Customer Reviews

The Korea: The Forgotten War

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hsaving served during the Korean War, the DVDs brought back memories. Some of the merories I would just as soon forget. The coverage of the war was excellent. It provided information that was not normally known by those who served outside of Korean. The DVDs provided a good idea of the mountainous country our service men and to climb and the difficulties the mountains provided. It provided good coverage of both the ground and air operations and the value of each.

The Korean War has been terribly under-represented in both print and documentary. The late David Halberstam's work, "The Coldest Winter," should hopefully rekindle some interest in it. This war certainly deserves better than this documentary. As typical of Timeless Media, this is really a series of newsreels of with a heavy dose of propaganda (decisively anti-Communist as a sign of the McCarthy era) trying to pass itself off as a "documentary" to the unsuspecting buyer. While slightly better than "The Great War: WWI" another disappointing production of Timeless Media, it is, by no means, definitive.

Those seeking a more comprehensive examination of the Korean conflict would be better served by other series available elsewhere like, for instance, "The History Channel." Buyer Beware...$9.99 is too much to pay for this set; I purchased mine at Ross-Dress for Less for only $4.99.

This is another great package at a great price made by timeless media. This one has all of the Universal newsreels in chronological order. This serves to present you with something nostalgic, but also to show the propaganda that the american public was shown. You only get half the story here from the standpoint of the us military censors. This does include some great footage, but mostly in rear areas. This is a must have for Korean war history, even though other sources are needed for an accurate representation.

Recently developed a strong interest in learning as much as possible about the Korean War. Watched a few good series on PBS and the History Channel, so I went looking for DVDs on Amazon. Really disappointed in this offering. Here's why:

The product description states the program is "a collection of documentary footage." In fact, it is a collection of newsreel shorts they used to play in movie theaters between features. I guess you could describe that as documentary footage, but it is not documentary in the traditional sense of the term. This is slightly misleading.

Everything else about the offering (packaging, quality of film-to-video transfer) was completely first-rate.

If you are interested in the newsreel shorts produced during the Korean War, then this will be a valuable addition to your collection. For my money, did not find it interesting at all.

Primarily a series of old newsreels. Did not provide an accurate chronological depiction of the war.

I missed the real impact of the Korean War because I was working as a reporter in the Middle East. The DVD came up recently and I seized the opportunity to see the "forgotten" war, or in my case "missed" war. The DVD is based on consecutive newsreels which tell the story of how the war started, the allies who fought, the McArthur situation, and how the war ended, setting up a political situation that is with us today. A great DVD for students, the curious and veterans. Highly recommended.

This is the worst documentary DVD I have ever purchased and I have many. I wanted to learn as much as I could on the Korean Conflict and all I got was this... This is a U.S. propaganda film and nothing more. It is more about the people (from the US point of view which is slanted at the least) and NOTHING on the war, the strategy and the why. I tried to return it to Amazon but could not due to time of purchase. I wish I could get my money back!

Despite less than perfect quality, this collection of 1950s-era film news clips about the Korean War is ideal for those interested in scenes of the war not often depicted in more recent documentaries. Worth the price.

This set has been maligned by some reviewers for being propaganda from the Cold War and to a degree it is, but still the basics of the conflict are presented. If you want an accurate overview of the Korean War, get the Timeless Media Group set "Korea: The Forgotten War" (I know, they're all called that - you'll have to look for the studio name); that set gives the basic rundown of the war with interviews of veterans and historians. For my part, I have plenty of books on the Korean War to get an idea of what it was about; I wanted films from that era, free from editing, and that's what this set is. This set is a collection of installments of "The Big Picture", a TV show produced by the Army to show the folks at home what Korea was like. The Pusan Perimeter, the battle of Taejon, the retreat from the Yalu in the bitter cold are all covered. So if you want scenes of the same tank rolling past some trees over and over again with commentary by fat, smug historians, get the Timeless Media Group set; if you want the original footage, get this one. I've watched mine several times already.

This was compiled from U.S. Army propaganda footage which softens the true reality of war. It gives good information, but misses on capturing just how intense the fighting was, i.e. "The Bowling Alley" seems to be missing. And the beginning of the war is not portayed correctly, although it does reflect how time was bought until we stood ground at the Pusan Parameter long enough for heavy tanks to arrive, etc. that allowed us to turn the war. Since I haven't compared it to other videos I do not want to be too critical. I wanted to experience, for example, what it might have been like to drive a tank as they were so important, but we weren't even shown inside of a Tank, etc. One last point - the Video fails to honestly explain how the Chinese gave us a day to engage in one of the largest mass evacuations by ship in a short duration perhaps in the history of warfare. Our Marines by the Chosen Resevoir had to fight their way in adverse conditions and losing half their force to make it to the Third Army that was preparing its evacuation to avoid an all out armed conflict with the Chinese Army who had come to the assistance of the North Koreans. Our intelligence failures about the involvement and impact of China's involvement is too down played.