Customer Reviews

World War 2 - When Lions Roared (TV Mini Series) [VHS]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is great entertainment and great historical drama. It is based upon actual cables between Washington, London, and Moscow during the Second World War, and deals almost exclusively with the relationship between the leaders of these countries throughout the war. Franklin Roosevelt (played by John Lithgow), Winston Churchill (Bob Hoskins) and Josef Stalin (Michael Caine) spring to life as real but imperfect people who nevertheless are great leaders fighting a great war. Incidentally, the film focuses almost solely on the European war--the war against Japan is largely in the background, which has the effect of causing the film to somewhat diminish America's contribution to the war. This is a minor quibble, however. This is a wonderful film.

The miniseries does a wonderful job of juxtaposing dialog between the great war leaders with actual footage of combat scenes from the war. It tells a great story in a highly entertaining fashion, and does a splendid job of showing the viewer some of the problems, controversies, and arguments between the allied powers while the three leaders struggled to hold together the greatest coalition of nations in history.

The striking thing about this film is that it never deviates from its theme--to tell the story of the allied war leaders and the problems they faced. No bogus "love interest" material--this is historical drama with emphasis on the "historical." In fact, only a few actors in this film even have speaking parts--Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Molotov, and Henry Hopkins are the only ones I can recall.

The acting is very fine. I thought Lithgow did a great job as Roosevelt--although he looks and speaks differently than FDR did, he nevertheless pulled it off very well in my opinion. Bob Hoskins was quite literally perfect as Churchill, and as far as I am concerned is virtually indistinguishable from him. Michael Caine was taller and better-looking than Stalin ever was, but nevertheless did a great job in the role. Ed Begley Jr. did well playing Henry Hopkins, although since I have never even seen a photo of the real Hopkins I have no idea if he were true-to-life. Ditto Jan Triska as Molotov.

Wonderful historical drama that will draw and retain the interest of viewers interested in World War 2.

This movie is quite literally my all time favorite movie. I saw it originally air on NBC way back when I was in 10th grade and I was awestruck by it. The acting alone blows me away and since I have become an actor and director in my own life, I look to this movie quite frequently for inspiration. The fact that a three hour movie where only five people even speak and every line of dialogue is historical accuracy can so captively hold an audience's attention alone speaks for its greatness. That being said, I can understand that this movie wouldn't be for everyone. In this age of dumbed-down, attention-deprived American culture, I doubt most people would be interested in this movie for more than 5 minutes. But, those who enjoy history or just fine acting, this movie speaks volumes. I actually intend to adapt this as a stage-play in the future. I can only hope that someday it get's released on DVD.

This was a very good movie. It gave us a chance to see behind the scenes of policy making in World War II even if there was a little dramatic license taken. I recommend this movie highly to anyone interested in this time period in history

The make up artists deserve all the praise they can get, but this series, while it has taken some historical liberties, is absolutely fabulous, and timeless. It breaks my heart to not see this series available on DVD. It truly deserves to be produced. I was fresh out of high school when this series hit TV, and I was awe inspired by it. The actual words spoken by FDR, Churchill, and Stalin are used, with a minimal amount of creative fluff to add a bit of frosting to a cake thatis already rich with historical facts, which are creatively put together to bring the viewer back to the time.

I must beg to differ on a few key points, though. I do not believe for a moment that FDR said, "I wanted my administration to end without war." America was preparing for it, and it was an inevitability. The belligerents, and co-belligerents were getting overwhelmingly callous, and ruthless, and had to be checked. FDR knew this, and I find a few scenes utterly unhistoric, and quotes taken out-of-context. Things Churhill said in the house of commons weren't mumbled in blackened dark rooms alone. Nonetheless, the story as it unfolded, the soundtrack, and the delightful acting makes it a gem that would occupy a spot on my shelf the day it comes out if it were released on DVD.

It is good to see this 1994 television miniseries finally come out on DVD. Be prepared for a long evening (the running time for the two discs is three hours 23 minutes) but it is time well invested. WORLD WAR II: WHEN LIONS ROARED is a creative montage of actual film clips from the newsreels shown in theaters at that time together with contemporary filmed drama in script written by David W. Rintels and crafted and directed by Joseph Sargent. This film allows us to revisit history the way it was - with more behind the scenes activity among the great powers than most other films offer.

The roaring lions are very well portrayed by John Lithgow as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Bob Hoskins as Winston Churchill and Michael Caine as Stalin. Each actor steps wholly into his role without resorting to mimicry or simply stage makeup. It is fascinating to see how the USA was a non-intervener at first (a refreshingly different stance form the current aggressor role we have adopted) and how the needs of the planet required global cooperation in the face of Hitler et al. Ed Begley Jr. offers a lot of information about the important figure Harry Hopkins about whom we hear little as does Jan Triska as Vyacheslav Molotav, Stalin's key man.

The compilation of real footage with created footage including the split screen technique to allow the three leaders to interact from their different locations works well. This is one of those historic films that deserves repeated viewing. An excellent production. Grady Harp, March 07

This film is one of the greatest ever made about World War II. What is interesting is the reality demonstrated. The film shows the personal as well as public tribulations suffered by Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin. John Lithgow brings America's longest-serving President to life better than any actor before or since. Ultimately, the fact that not much writing went into this film is a high point--not much writing went into because of the fact that most of the dialogue was actually spoken and/or written by the Big Three. If you like history, especially history from 1939 to about 1946, this film is for you. This seems to be an especially fantastic film for the average high school history class, tired of seeing overhead slides of battle plans! It brings World War II to life in every presented aspect.

I am a Professor of US History and I teach classes that specialize in the first 50 yrs of the 20th century ( 1900-1950 ). This is an outstanding Docu-drama about the Allied Leadership an d the personal relationships between the Big 3 during WW2. It is both informative and entertaining. It accurately conveys the political and personal complexities involved. Even teenagers who watch this afterwards say " WOW ". A must see film along with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.

I often show this film to my college history classes, and I get favorable reactions. The characters strongly represent the actual foreign policies of the powers involved, and the acting is great, especially Bob Hoskins, who steals the show as Churchill. The roots of the Cold War are clearly presented in the major differences in outlook of the Allied leaders.

It is perhaps the nature of the medium that on the internet we continually get reviews which complain that the product would be much better if only it were something completely different than it was intended to be. It is somehow more disappointing in an Amazon-sanctioned review which one hopes is based upon some sense of the purpose of the thing.

In this case, it ought to be understood that the whole raison d'etre of the film is to use only the actual words of the historical figures portrayed as dialogue for the film. Therefore, the "oddly cobbled-together" script to which the Amazon reviewer refers is not cobbled-together at all, but rather an adaptation of written correspondence into monologue or dialogue. It is a brilliant device and admirably executed. The "strange" split-screen scenes of which the reviewer complains are some of the cleverest in the film, turning correspondence that would have taken weeks of transport to travel back and forth in wartime into contemporaneous conversation.

All this with actual footage of the war, the results of the decisions of these men, played out behind them. It is unusual, perhaps, for television, but it is eminently theatrical and hardly "chummy" or "glib." The overall effect of the film is not the sort of jingoism implied by the Amazon reviewer, but a sense of the true complexity and difficulty of the dilemmas these men faced--and the different means each of them utilized in handling them. FDR, for example, hardly comes off well in his acquiescence to Stalin without consultation of Churchill.

Caine is good. Lithgow is not very good. Hoskins is pitch-perfect! The film is highly recommended for its originality, its historicity, and its thoughtful approach to a difficult subject.

There is only one complaint I could possibly make about this, and that's that there isn't a third part. It shows how the big three came together and related to one another and how they eventually fell apart leading to the beginnings of the cold war. In short you don't want it to end!

This is excellant, it deserves 10 stars!
The three leads play their roles brilliantly and there are also some great lines, such as Stalin's comments to Molotov just before D-Day, and his response to Churchill during the Battle Of The Bulge.

No-one who is interested in history can do without this.