The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition) |  | Actors: Laurence Olivier, Anthony Eden, Averell Harriman, Albert Speer, Siegfried Westphal
Studio: A&E Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $99.95
Buy New: $33.48
as of 8/1/2010 04:58 EDT details
You Save: $66.47 (67%)
New (42) Used (13) from $33.48
Seller: GenuineDVDS
Rating:  303 reviews
Sales Rank: 626
Format: Box set, Black & White, NTSC
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 11
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1357 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 3.1
MPN: AAED71374D
ISBN: 0767065751
UPC: 733961713749
EAN: 9780767065757
ASIN: B0002F6AH0
Theatrical Release Date: 1974
Release Date: August 24, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This landmark incomparable rememberance of world war ii includes rare interviews with veterans & survivors amazing archive footage & chilling narration by sir laurence olivier. Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 08/24/2004 Run time: 1199 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II. The Second World War was different from other wars in thousands of ways, one of which was the unparalleled scope of visual documents kept by the Axis and Allies of all their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much through written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis were particularly thorough in documenting even the most abhorrent of the atrocities they were committing--in a surprising amount of color footage. The World at War was one of the first television documentaries that exploited these resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable visual guide to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say nothing of the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights: - A New Germany 1933-39: early German and Nazi documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the impending attack on Poland
- Whirlwind: the early British losses in the blitz in the skies over Britain and in North Africa
- Stalingrad: the turning point of the war and Germany's first defeat
- Inside the Reich--Germany 1940-44: one of the most fascinating documentaries that exists on life inside Nazi Germany, from Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth
- Morning: prior to Saving Private Ryan, one of the only unromanticized views of the Normandy invasion
- Genocide: this film is one of the most widely shown introductions to the Holocaust
- Japan 1941-45: although The World at War is decidedly focused more on the European theater, this is an important look into wartime Japan and its expansion--early 20th-century history that lead to Japan's role in World War II is superficial
- The bomb: another widely shown documentary of the Manhattan Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki
The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of World War II, analogous to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No serious historian should be missing The World at War in a collection, and no student should leave school without having seen at least some of its salient episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J. Macki
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 303
 Excellent! July 25, 2010
Vikram Kohli (Dallas, TX, USA)
Cant think of a better purchase for a history buff! Even for the casual viewer this series is so interesting that I would rather watch this than any of the new movies coming out these days. It is exciting, gripping and real - makes you feel like a part of the War. The footage is scary and can throw some people off because it is graphic. You learn so much from each episode and Laurene O's narrations is simply amazing. Buy this...you will not regret it!
Review of The World at War video cassettes July 20, 2010
RBIK (CT.)
This was a worthwhile purchase at a cost well below expectations. The subject covered, namely the history of WW-2, was complete, concise, accurate, informative and precise. I have had opportunities to watch only scattered episodes on television when the program first aired in the seventies, and informally up until recent times. Thanks be to the MILITARY CHANNEL, but having the whole of the story in one piece, in one place, at one time, as it were, provided the missing formerly remembered pieces and forgotten details that made this purchase one to be without regret. In one word, my opinion, OUTSTANDING!
Great price and series! July 10, 2010
R. Smith (Japan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
At $36.49 (gold box special), this series is well worth the detailed historical overview. I paid $79! The series is well done and is captivating as it uses much original camera footage with informative narration that attempts to give the reasoning and the predicament of each side. We should hope that we never are faced with such times again.
Package: Single-sided disks are held in polyethylene slim-line cases in a way that they should be. Disks have adequate menus and contain the eerie music of the series in the introduction and closing.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, especially at this price!
Watch it. Have your teens watch it too. July 9, 2010
Billy Hollis (Nashville, TN United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In a society that's been prosperous and mostly safe for decades, it's easy to lose sight of the depths of violence and depravity that are possible in humankind. This is a great antidote to that problem. In this series, you will see battle after battle that's horrific: Poland, Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, the Italian campaign, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, and many, many more. You'll see the gruesome details of Hitler's drive to Holocaust, and in fact those episodes are probably the hardest to watch in the series. They are gritty, real, and terribly, terribly tragic.
It's also important to realize the value of standing up to those whose main motivation is attainment of raw power. As horrific as WWII was, this video series begins far enough in advance of the war that you can see the paths not taken, which would have frozen Hitler in his tracks before he gained the territory, resources, and confidence of the German people to launch a war that killed a hundred million people. Those who always believe in the magical power of negotiation need to see the vivid proof that it isn't always the answer. Sometimes standing up to thugs is a painful but necessary alternative, no matter the cost.
WWII was too big to get even into a series this long. I find the war in the Pacific gets short shrift, which is probably not surprising from a British production company. Britains own trevails get a deeper look. But those are minor flaws.
They don't take away from the virtues of the production: lots and lots of real video shot during the war, detailed interviews with survivors on both sides, and a well-written narration by the incomparable Laurence Olivier, who puts forth the exact tone needed, mostly tragic, but other times matter of fact or even occasionally whimsical.
I had my teen sons watch this when they were around 13 and again a few years later. I know of no better resource that simultaneously illustrates both the horror of war and the regrettable necessity of some wars because the alternatives are even worse. I watched it with them both times, making that three viewings for me counting the one when it originally came on TV. It's worth it.
wish kist gift July 3, 2010
DUSTY TEXAS
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
wife got this for me from wish list wish list great for gift ideas. put more on list for her.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 303
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