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| BBC History of World War II | 
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| Actor: Bbc History Of World War Ii
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: $149.98
Buy New: $110.00
You Save: $39.98 (27%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $110.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (28 reviews)
Sales Rank: 13778
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 1800 minutes
Number Of Items: 12
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.6 x 2.7
MPN: WARDE2241D
ISBN: 1419809024
UPC: 794051224125
EAN: 9781419809026
ASIN: B0009941E8
Release Date: July 19, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Description
How could a political party as fundamentally evil and overtly racist as the Nazis come to power? Why was Japan, known for its admirable treatment of POWs in WWI, responsible for such grim atrocities in the Second World War? This comprehensive collection not only examines the details of the conflict (the Battle of Moscow, the campaign against German U-boats, the RAF bomber offensive), but digs deeper to attempt to answer the questions that still haunt us. Through startling archive footage and eyewitness testimony, this 12-disc set offers a unique perspective and true understanding of what actually happened. DVD Features:
Documentaries:Battle of the Atlantic includes a 50-minute documentary on merchant seamenHorror in the East includes a 50-minute documentary on the Indian Army and a 60-minute documentary on Burma
Featurette:D-Day: Reflections of Courage includes a 20-minute making-of featurette
Introduction:Award-winning writer, filmmaker and Creative Director of BBC History Laurence Rees provides introduction and closing words to collection
Other:D-Day: Reflections of Courage includes 30 minutes of eyewitness accounts Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State includes six follow-up discussions hosted by award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee
Amazon.com
With 30 hours of programming in 10 volumes and three full-length bonus programs, the BBC History of World War II goes beyond even The World at War for its depth of scope, its breadth of analyses, and the high quality of its production values. This ambitious project by producer Laurence Rees, which also features a collector's booklet, is full of startling archival footage and illuminating eyewitness interviews that bring to life some of the most monumental events from the most monumental war in human history. The focus on this set is clearly the war in Europe (only one disc, Horror in the East, is dedicated to the war with Japan) as told from an even-handed British perspective: interviews with German citizens make it understandable how Hitler appealed to a shattered and defeated nation, for example, and the The Road to War scrutinizes how a British government was caught unprepared for a re-armed Germany bent on domination. The collection is filled with poignantly fascinating moments, such as when an aging American veteran revisits the Omaha Beach he stormed on D-Day, and meets the elderly German who, as a teenager, was defending that section of the beach with his machine gun, or footage of Hitler's early political speeches, raging promises of things to come. Roughly chronologically arranged, the set starts with The Nazis: A Warning from History, and works its way through all facets of the war, including the legacy of the Holocaust. (Some of the titles were previously released as single DVDs.) The presentation is particularly impressive. Each series has its own style: Dunkirk is a drama-documentary structured like a miniseries and reenactments are deftly interwoven with archival footage in a convincing motif. In War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin, German and Russian veterans recall with chilling candor their particular universe of battle, and rare color combat footage combined with newly declassified Soviet documents offer new perspectives on the subject. The collection succeeds brilliantly in making it clear to a modern-day viewer what it was really like to live through those times. For the war buff, the history enthusiast, the educator, or someone looking for a gift for any of the above, the BBC History of World WarII is a title to consider. Even dedicated viewers of the History Channel will find something new and fascinating here. --Dan Vancini
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 comprehensive history of the 'big 'war January 18, 2008
An excellent,deeply researched video of a massive war. Giving all sides of the conflict adds a great deal of interest. Even those of us who lived through it can learn something new and enlightening.It isn't any more understandable for all of this insight.
 annoying anti-American viewpoints January 12, 2008
6 out of 22 found this review helpful
The sections on "Battlefields" contain annnoying anti-American propaganda aimed at General Mark Clark, Fifth Army Commander in Italy, and General John Lucas, commander of the Anzio beachhead. Professor Holmes, who never saw a battlefield except from a safe distance, does NOT interview anyone to defend the actions of either General Clark or General John Lucas.
In the chapter on "Bomber", Professor Holmes presents only the story of British aircraft bombing Germany and completely excludes any mention of the US Air Force. In the chapter on "Alamein", there is no mention of the 400 tanks President Roosevelt and General Marshall sent the British Army. After listening to Holmes, you would think the British won WWII by themselves.
A Saga of Gore and Guts plus the Inhunanity of War November 21, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
They say that war histories are usually written by the victors not long after the event. Thus, earlier documentary histories of World War II failed to give much balance for telling the story from the viewpoint of the ultimately defeated Axis powers, though the first successful attempt was in the excellent German TV series made into a movie, Das Boot, based on the last voyage of a U-Boat submarine and its crew.
Also the further away in time one gets from the actual series of events that make up World War II the more perspective one gets on it. Hence for at least the first half of the nineteenth century Napoleon I was viewed as every bit of a villain and disturber of the international peace as Hitler has been seen during the second half of the twentieth century. That is not to say that this fairly new box set on World War II puts any unnecessary gloss on Hitler or the Nazis but it does attempt to explain who they were and where they were coming from, how they got elected to power and why they were greatly supported -up to 1943 at least- by the majority of German and Austrian people.
Yet one never is free of contemporary fashions regarding a particular period of time in history. The viewpoints subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, hidden in these documentaries reflect the early 21st century's mistrust of wars as a solution in human conflict. Thus, the BBC documentary focuses much more than usual on the seemingly inevitable bloodiness and inhumanity of war, with atrocities committed by all sides, although the Nazis and Japanese still seem to be the worst, but not the only offenders. German guards are seen executing French resistance members even with allies only three miles away. In the episode on the wars in the Far East a US marine veteran over fifty year later is explaining how, and why, they routinely shot Japanese soldiers even while they were surrendering. The American soldiers regarded Japanese as subhuman just as the Nazi troops viewed the Russians. Russian and German civilian survivors relate how their women were raped and murdered by either side almost as a matter of routine. A whole episode is shown of the allied bombing of Germany and the dreadful and deliberate slaughter from 20,000 above of civilians under Bomber Harris. The episode covering the D-Day invasion is particularly graphic and vividly coloured, showing blood and guts galore after firing of machine guns or shelling, the like of which is not show at all in the famous black and white film of the event, The Longest Day. The moral seems to be that war brutalises almost everyone involved.
The series is presented roughly chronologically but is more analytical than usual in war documentaries and necessarily selective despite the 30 hours at the producers' disposal. Being a British documentary it naturally focuses much more on British units than on their American allies, for example. In many episodes , particularly those covering the German invasion of Soviet Russia and the subsequent reversal of fortune after Stalingrad, there are reels of vintage footage spliced with modern interviews with military and civilian survivors on all sides. The episodes on the successful retreat from Dunkirk interestingly enough rely on a complete and very convincing dramatisation of events as seen by different battle units and by high command control in Whitehall. This approach is loosely followed in the D-Day diskette. In the Dunkirk and D-Day diskettes actual footage is skilfully interwoven with the dramatisation. Personally I found this box series produced between 2000 and 2004 one of the most enlightening and interesting drama documentaries on the subject that I have seen in my own 66 years.
Excellent historical summation September 19, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'll try not to be too wordy. This is a 1st rate review and summation of WWII as well as it's causes and antecedents. Especially for American audiences the slightly British slant on events gives a well deserved perspective to those events. Of special interest is the disc covering the Eastern front. Since there was no American involvement we, as Americans, know very little about that "greatest conflict in the 20th century". Each disc is worth more than 1 viewing. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.
BBC History of WWII July 13, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Very well done and informative. I found the difference perspective to history to be very interesting
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