Customer Reviews

When It Was a Game 1 & 2 Giftset [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"When it was a Game" ranks up there as one of my favorite baseball films, and I have owned a copy on VHS since it came out in 1992. I have enjoyed watching the outstanding footage and listening to the insightful comentary dozens upon dozens of times. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to purchase the DVD when it was released earlier this year. HOWEVER, it should be noted that this edition differs significantly from the original VHS tape: Certain segments were either omitted, shortened, or entirely different. This is not to say that the changes are for the worse, but rather to warn anyone who thinks they are purchasing an exact duplicate of the VHS, which the title seems to imply.

I sometimes dream in black and white, and when I do, I'm usually watching an old baseball game, one played before there was TV, even. Doubtless my dreams are influenced by all the old books I read as a kid, and from watching "When It Was a Game" when it originally aired on HBO a decade ago. I decided to buy the DVD for myself after seeing some of the memorabilia from the Baseball Hall of Fame currently on display in the "Baseball As America" exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.

And while many of the players and ballparks captured on film here were gone long before I was born, I recognized most of them anyway. I especially thrilled in seeing the black & white footage from the 1934 World Series -- the hard slides, the beanballs, the old-school herky-jerky pitching deliveries -- and the color footage from the '38 Series at Wrigley Field. Here you also get to see the fabled Green Monster at Fenway Park, before it was either Green, or called "Monster" -- covered in billboards for razor blades or Lifebuoy soap.

If I had to complain, I'd say that for a beginning or casual fan, the footage presented is confusing at first, since graphics and explanatory voiceovers are kept to a minimum in the first twenty minutes. Eventually, however, all the ballparks shown are identified by name, as are many of the players. The narration is misty-eyed and minimal, and not all of the poems or literary passages recited may be to your liking. However, it should be understood that HBO is quite adept at this form of documentary, and "When It Was A Game" was at the forefront of the HBO revolution. And it's also hard to argue with hearing Burgess Whitehead and Eldon Auker and Tommy Henrich speak for themselves.

Go out and watch "When It Was A Game" for yourself -- with the sound on, painting a word-picture of a time you can no longer see for yourself, or even with the sound off, just to look at the footage (Pepper Martin's juggling trick has to have been done with mirrors!). Then when someone asks you what you watched on TV yesterday, you can say, "Oh, the 1934 World Series..."

I never saw this on HBO so I can't compare the DVD to that as some other reviewers have done. All I can say is that even my husband who is not a baseball fan was touched!

Technically amazing, I'm sure lots of this old footage had to be cleaned up for acceptable production quality. How did they dig up all this great footage? The prose/poetry voiceovers are pivotal to create that misty sweet nostalgia for the old game.

A little too heavy on the Yanks, even though, yes, they did dominate during this time period. Bonus is additional voiceover interviews from stars such as Enos Slaughter discussing opponents, teammates, the hometown crowd, and the rigors of travel. Wonderful footage of the Gashouse Gang and early immortals such as Ty Cobb and Cy Young!

if you have even a passing interest in the history of baseball do not hesitate...BUY THIS DVD NOW! incredible footage of the classic ballparks and the past greats of the game.i was left wishing that when it was a game 2 was available on dvd.(it is available on vhs)one of the best shorts that HBO has ever done!

This video is for the serious baseball fan only! Fairweather and part time baseball fans will find it boring! Probably the best I ever seen!

I'll keep this short. If you are a baseball fan (you're a dying breed) then you will love this. This series magically takes you back in time to a place where the game was played for sport and pride and not money. Before free agency there was a thing called respect. Baseball helped to make hard times a little easier and to forgot lifes troubles for awhile. Buy this DVD and show your children what sports used to be. What men used to be.

I found this video for 5 dollars at a college bookstore several years ago and is played at least once a year during the season. It's great to see Ted Williams and Willie Mays on color film instead of black and white highlight reels. The voice overs are well done (Narration and the "interviews") This is a must have video for all fans.

Incredible DVD. James Earl Jones' voice overs are great. It's only of 8 and 16mm video footage with NOTHING else! What a great way to watch a movie! It's very well done, lots of cool little facts and tidbits about the good ol days. For example, before the 1940s, players used to just leave their gloves on the field when they went in to bat. They even have footage showing this. Something you never would've known or seen otherwise. I can't wait for the other 2 to come out on DVD!

If you like baseball you will like this movie. It gives footage, IN COLOR, of some of baseball's most beloved moments and most beloved teams. It brings everything to life for you. Whether your an adult and want to relive the memories or a child and want to see it for the first time, When It was the Game is the DVD for you. Also, if you like this, try When It was a Game 2 and When It Was a Game 3.

Before greed, free agency, outrageous player salaries, performance enhancing drugs, smaller ballparks, closers, pitch counts, five-man rotations, and the 2002 All-Star Game tie, there was a game called baseball where stadiums generally were much bigger than today's stadiums (with a few exceptions), pitchers took the mound every fourth day, there were no pitch counts, no closers, no performance enhancing drugs, no free agency, no $250,000,000 contracts, and the All-Star Game never ended in a wimpy tie. Yes, those were the good old days of baseball. When It Was A Game shows, in color, baseball's golden past. Color 8 mm and 16 mm home movie footage taken by fans and players between 1934 and 1957 is presented here. In fact, this whole program is composed of this rare color footage. You'll see footage of the 1938 World Series at Wrigley Field in color. You'll see such legends as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Roy Campanella, Hank Aaron, Dizzy Dean, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, and many others. You'll see a lot of the old stadiums, such as Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., the Polo Grounds in New York, and many others.

Watch baseball during its golden age. Watch this DVD. Not only does it show how baseball was in those days, it also shows how the U.S. was in those days.