Customer Reviews

V for Victory: Guadalcanal [VHS]

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

 

 

This, the second in a 1988 multi-volume series of newsreel-based documentaries hosted by two very well-respected newsmen, Edwin Newman and Eric Sevareid, very well illustrates both the strengths and shortcomings involved with using newsreels as a basis for following history. Since one of the purposes of newsreel is to both inform and yet support the folks back home, very often the coverage is slanted to accentuate the positive and neglect the horrific aspects of the conflict. As such, they are hardly the stuff of comprehensive and unbiased coverage of the particular historical events. Yet they are also a treasure trove for capturing the tenor and atmosphere of the times. This is shown here for anyone familiar with the specifics of the so-called Solomons campaign in this second installment of the "V for Victory" series. The American counterattack,which climaxes in the pitched struggle for Guadalcanal.

Thus, "Guadalcanal and the Pacific Counterattack" provides a story line by utlizing the original black and white newsreel stories shown in public theaters during WWII. Beginning with the surprising and ballsy American ambush and victory in the naval engagement at the Battle of Midway, we see the origins of what soon became an island-hopping campaign that was both singularly ingenuous and yet also extremely costly and bloody. The footage shown provides us with a thread of narrative, yet glances over the terrible cost in human lives and ruined futures for the combatants. It was clear from the onset of the campaign that victory at Guadalcanal was paramount in mounting the continuing offensive that finally resulted in the retaking of the Phillipines and Okinawa.

While concentrating on the individual battles on the various islands, the episode also provides background glimpses of the leaders and soldiers propelling the offensive so successfully toward its final objectives, and also takes a heart-rending look at what was happening on the home front all the while in order to support our combatants. By relying almost exclusively on newsreel footage, the episode provides us with a moment in history (warts and all) by giving us an opportunity to see these newsreels verbatim, and in their entirety. This, as I mentioned above, has both advantages and disadvantages, but it does provide one with a glimpse of the war available nowhere else. Enjoy!