Customer Reviews

War in the Pacific:Volume 01 [VHS]

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The video lasts 52 minutes. It was made in 1942-43. John Ford is the director. It's more of a propaganda film than an actual documentary (entirely understandable in 1942). It's divided into two parts:

DECEMBER 7:
Black and White. The film is somewhat dark and hazy. There's a lot of actual footage from the attack on Pearl Harbor, along with some Hollywood reenactment thrown in. All in all, it hangs together pretty well. 24 minutes is devoted to the actual attack, with another 10 minutes devoted to the aftermath and clean up.

THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY:
Color. Much better film quality, but again, more propagandizing than actual documentary. About 10 minutes is devoted to the Japanese attack on Midway Island, and only about 2 minutes to the subsequent Naval engagement. Another 6 minutes is devoted to the aftermath.

The film is interesting in that it was made so soon after the events depicted. We get a good notion of how people felt at the time. It suffers from myopia in that we don't get much of an overall understanding of how the battles were fought, and what significance they had. (By contrast, the "Victory at Sea" series was put together some 10 years later, when the significance of Midway was much better understood. It gives a more detailed and comprehensive account of the battle.)

I thought the video was "OK", but I won't buy any more in the series.