Customer Reviews

National Geographic Video - The Battle for Midway [VHS]

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Robert Ballard who has done similar work on the Bismark and the Titanic sets his sights on the USS Yorktown which was lost in the final hours of the Battle of Midway, June 1942. He brings along members of the Yorktown crew and members of one of the Japanese carriers also sunk in the battle. The initial search for the Japanese carrier is hampered by defective equiptment. Finally giving up Ballard moves on to the Yorktown. He is successful in finding the ship. The pictures of the Yorktown are amazing. The program is in documentary format, going back and forth from a history of the battle, a history of the passengers, to the modern day attempt to locate the ships.

Anyone interested in WW2, Naval history, Ocean exploration, or human interest stories will find this program engrossing.

The DVD also contains added extras of pictures and another program which make it worth the price.

Robert Ballard, locater of the Titanic, Bismarck, and the lost fleet of Guadalcal, has ventured to the Pacific island of Midway, site of perhaps the greatest naval battle ever fought. As per his previous expeditions, Ballard has brought along both Japanese and American survivors in the hopes of finding the American carrier Yorktown, and the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu. Ballard fails to find the Japanese carriers, but he succeeds in finding the "Fighting Lady", the U.S.S Yorktown, resting 17,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The ship is in immaculate condition considering it has been submerged for 50+ years. The video has excellent original battle footage, as well as the complete story of the expedition. If you enjoy World War II history, check out this video. You won't be disappointed.

National Geographic has always been known for the quality of its work in all fields, but in this particular show I believe they have gone beyond the expectations. I cannot begin to describe how happy I was to see this documentary the first time. It is divided into two sections that are intercut, one being on a ship with Dr. Ballard (Found the Titanic) looking for the Yorktown and the Japanese carriers sunk at Midway, and the other is a recreation of the actual Battle of Midway through historical footage. What is best about this particular work is it fairness to both sides. Within the historical sections of the video, it portrays both the Japanese and American sides in what I would call a fair and accurate light. No side is made up of monsters and no side is completely innocent. On the modern side of the story, it is wonderful to see the interactions between the Japanese and American veterans that are on the ship with Ballard during the search. It is an important reminder to us all that on both sides the people fighting on the ground were just that, people. They were young men fighting for their country. A particularly touching part of the episode is when the Americans join the Japanese veterans in asking the soul's of their fallen comrades to rest peacefully and offering them flowers brought from Japan. There are too many excellent points about this video to list here. I think anyone interested in World War II will love this episode.

The Battle for Midway is an excellent documentary. Inter-woven in the story of the modern-day search for the sunken carriers USS Yorktown and the Japanese Kagi are the stories of veterans who lived through it and the military strategies behind one of the most important turning points of World War II. The most compelling part of the documentary for me, however, is the constant reminder of the terrible price of our freedom we enjoy today. In one day alone over 1,400 young men gave their lives in the Battle for Midway. The film does an excellent job of portraying what was asked of an extrodinary generation of young men and women from around the world. The cost was tremendous and this film is a good reminder of that and in my opinion should be mandatory viewing in high school history classes.

National Geographic does it again. A great story with excellent cinematography.

Robert Ballard, actually found the site of the sunken aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown. I think what I liked best was this documentary not only details Ballard's challenge in finding the Yorktown, which rests three miles below the surface, a mile deeper than the Titanic, but also provides an intelligent and gripping narrative of the Battle of Midway, in which four Japanese carriers were also sent to the bottom in a furious day of fighting that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific Four veterans, two Japanese and two Americans, who had been involved in the decisive 1942 battle also joined in the search. I also enjoyed the Special feature of WW2 cameramen. Fascinating!

The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war in the Pacific. As such, the results of that battle affect us still today. Though most people would seldom ever even think of it that way, some of us do and a program like this one helps us to better identify with the events and their aftermath.

The actual subject of this program is an expedition by Dr. Robert Ballard of TITANIC fame. He leads an expedition to find the carriers that were sunk in the battle of Midway. He is particularly interested in the YORKTOWN of the US Navy and the KAGA of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The search for these ships is interesting enough in its own right but this program adds another level of interest. Four survivors from the battle, 2 American and 2 Japanese, are along for the ride. Throughout the program, these men offer their memories and reflections. This is interspersed with period footage. The effect is a quite good documentary about the battle of Midway with a marine archeological expedition thrown in for good measure.

The search for the ships is not without is own difficulties. The locations of the wrecks were not certain. The depth, over three miles, caused problems with the search equipment. This program helps to demonstrate how difficult finding a marine wreck can be. The results are not a foregone conclusion.

Searching for the watery grave of the U.S.S. Yorktown, Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic as well as the Bismark, went deeper into the ocean than ever before to find the sunken aircraft carrier. Five U.S. (and four Japanese) carriers were destroyed near the outpost of Midway, and the recent footage for this expedition is contrasted with film from May and June of 1942; some of it is by director John Ford, who made two documentaries, one for the public called "The Battle of Midway", and for the families of the brave servicemen who never returned, "Torpedo Squadron", and this film includes several clips from them; they are in color, and of good quality, making it unusual WWII footage.

There are four veterans on Ballard's expedition, two from the U.S., and two from Japan, to witness the search, help pinpoint the location, and re-live their past. Over coffee and memorabilia, they "explore their own landscape of memory, and loss".
Produced and directed by Brian Breger and Peter Schnall, with music by Michael Whalen and narrated by Peter Coyote, total running time is 82 minutes.
Those who have watched the 1976 epic film "Midway", and are interested in the Pacific Theater of WWII, where some of the most tragic and dramatic events in world history took place, will find this film fascinating; it is an eerie, emotional testament to heroism, courage, and the agony of war.

This has some of the best World War 2 footage I have seen. Its basically a documentary that jumps back and forth from telling and showing pictures of the Battle for Midway, and the search the sunken american aircraft carrier Yorktown, along with a short snipet on a unsucessful search for a Japanese carrier. This dvd also has some great addons, such as a look at what the cameramen of WWII went through to capture some of the great images. If you have any interest in WWII this a great DVD to add to your collection.

In June 1942, off a tiny island called Midway, one of the great battles of all time was fought. The battle ended in a smashing american victory. This video tells about the battle that changed the course of the second world war as welll as an expedition led by Robert Ballard in 1998 that located the U.S.S Yorktown. Includes interviews with both american and japanese survivors as well as footage of the Yorktown as she appears today. For more info on midway, get the Compainon book Return to Midway.

We can appreciate this gigantic fight through film made by John Ford. Excellent bonus program : COMBAT CAMERAMAN. This track represents maybe the most emotional scene of this splendid DVD