Product Details

• Actors: Robert Mitchum, Ali MacGraw, Jan-Michael Vincent, John Houseman, Polly Bergen
• Producers: Barbara Steele, Branko Lustig
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 7
• Studio: Paramount Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 25, 1997
• Run Time: 883 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (116 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792110803
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,507 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #1 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Television > Winds of War - War & Remembrance
  #3 in	Video > Military & War > War Epics
  #3 in	Video > Boxed Sets > Military & War

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
An engrossing, 1983 television miniseries based on a bestselling work of historical fiction by Herman Wouk, The Winds of War is an admirable production reminiscent of the era of Hollywood's epic features. At the center of the globe-trotting story is the Henry family, whose laconic but straight-shooting patriarch is United States Navy Commander Victor "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum), sent to Hitler's Berlin in the spring of 1939 as a naval attaché to the then-neutral American embassy. A keen observer, Pug deduces that Germany is not preparing for war on two fronts (western Europe on one side, Russia on the other) despite what the Nazis want the world to believe, meaning that Hitler must be working out a secret peace deal with Stalin. Pug's prescience makes him a favorite eyewitness in Berlin for Franklin D. Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy); the irony is that Pug is far less sagacious when it comes to the realities of his family.

Polly Bergen plays unhappy wife Rhoda, who turns to A-bomb developer Palmer Kirby (Peter Graves) for comfort. Pug's 19-year-old daughter, Madeline (Lisa Eilbacher), defies her iron-willed dad's decision that she stay in school by taking a job for CBS radio in New York. Compliant son Warren (Ben Murphy) can't seem to get Pug's attention despite doing everything right (including becoming a Navy pilot, eventually present at the bombing of Pearl Harbor). By contrast, Pug spends more time fuming over black sheep son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent), who is working in increasingly Fascist Italy as an assistant to an art historian (John Houseman) while trying hard to woo the latter's exasperating niece, Natalie (Ali MacGraw). The story of Byron and Natalie takes up much of The Winds of War as the pair traverse Poland during the shock of Hitler's 1939 assault, and Jewish Natalie later finds herself trapped inside Italy facing the threat of concentration camps. Before The Winds of War ends, each of these characters will end up in places and situations, and with historical figures (Churchill, Mussolini) as well as ordinary people, they would not have anticipated outside the pressures of war. The program's length and smart script allow for a lot of ideas and background detail that pull a viewer in--happily. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

109 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive mini-series-- Outstanding!, October 2, 2000

By	Baltic Books "Vic" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

Herman Wouk wrote an absolute masterpiece. Winds of War is without a doubt the very best historical novel in the war genre. Dan Curtis equally directs the benchmark that mini-series will be measured by for years to come.

Casting for Winds of War was perfect when it came to matching Wouk's characters. Despite the age differences Ali McGraw and Jan-Michael Vincent were absolutely perfect as the independent and fickle Natali Jastrow and the bull-headed Byron Henry. Robert Mitchum is the glue that holds the story together in a flawless performance as Victor "Pug" Henry, the man that meets everyone that is anyone in his role as a Naval Attache stationed in Berlin in the pre-World War II years. One of the best ever ensemble casts include stand-outperformances by Polly Bergen as Pug Henry's hard-drinking wife Rhoda, not to mention Topol, David Dukes, Victoria Tennant and John Houseman.

Winds of War has become a semi-annual event for our family. It is simply so entertaining that it never grows tiresome. The historical value alone makes it worth having in your home library.

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great min-series that stays true to the book., March 23, 2000

By	Archie Mercer "Archie" (Yorba Linda, CA) - See all my reviews

I first read The Winds of War by Herman Wouk back around 1972. The book just absolutely grabbed me. When I heard that ABC was filming a mini-series I was a little skeptical. Very few "made for TV" movies from books really capture the true feel of the original work. THIS ONE DOES! First of all it has a great cast. Robert Mitchum was just awsome as Comander Pug Henry. Both Jan Michael Vincent and Ali McGraw were credable as older actors playing young adults. Polly Bergen, John Houseman, and Peter Graves round out an exceptional cast. The fictional account of a family caught up within historical events continues to draw my attention, even though I have watch this many times since it originally came out. Some of the many highlights include the special effects of the bombing of London, the Japanesse attack on Pearl Harbor, and the wonderful re-creation of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Hitler by Ralph Bellamy and crew. In comparing this series to War and Remembrance, which was the sequal in both book and mini-series, I would have to give the nod to this as the better. If you're looking for an accurate and riviting account of the early years of WW II, then grab this up. Yes, the cost is high but it's well worth it.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well done, Paramount, July 6, 2004

By	James Luckard (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Winds of War (DVD)

Paramount deserves major congratulations for doing right by The Winds of War with their DVD release.

I was anxious to make sure this DVD measured up, so I watched it with my old VHS playing at the same time, and switched back and forth occasionally on the remote to see the difference. It's nothing less than astonishing. The old Winds videos look unwatchable when compared to the new image, which probably looks as close as possible to the way it was shot.

This is, of course, a TV miniseries from 1983, long before anyone imagined the resolution of DVD, so it's not going to look perfect. Still, almost every time I switched to the VHS, then back, I literally said "wow." Colors are distinct and deep, details are sharp and the variously-colored hazes that afflicted most of the VHS are gone. Having only seen the series this way, the DVDs were a revelation. These discs represent what is best about DVD and its success, bringing a long-quiet catalog title back to life.

Although Paramount usually mixes new 5.1 audio tracks for their old films, with 15 hours of film here, they can't be blamed for leaving the existing mono tracks, which are certainly decent and don't detract at all from viewing the film. (I can't understand the other reviewer who gave the DVD set one star, largely because of the audio. Doesn't he understand how prohibitively expensive a new sound mix of that length, for such a complex series, would have been? We're very lucky with what we've got.)

Paramount also fixed some framing mistakes on the VHS edition. Large portions of episodes 5, 6 and 7 were noticeably off-center when compared to the re-aligned DVDs. This had never caught my attention before, but when flipping back and forth, I could see that the tops of people's heads were actually lopped off quite frequently on the VHS.

I've read horror stories of missing scenes when TV shows find their way to DVD, so I was especially anxious to be sure that wasn't the case. Rest assured, every moment of the VHS version is here. The only difference is that the commercial break spots have now been lengthened to about five seconds, where they were almost instant cuts on the VHS. This gives more of a breather between acts, which I totally approve of. (As for the other reviewer who found scenes that were not on their old VHS, I can't imagine what they were watching, but it wasn't the official Paramount 7 VHS set, which was identical to this new DVD in film content.)

The extras are also pretty thorough for a title that's clearly not going to sell millions of units. There are a series of featurettes that actually run into a pretty comprehensive feature-length documentary. Almost all the surviving cast and crew are interviewed, with the standout being series producer/director Dan Curtis. Just what a labor of love the series was for him is quickly apparent, and he has wonderfully clear memories of the production, which he is given ample time to share.

Bravo, Paramount, for giving this landmark miniseries the careful treatment it deserved.