nazis, radiation victims, Pearl Harbor wreckage, air war footage, death camps, and on and on----is almost overwhelming. Like having your nose shoved into the sheer mess and folly of mass war.
Now that I hear that the UK version of this documentary was narrated by the redoubtable John Thaw I'd love to see THAT version, but otherwise I unreservedly recommend this to anyone and everyone. Too many people think of documentaries as boring but this demonstrates how mesmerizing they can be. For anyone too young to have first-hand memories of it (which is most of the population now) this makes WWII far more visceral than you ever thought possible.
More Customer Reviews (7 total)
You like World War II - The Lost Color Archives?
|
© 2004, 2005, 2006 DVD Booty | Don't Plunder Our Cache of Booty, Matey!
Hosting made possible by donations from Debt Counseling Help, credit counseling, and Mortgage Key
