Customer Reviews

The Revolutionary War

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

An excellant effort to portay the events and circumstances surrounding this period of American History. This 3 volume set is on par and I believe equivalent to the PBS Series titled Liberty, which I also own. However, this production appears more focused on the military strategies and ensuing battles. Indeed, most of the historians interviewed for the series contain a sound military knowledge. If you want to study the political environment surrounding the American Revolution, purchase Liberty, if your interest is on the major battles of the war, then purchase The Revolutionary War.

Be warned: This two-hour documentary IS NOT the excellent 6-hour series with the same title that was produced by Carol Fleisher, narrated by Charles Kuralt, and televised by The Learning Channel (TLC). This is a greatly inferior version which is being misidentified as the Kuralt program; I know because I bought it and am now returning it to the seller. It is laughably bad. The TLC Kuralt series is currently unavailable in VHS as of 8/06. As another reviewer here corrected advised, SAVE YOUR MONEY, not to mention your time and trouble, and do not buy this one.

This is just plain bad. Frederick Douglass wasn't born until around 1817, but the camera pans in on his portrait as the narrator talks about African American involvement in the war. We see old Hollywood footage of wild Indians hooting and hollering when the narrator discusses Native American contributions. If that isn't bad enough, the footage keeps rolling when the discussion switches to Jewish Americans in the Revolution. This video - extended play by the way - was conceived in an unfortunately slipshod manner. The grandfatherly sounding narrator's effort may be earnest, but he is obviously an amateur (or at least the awful editing makes him come off as an amateur). All in all, this is just a long encyclopedia article read aloud with lots of stills. If you are looking for a video series on the American Revolution, you should get "Liberty!" It is a far better attempt at rendering a compelling and dynamic description of America's War for Independence.

In response to the criticism above, the narrator is not THE Charles Kurault, but THE Jack Hanrahan (who does sound a lot like Kurault).

I haven't seen the video, but I have recently seen it on the military channel and it is an excellent documentary with the wonderful narration
of Charles Kuralt. I am writing this to bring the star ratings up as Amazon seems to include many reviews that don't pertain to the product advertised, unless it is one of those stupid reviews where people rate a product based on the fact that they never received it, how ridiculous is that?

Though primarily focussed on the militery aspects of the war, it does give basic background to the conflict.

Overall, nicely narrated, excellant use of reenactors, interviews of historians balanced and nice, participants nicely quoated from.

A most infomrative and enjoyable set of videos to watch.

In regards to reveiw one, the narrator for this film is Charles Kurault. The Charles Kurault. Amatuer- I don't think so.