Amazon.com
This installment in a set of videos chronicling wars of the 20th century focuses on the leaders of the nations involved in World War II, and while some of the material selected is perhaps extraneous, the approach of presenting original clips with little or no editing does prove valuable. In the case of Hitler and Mussolini, propaganda clips are shown without benefit of translation or perspective on what is being shown, but to those who are familiar with the war's history, just seeing the dictators in action unfiltered may be of interest. Some peculiar films shown in Britain that ridiculed the Nazis by reversing the footage to show storm troopers goose-stepping backwards are markedly unfunny in retrospect, but their inclusion does show how people obviously miscalculated the growing danger. Perhaps the most interesting material in this video features U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose famed "yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy" speech delivered to a joint session of Congress is here shown in its entirety. Roosevelt also is seen delivering his devastatingly sarcastic speech lampooning Republicans who attacked "my little dog Fala," and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is also seen in a variety of newsreels. This video doesn't present a very coherent narrative, but it does succeed at its intent, which is to package uncut material that hasn't been seen in decades.
--Robert J. McNamara
