Product Details

• Actors: Max Raphael, Harlan Saperstein
• Directors: Bruce Nash
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 14
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E Home Video (New REleaset)
• DVD Release Date: May 27, 2008
• Run Time: 2115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0015XASV2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,203 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The History Channel Presents The Best of Modern Marvels" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

BEST OF MODERN MARVELS MEGASET - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of death and destruction, October 21, 2008

By 

K. Gittins (CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The History Channel Presents The Best of Modern Marvels (DVD)

This is about 35 hours of documentaries from the History Channel's "Modern Marvels" series. Most of the disks have four 45-minute episodes made up of about a half dozen disasters per episode.

The first 4 or 5 disks are mostly death-and-destruction. The disasters range from drilling into a salt dome under a lake (oops!), 600 people dying in fire at the over-crowded Cocoanut Grove nightclub, airplane crashes, bridge collapses, building collapses, dam collapses, mine fires, tanker and paddlewheeler explosions, tower collapses, and...well, you get the idea.

Many of the disasters were a culmination of a series of little errors here and there that finally added up to the big problem, while some were (as one person explains) a "failure of Construction 101" in the case of a parking structure collapse.

Other episodes are more benign "Modern Marvels", such as rubber, distilleries, candy, monumental buildings and bridges, high-tech sex, and toilet tech :-)

The minor negatives include the narrator's delivery which uses too many dramatic pauses so that you don't really...know when he has finished...speaking. Also, there is no episode guide booklet, and the individual DVD cases are a little vague as to the exact contents.

I bought this when it was on one of Amazon's sales, and it worked out to less than three bucks per disk. At the regular going price, it is probably still a good value.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NOT the best of, December 9, 2009

By 

D. Wayne (Wilkes Barre, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The History Channel Presents The Best of Modern Marvels (DVD)

I love documentaries, and Modern Marvels in particular. To my disappointment, this box set was just OK.

First, as mentioned before, the first four or five discs are all about Engineering Disasters, and I even think one of the disasters runs on two of the dvds. Though they are alright, they aren't Modern Marvel episodes.

Second, the episodes that are Modern Marvels aren't the BEST. I can think of two episodes I really wanted to see ... Salt Mines, and Oil Refineries ... aren't on here. 7 of the episodes are about Bridges, and not the bridges you really want to see. Over all, for $30, it is ok.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Modern Marvels, April 6, 2009

By 

Rextrent (Wichita, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The History Channel Presents The Best of Modern Marvels (DVD)

If you enjoy Modern Marvels: Technical and How-They-Do-It documentaries;
this is great. Several disaster episodes and one with a sex-theme which should have been replaced with something more consistent. However, if you get a good price for this huge collection, it won't matter.