Customer Reviews

World War II in Color

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this box set when I was looking for color footage of WW II. However, when I got it in the mail, it turned out that these were documentaries made in the 1940s and most of them were shown in movie theaters as a tribute to the American troops fighting oversees and to get more people to enlist. When I learned of this, I was a little disappointed. After all, how good could 65 year old documentaries be, compared to the recent ones they show on the History Channel or National Geographic? The answer is: VERY. I own a lot of DVDs wth color footage of the Second World War but "World War II in Color" is by far the best of them all. Almost all of the action images of Allied fighter planes and bombers taking on Axis aircraft that you see in the History Channel's excellent "the Lost Color Archives" series are taken from the films you'll find on these discs. Most of the other color documentaries I've seen show amateur pictures taken by army officers or civilians that shot street images of marching soldiers, occupied cities or the ruined landscape and towns after the actual combat. Not so in this two disc box set. These pictures were shot by professional filmmakers who more often than not had earned their stripes in Hollywood or have had succesful careers in the movie industry after the war. The result of the life threatening risks they took to film this extrordinay footage is absolutely amazing.

John Ford's "The Battle of Midway" tells the story of one of the greatest sea battles in history. You see battle ships and allied fighters defend themselves against the relentless Japanese kamikaze attacks. Although this is my least favorite documentary, due to the rather silly sense of humour that is sometimes present, it does provide us with plenty of breathtaking color images of the courageaous American fighter pilots in their quest to gain control over the Pacific.

"The Memphis Belle" is my absolute favorite WW II documentary. It tells the story of an Allied bomber making its 25th and final flight across the English channel to wreak havoc on the German industry. We are shown how the pilots are debriefed: what flight formation they need to maintain, what their targets are, etc. We are introduced to the crew and are shown what it was like for these men to travel to enemy soil and how a bombing actually takes place. We witness some awesome aerial images of an entire fleet of Allied fighters and bombers, see the gunners fight off Nazi airplanes and the downfall of one of their own bombers, all while we are privy to internal radio communication over the intercom. The tension and anxiety is clearly present in the crew's voices but they still keep their head cool and get on with their jobs under life threatening circumstances. Afterwards we see the often damaged bombers return to English soil and witness the terrible images of men wounded in aerial combat and having their often crippled bodies taken care of by the medics.

"Report from the Aleutians" shows American forces fighting just as hard against nature as against the enemy. You see Allied fighters take of under the most dire circumstances and try to land wounded planes after the fight. This documentary may not feature the most impressive fighting images, but it does give us a good idea of what men had to endure on an island which has no peace time value whatsoever, since its harsh climate is unable to sustain human life, but wich became invaluable in wartime because of its strategic location. At the start of the War in the Pacific, this was as close as the Americans could get to Japan's home islands.

"Eyewitness to War" shows us who the brave men were who shot the images we see in World War II documentaries. This was actually a series of images shot and commented on by a professional film maker, hired by the US Army to shoot black and white pictures of the events from the Normandy landing to the fall of Berlin, so the military leaders could study their own tactics and improve them for future battles. The color footage you see was shot by the fillm maker with his own camera so he could show his family and friends back home what he witnessed in occupied Europe. We see images of the citizins of London who try to lead normal lives during the nightly bombings that occured every day, the boarding of ships and landing vessels bound for France, the Normandy landings and the soldiers' daily routines while fighting their way to Berlin with mention of the people in the film who did not make it back.

"The Fighting Lady" is a military documentary about airplane carriers during the War in the Pacific. We are introduced to the crew and get detailed information about the carriers themselves and what it was like to live inside them. There's a lot of footage of fighters taking off from the carriers and wounded ones trying to make it back. Some do and some don't, which provide spectacular pictures. There are also a lot of images shot by cameras that are mounted on the fighters' guns so we get a good idea of what it was like to engage enemy fighters and strafe Japanese airfields, with detailed explanation of what exactly is taking place.

"The 6th Marines at Okinawa" is a documentary about the capture of this Japanese island. Besides impressive jungle warfare images, it contains footage of the interrogation of POWs and striking pictures of an enemy soldier who has had to amputate his own leg to survive.

"The Last Bomb" tells of the fight of the American forces against the Japanese home islands. The documentary contains fascinating footage of dog fights with enemy planes, the bombing of Japan, some beautiful close-up shots of the P51 Mustangs and the B29 bombers in action and the drop of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In my opninion, this is a must have DVD box set for all World War II buffs. Especially if you like action shots of period American military aircraft, war ships, aiplane carriers, jeeps, tanks, halftracks and army trucks, you will not be disappointed.

The previous contributors have done a great job reviewing this DVD set. All I want to add is that these remarkable films were shot on original Kodak color filmstock of the era and were directed by such Hollywood legends as Ford, Houston and Wyler who, by the way, put themselves in considerable personal danger to supervise the filming. Such was their deep respect and admiration for the very young men, boys really, who put their lives on the line to stand up to the madness of Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan that they volunteered to lend their years of experience to document the world changing, life changing events unfolding before them.

I really enjoyed these color films of WWII from the Timeless Media Group.

Among those included that really stand out:

The Memphis Belle (Famous B-17 Bomber, European Theater)
The Fighting Lady (aircraft carrier footage, pacific theater)
Eyewitness to war (color footage, from a war correspondent, European theater)

The other included films are also good. The three above alone are worth the price of this set.

You should note that this is not a "definitive collection" of color video from WWII. Nor does it cover the entire war. Still, it offers a color glimpse into a history so often portrayed in Black and White. In color, the images are more real, the violence and destruction more real...something that should not be trivialized.

You won't regret this purchase.

I thought this would be the same series I watch on the military channel, sadly it is not. Personally i'm not very satisfied with the product at all, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The only reason it received the 2 stars i'm giving it, is the price for what I paid (7.99).

These official films of WW2 are true documents of history. Fascinating, engrossing, real; a true learning experience of American history. The Memphis Belle film is worth the price alone.

Gave this to my husband as a gift. He loves it. He has many DVD'S on WWII, and this series has awesome footage he has not seen before. Great buy!

Ótimo video da 2ª World War, realmente excelente e focado num duro conflito entre nações tão distantes e que muito influiu para a situação mundial atual

Despite the same name, this is not the WWII in Color that was shown on the Military Channel. So we'll get that out of the way first. Most, if not all, of these films are public domain films shot during WWII, put together in a convenient package. The print quality is good for the most part. There is one bad skip in the middle of The Fighting Lady and a few skips in some of the other films. But The Fighting Lady one is pretty bad and I don't think it's just my disc. For that reason, I have a skip-free version which can be downloaded at archive.org.

The Memphis Belle is one I bought on VHS and have watched many times over the years. The rest are new to me and mostly pretty entertaining. A lot of the stock footage you see in other documentaries came from these films.

Well worth the price.

This film collection shows, in vivid colors, the details of many operations that happenned during WWII, as seen by the protagonists.
The filming was done, in many scenes, at the soldier level. It shows details about the actual combat operations we normally can only imagine.
Very revealing.
To view these scenes is a tribute both to the men that filmed then, at their own risk, and to the men that fought the WWII.
Mauro Taschner

I'm pretty unknowledgeable about ww1 and ww2, so can't compare this, my 2nd disc set of WW2 events, to any others. My main problem is with the censorship. First, if I buy an already "warning, explicit, disturbing images" DVD, I don't want any censorship, by this I mean the blurring out of women's breasts, or infants' genetalia, both of which are present in this DVD. In one scene the "Gala Girls" in a ruined pre-ww2 Berlin cabaret are swinging, topless, from a chandelier, with their breasts blurred out. Later scenes are full of body parts, bulldozing dead bodies into ditches, pistol assassinations, etc. I truly don't understand a society that thinks a woman's breast should be covered but a decapitation is OK. If you're going to censor, just don't print/film/distribute. Why is a woman's nudity, or a toddler's genetalia, considered "unviewable", while murder, torture, etc. is so explicitly displayed? I'm leaving this review open to receive by email others' comments, I'd really like to hear what supports this thought process, what other thoughts are out there.

As well as I know the events of WW2, I think this is a good rendering/documentary. The HD is good. The narration is clear, the background music doesn't overwhelm,as it does in the Rise and Fall, and it seems pretty comprehensive, as least as any 5hr hour dvd, on a 5-10yr event, can be, to me. I would give the DVD 4 stars if it weren't for the censorship.