Customer Reviews

Winds of War [VHS]

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Ok, like many other reviewers of this "mini-series"/movie, I have to begin my review with unmitigated praise for Herman Wouk's book of the same title. Well-researched, well-written, and with nearly perfect character and plot development that is flawlessly set in the world's greatest modern drama, Winds of War deserves every accolade heaped upon it.
The movie, not so much. Don't get me wrong, it's entertaining, but it does not accomplish what the book accomplishes. It is not as artisic, as educational, as well-paced, or as engrossing. Wouk apparantly wrote the teleplay: thank goodness, at least someone didn't tamper with his work. The movie flows through the same general plot twists and turns as does the novel, and I even recognized some of the dialogue. My wife and I viewed this in nightly installments over a week or so, and really looked forward to it.
This is a star-studded ensemble cast, so I can't review the film without addressing the casting and the acting. The acting is hot or cold. Whoever put Robert Mitchum in the Pug Henry role absolutely nailed it, and there are several other good calls: Topol as Berel Jastrow was a no-brainer; Ralph Bellamy is a convincing enough FDR (tough role); and, Victoria Tennant is simply yummy as Pamela Tudsbury (and she ends the argument that, family man though I am, Pug needs to dump that bat-s*** Rhoda and start over). But, then there is the comic relief trifecta of Ali McGraw, Jan Michael Vincent, and John Houseman (who often appear together as Natalie, Byron, and Aaron, respectively). Houseman just seems to sleep walk through his lines while doing his best John Houseman impersonation. Vincent is one of those middle shelf actors who you want to like more than you do, and is never really challenged to do much other than act like a guy who would look like Jan Michael Vincent; he does ok. Then there is Ali McGraw, whose performance in this film caused me to question, with inconclusive results, what she ever did besides marry the coolest guy ever (Steve McQueen). She acts as though she is reciting her lines from cue cards, and there is never a logical relationship between the content or context of her lines and the look on her pretty but harshly-set face. No kidding, her role just about drove my wife and I from finishing the mini-series until we realized how much fun we were having in imitating her and relishing in how bad she was.
Overall, I think that the teleplay turned out as good as it could, given the challenge of reducing the epic novel to the small screen. The novel is just too big of a story to fully allow this to happen, and I found myself explaining things to my wife (who had not read the book) in order for certain developments to make sense. Settings and special effects are good enough, as long as expectations are set for a 1980's made-for-TV production.
Here's a bit of trivia: the actor playing Adolf Hitler also played "Mr. Slugworth" in the Willy Wonka movie.
My advice: read the book, then watch the series. But definitely do both.

Because I read the book years before this became a production, I waited with anticipation. This time the author Herman Wouk made sure that the book was faithfully recreated. I found the result and the theme music immensely pleasurable in spite of some critics who labelled it "World at Bore."

The story centers on one family just before the start of World War II when Victor "Pug" Henry is assigned as a naval attache to Berlin. The events of the world swallow up this navy family as the reader follows the other family members around the world at war. You learn about the people they meet, political and personal.

The acting and character roles are an excellent match from A to Z with the exception of the letters A and M for Ali McGraw. Although she fits the description of Natalie Jastrow, her acting requires someone behind the curtain with a very long cane. Truly, she pulls off one scene so poorly, it will give you the chills of embarrassment. Her redemption comes in the form of the other actors such as Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Victoria Tennant, and John Houseman. These actors play their characters superbly.

This story, book or DVD is an epic. For this one, you turn off the phone, turn down the lights, get the popcorn ready, and get set to be entertained. It would help if you have a healthy love and knowledge of history, particularly World War II.

Your only disappointment may be the realization that the end leaves you in mid plot, and you will have to get the sequel, "War and Remembrance" if you want to find out what happens to everyone.

This is a stunning sweep of history, time, people and events. The Winds of War Soar.

Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War" is based on the conceit of the Henry family, who manage to be in most of the "right" places as the United States heads for Pearl Harbor and involvement in World War II. Rugged "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) travels with his flighty wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) to Berlin where he is assigned as the military attaché to the American Embassy. Because of an acquaintance with Brigadier General Armin von Roon (Jeremy Kemp) of the Germany army, Pug has the opportunity to learn enough about what the Nazis are doing to make an official report predicting that Hitler is going to make a pact with the Soviet Union. Because he is right, Pug is summoned to Washington, D.C. to meet with Franklin Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy), and becomes an unofficial envoy for the President. Meanwhile, son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) is in Europe working as an assistant to the scholar Aaron Jastrow (John Houseman), son Warren (Ben Murphy) is training as a naval aviator, and daughter Madeline (Lisa Eilbacher) ends up getting a job working on a radio show. With these relatively few pieces Wouk covers the invasion of Poland, the German attack on the Soviets, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Wouk wrote the script for the 1983 mini-series, directed by Dan Curtis, and one of the major strengths of "The Winds of War" is that it takes its time in telling the story of the Henrys and the Second World War (this would be even more true in the sequel, "War and Remembrance," which it seemed every episode had a great set piece). For example, in the second episode there is an extended sequence in which several main characters are caught up with American embassy personnel fleeing Warsaw during the German invasion. They are brought by the Germans to a warehouse where they are fed, then lined up, and told to identify their Jews. Diplomat Leslie Slote (David Dukes) refuses and tells the SS they should consider all the Americans to be Jews because Americans do not make a distinction. One woman immediately complains that she is not a Jew, and the SS officer asks HER to identify the Jews in their party. The scene is very intense and works without explosions or special effects, just with the knowledge of what is going to happen to the people who are separated from the others.

The storyline goes back and forth between the soap opera lives of the Henry family and the start of the war in Europe. The defining plotline of this mini-series is Byron's involvement with Aaron and his niece, Natalie (Ali McGraw) in terms of getting the Jastrows, who are Jewish, out of harm's way, which is to say, out of Europe. Of course, Byron falls in love with Natalie and it is there relationship that will end up providing the final scene of the Wouk's massive saga in "War and Remembrance."

The other key soap opera element is the relationship between Pug and young Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant), the daughter of a renowned British radio commentator. As unlikely as it might seem, until you get sick and tired of Rhoda, Pug and Pamela become attracted to each other and fall in love, but if you think our hero is going to do anything about that when he is still married, then you have another thing coming. But fate is going to keep throwing these two together around the globe until something changes as Pug follows FDR's instructions and keeps finding the front seat of the war.

"The Winds of War" provides a sense of people living through the history. Despite the soap opera elements, Wouk provides a sense of history. Wouk's script ran 962 pages, contained 1785 scenes, shot in 267 locations, in six countries and on two continents, to end up with 15 hours of air-time. This is not to say that this mini-series is without its flaws. Mitchum has a commanding presence and you certainly buy the idea that he is a career naval officer, but his acting range is extremely limited and your ability to buy the romance between his character and Pamela is up to you. However, I do not think you can blame him for his interest.

However, the embarrassment in this cast is Ali McGraw. It is not that the actress was in her 40s when she played the part but just that she is such a bad actress. Add to that the fact that her character is either stupidly stubborn or stubbornly stupid, a trait inherited from her uncle's side of the family, and you spend most of this mini-series hoping that she gets killed so that Bryon can get home. However, the Jastrows are obviously fated to go to a concentration camp, and since Natalie and Byron drive by the Polish town once called Auschwitz by the Austrians in the first episode, you even know which one it is going to be.

All three of the main actors involved in the Jastrow plotline would be replaced in "War and Remembrance," and this last time watching "The Winds of War" I tried to think upon how things might have worked if Jane Seymour had been playing Natalie from the beginning. I have to say that it is McGraw's performance that is the problem and not the character as written. Seymour could play stubborn without seeming stupid. But in the end it is clear the Henrys and their acquaintances are just minor figures caught up in a war that is about to involve the entire world. No wonder that I think some of the best work ever done on television has come in the form of the mini-series.

Despite staggering flaws in the casting of this epic drama, Robert Mitchum saves the day and dominates this brilliant series. Anyone who has read Herman Wouk's book probably cringed when picturing Mitchum as the short, 50-ish Pug Henry and he is physically all wrong for the part. But you don't care once he sleepily walks onto the screen and gives one of the most understated and "I don't give a damn" performances of his career. Is Mitchum too old for the part? You bet. Could he have shown a bit more emotion, especially in the love seens? Undoubtedly. Does it compromise the series or detract? Absolutely not.

The problems with this drama emanate from the other cast members. Ali McGraw as Natalie delivers one of the most wretchedly acted performances in all of TV history. Her over-acting, melodramatic pauses and pacing of her lines is simply atrocious. It's impossible not to laugh uproariously at her silly attempts to project human emotion in any form. Jan-Michael Vincent is similarly bad and completely outclassed by everyone else in the production (except the insipid Ali McGraw). Their scenes together are well-written but spoiled by two actors who should have pursued a different profession.

John Houseman and Polly Bergen are outstanding in their roles. Watch Houseman, a brilliant actor, in his scenes with wither Vicent or McGraw. You will cringe when you see his majestry and their weak, vain attempts to try and act on the same stage with this master! One does wish, however, that Aaron Jastrow and the endless wrangling with his passport would end. They draw this plot line out to insufferably long duration.

The best parts of the mini-series are undoubtedly the romance between Mitchum and Pamela Tudsbury. Even though their chemistry seems strained, what woman wouldn't pursue Robert Mitchum across the globe and back, even when he is pushing 70? Buy me a ticket.

For anyone who loves World War II and a classy production, this is your baby. I've watched it a dozen times and never weary of it. Highly recommended!

This mini-series, together with its second part "War and Remembrance," may be the best TV adaptation of a book you will find. Even though the casting could have been better, and several main characters end up being played by different actors in the second part, "The Winds of War" follows very closely what Herman Wouk wrote on his novel of the same name. The TV adaptation is by Wouk, and Curtis' direction is magnificent. Curtis is responsible for the total immersion of the viewer in the era portrayed, as well as for the cinematic look of this series that is far above most TV of this or any day.
About the cast I would have chosen another actress for Nathalie Jastrow and not Ali McGraw, but the series does not suffer with her. I have always liked Robert Mitchum, so it did not matter to me that he was too old for the part of Victor Henry: the late Mitchum is simply great in a rôle that, although not written for him, he made his own. The young Jan Michael Vincent is convincing as Byron Henry, even if his romance with Nathalie, due to casting, fails to convince me. Victoria Tennant as Pamela Tudsbury falling for Victor Henry is a bit of a stretch but, again, the overall story and performances are powerful enough to let you go with it.
This is TV at its best, presenting a very good work of fiction based on history. It's long, but that is part of the point: the attention to detail is quite commendable. This kind of TV is very rare. We will get to see more in "War and Remembrance," but no more after that. I know of no other adaptation that is as close as this one, and where money and talent really worked together to produce a total as good as the novel that inspired it. Finally, I must recommend both books by Wouk. If you have read "The Winds of War," you will appreciate what a great transition from print to screen has taken place here. And do not expect solved issues at the end of the last tape: this one ends right after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. In order to find out what happens to the characters, you must read "War and Remembrance" or watch the second mini-series or, better yet, do both.

Winds of War is the first part of a series on WWII, a television mini-series first broadcast in the 1980's on US prime time TV. The second part is War and Rememberance. The Winds of War deals with the years preceeding WWII and the events that shaped the US involvment into the war. War and Remembrance deals with the war years. The entire series centers around the Henry family- the father-Victor Henry, a US naval officer, his two sons, one-Byron, who is a "renegade" of sorts, on a break wandering thru Europe. He eventually marries a Jewish girl (an American girl also in Europe) and she gets trapped in Europe fleeing the Nazis the entire series. Byron eventually becomes a Naval submarine officer in the Pacific fighting the Japs. The submarine scenes/encounters with the Japs are very well done. His other son is a Navy fighter pilot also involved in the Pacific War. The "father" Henry holds posts such as the Naval Attache in Berlin prior to the war so you get to see what pre-wartime Germany is like thru his eyes, as well as other posts which enable him to travel to key areas where historical events are taking place in Europe and the Pacific. His wife has an affair with a guy involved in the Manhattan project and he has an affair with a young English girl globetrotting with her father who is a British radio war correspondent which is convenient for romantic rondevous. This series, in my opinion is the best TV mini-series ever done. The acting is superb. The war scenes are fantastic, especially the graphic, horrifying scenes in the concentration camps depicting how inhumanely cold and calculating the Germans were in deciding how they were going to dispose of the Jews. I am not a history buff, but this series certainly turned me into one. I learned a lot about WWII watching this series. It starts off a little slow and is not as action packed and fast moving as many Hollywood action movies today. For this reason, young kids may not be much interested in the entire series and may get bored with it quick. But for the more mature person who likes a good story with good character development interwoven with an excellent historical look at WWII, this can't be beat. It has my highest recommendation, and that is saying a lot. I think it should be moved to a DVD format though. I hope this happens. Although this series is long (Winds of War and War and Remembrance) I have watched it 3 times now and enjoy it much each time. For those war buffs out there, North and South, starring Patrick Swayze, was done similarly with a big series that took place in the years preceeding the US Civil War and the followed by another series with the same characters, only taking place during the Civil War. I highly recommend that series also.

Herman Wouk's book `Winds of war' became a bestseller upon its publication, just like its sequel `War and Remembrance' a few years later. These thick books, joining the fictional and historical events during Second World War, provided the subject matter for one of the greatest achievements in the history of the TV miniseries. This 6-DVD set covers the first book, with an 18-hour series shot in 1983.

The plot concerns a military family named Henry, scattered and absorbed by the winds of war. We follow the patriarch Victor `Pug Henry (Robert Mitchum), an experienced military officer who in the spring 1939 is appointed to be a military attaché for the USA in Berlin. He is accompanied by his dotty and yet quite likable wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen). Their children include an oldest son, the flyboy Warren (Ben Murphy), another son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) who is in Italy and falls in love with a bit older Jewish girl Natalie (Ali McGraw), who is the niece of the famous American-Jewish writer dr. Aaron Jastrow (John Houseman). The daughter Madeleine (Lisa Eilbacher) is the youngest of the three and works as a radio girl. In Berlin Pugh gets the hint of the atmosphere in the Nazi Germany of that time (like the fact Jews are treated second-class) and predicts the upcoming pact between Hitler (Günter Meisner) and Stalin, both of who he gets to meet during the series. Byron and Natalie witness the first days of war, being caught in the midst of Warsaw, where Natalie followed her fiancé, the American diplomat Leslie Slote (David Dukes). The series mixes the lives of the Henrys with the historical events of the war (the occupations of Poland and France; the blitz in London; the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union; the beginnings of the `Final Solution' behind the lines of the occupied Russian territory; the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to name a few). The last episode of this first part of the story ends with the aftermath of Pearl Harbor: The German offensive is halted on the outskirts of Moscow, Pug goes to command a battleship and fight in the war, unsure of his feelings for the beautiful daughter of an old friend (Victoria Tennant), Byron fights in the submarine, while in the meantime Natalie, who fell in love with Byron and bore him a son, is left onboard a ship in Naples which is awaiting to live for Palestine, since she and her uncle could not find their way out of Fascist Italy, due to his passport complications.

The above is just the basic description of the series and despite of what it may seem, it is not a soap opera, but rather an interesting chronicle of the war and a family influenced by its impact. Pug Henry gets to meet all the important players of the war (Churchill, Hitler, Roosevelt, Stalin...) and in this respect is somewhat similar to young Indiana Jones. The war itself is shown from these two viewpoints: the Henrys and the rest of the fictional characters vs. the historical ones (Hitler and his generals etc.)

There are many things that make this show one of the miniseries highlights of its time. One of them is the excellent casting. Robert Mitchum brings his renowned charisma for the character of Pug and he does it in an excellent way. Ali MacGraw's headstrong Natalie makes a fine contrast to Jan-Michael Vincent's younger Byron. The historical characters are done more than convincingly. Thusly Ralph Bellamy is the definite FDR (a role he had an opportunity to play years before in the theatre) and Howard Lang makes a believable Churchill. One must make a special reference to Günter Meisner and his portrayal of Adolf Hitler. As it will be seen in the sequel, the director and producer Dan Curtis wanted Hitler to be overplayed. The reasons remain unknown and one can only guess that he wanted to make it less human in this way. Günter Meisner, the late German actor who played Hitler few times during his career, although a bit too old for the role, managed to keep things under control, so despite the fact his Führer is stiffed and not altogether perfect, he manages to give a hint of the evil personage Hitler was. This is important to note, since his successor to the role for `War and remembrance', the British actor Steven Berkoff, was awful, playing the character as a total one-dimensional yelling buffoon. The role of Hitler is a hard and yet manageable task for an actor who can make a character, as shown by Bruno Ganz in the recent movie `Downfall'.

One of the other appeals of the show is the fact it was shot on location, with attention put to details that make the historical accuracy. Most scenes were shot in my hometown Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, then still part of ex-Yugoslavia. The producers managed to use Zagreb's past as one of the former Austro-Hungarian capitals to recreate Berlin, Lisbon, Warsaw, etc. The scenery and the costumes evoke the era perfectly, thus making the whole thing believable to the viewer. Other locations included USA, Italy and some more. But the greatest asset is without the doubt the interesting plot which doesn't let go for a moment.

It is also noticeable that some of the mistakes that were made in the sequel, `War and Remembrance', (the narrow scope of the victims of the Holocaust being one of them) are not present here. One can only get a hint of some of the future slips here, for example, the subtle message that all the Germans are bad and all Americans good.

This DVD collection of the series deserves A+. Seven DVDs come packed in a nice sleeve. Besides the series, there are several interesting extra features: through the interviews with the cast, crew and Herman Wouk we learn about the process of adaptation, casting, shooting and the problems they all encountered while making this epic peace. Some of the footage includes things shot during the work on location in Zagreb.

For anyone enjoying modern history, an excellent miniseries with the interesting plot or is simply interested in Second World War, this is a must-have. Highly recommendable.