Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300142256
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #641,634 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars Frank Capra's documentary on the RAF's defense of Britain, May 1, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Battle of Britain [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Battle of Britain" was the fourth part of Frank Capra's celebrated "Why We Fight" series. Made during World War II when Capra was a major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, these documentaries are the supreme example of American propaganda during World War II (the term "propaganda" being used in the neutral sense that existed at the time, not the pejorative it received because of Josef Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda in Nazi Germany).

Originally the films were used to explain the government's policy to the troops that were hastily assembled after Pearl Harbor to be trained and sent overseas to fight. You have to remember that American had been an isolationist nation in the period between the two world wars and what Capra does that is so masterful is convince viewers that Americans were leaning towards supporting the English and entering the war before the Japanese attack made the matter moot. Eventually the "Why We Fight" series was shown to the public in theaters and today they remain a prime source of archival footage for the period.

"The Battle of Britain" was released in 1943 and is one of the transitional volume in the series with regards to the war in Europe as the British make a desperate last stand against the Nazi Luftwaffe. This 54-minute black & white documentary is narrated by Walter Huston and starts with Hitler entering Paris and then looking across the English Channel at his next victim. Inspired by the speeches of Winston Churchill, the presence of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force, the British simply refused to quit in the face of an onslaught of air attacks of the Blitz.

Writer Anthony Veiller ("Stage Door," "The Killers") worked as an uncredited director on "The Battle of Britain" along with Capra. "The Battle of Britain" is followed by "The Battle of Russia," which Hitler betrays his Soviet allies and forces his army to fight a two front war. In 2000 the "Why We Fight" series was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

5.0 out of 5 stars ENGLANDS STANDS ALONE AGAINST THE NAZI AIR ONSLAUGHT, December 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Battle of Britain [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Marvelous war footage. England stands solid in face of the blitzkrieg. Wave after wave of Luftwaffe sorties try to bomb the island off the map but the British grit their teeth and endure with nothing more than their spirit and Churchill's speeches to drive them on.

Frank Capra brought all of his filmaking skills to bear on a great series of documentaries. The "Why We Fight" catalog of inspirational films and others were made to make our nation understand the reasons our sons and daughters were being put in uniform and why the nation was making great sacrifices to defeat enemies few of us had ever seen or knew much about. Th eseires also shows what we could, would and were doing to bring World War II to a proper end.