Product Details

• Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Entertainment One
• DVD Release Date: March 29, 2011
• Run Time: 312 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B004H0M2SC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,261 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

This captivating documentary series takes an in-depth look at the Second World War through the eyes of those who lived through it: the soldiers, the victims, and the political and military leaders. Using archival footage – most of it previously unseen and now colorized – this series provides an intimate and breath-taking examination of history’s most devastating war.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apocalypse: World War II, April 20, 2011

By 

Matt O. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apocalypse: World War II [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

I have at least twenty historical dvds of WWII, and Countless Hollywood movies about WWII. What I believe makes This series and Blu-ray unique is seeing more of a perspective of the civilians during WWII. Many of the historical dvds give the viewer details of the battles, and film and pictures of the battles, but more from a soldiers perspective. I am glad to add this to my collection because I believe it added that civilian perspective. Many people forget that the civilian causaulty rate dwarfed that of the soldiers lost during WWII. The civilians were just as courageous as the soldiers in many instances. Hopefully we will never have to repeat the lessons that so many learned.

66 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't Be Fooled - It's Very Average, March 16, 2011

By 

T. Womack (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apocalypse: World War II (DVD)

I have what is apparently the original version of this series which I ordered through Time-Life. It is in English with a rather bland narrator whose voice I don't recognize. While not obviously inaccurate the narration doesn't go into a lot of detail and repeats many well-worn cliches (i.e. Polish cavalry DID NOT deliberately charge German tanks in September 1939; they simply got surprised in the open by a German armored column). Disc 2, which details the first 6 months of the Pacific War, contains very little new info and I quickly became bored watching it.

Time-Life promotes this series as being spectacular and new. A lot of the footage is indeed new, but I also had seen much of it before on history websites. There are also some curious parts in which the script feels like it was solely written to incorporate available footage.

That said, there is some very interesting footage that I had never seen before. Colorized footage of U.S. battleships burning at Pearl Harbor and Japanese planes apparently ditching in the ocean after their carriers had been sunk at the Battle of Midway was nice. Footage showing executions of Jews and alleged collaborators can also be quite graphic, as can be the scenes of dead bodies.

I would recommend buying this series only for the footage, much of which is definitely worth the price of admission. But if you've been studying World War 2 in detail for any length of time don't expect to learn anything particularly new. If you're new to this subject, know that this is a well-produced series that looks and sounds nice, but just be careful about repeating what you learn from it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars some new footage but not much, July 9, 2011

By 

Arthur P. Haviland Jr. "AirshowFan" (Tampa Bay, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apocalypse: World War II (DVD)

I bought the 4 dvd set from Time Life and watched it today. While some of the footage was new, much of it was stuff I had seen on the history channel and the victory at sea series. Some of the information was informative like the French invasion of Germany after the declaration of war and the fact that Hitler did not pursue the English troops evacuating at Dunkirk although Stukas did sink some of the evacuation craft. Some of the footage fell short of telling the whole story, like the part about the bombing of Monte Cassino in Italy. Much of the new footage focused on the eastern front. While the development of the Soviet air force played a large part in the battle, it was overlooked in this dvd. The pacific war footage showed the battle for Saipan and said that it was the place where B-29s took off to attack Japan, and they covered the atomic bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, although those attacks were launched from Tinian and not Saipan. This package wasn't worth it.