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Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)

Leonard Graves (Actor), Karl Dönitz (Actor) Rated:

Format: DVD

281 customer reviews

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(Jul 01, 2005)

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(Sep 02, 2003)

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Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A fascinating historical collection of 26 documentary-style episodes paying tribute to the Navy and its part in WWII. Each episode contains brilliant original footage coupled with a stirring score by Richard Rodgers. 4 DVDs. 1952/b&w/13 hrs/NR/fullscreen.

Amazon.com

A 26-episode World War II documentary, Victory at Sea is one of the most important series in the history of television. Made in 1952, the show was a huge success, winning many major awards and even spawning albums featuring the orchestral score by Richard Rodgers, best known for his musicals with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Produced with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, each 26-minute program consists of black-and-white wartime film set to a narration by Leonard Graves. The two years leading up to America's entry into the war are dismissed in episode one, while the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor gets a show of its own, the raid depicted in a brilliantly edited montage that almost certainly contains "docu-drama" footage. Each episode contains at least one powerful stand-alone sequence in the tradition of Serge Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), these action-suspense set-pieces giving the programs an urgent, surprisingly modern feel. Indeed, the emphasis is at least as much on entertainment as information, the factual content delivered in poetic narration, the score transforming the war into a more than usually serious Hollywood adventure. The documentaries are nothing if not wide-ranging, covering parts of the land war despite the title, and including everything from the Atlantic convoys and U-boat "Wolfpacks" to war in Alaska, the South Atlantic, and the Far East, the Pacific War, and the Fall of Japan. There is an attempt to include other nations--certainly the D-Day episode acknowledges the British far more than Saving Private Ryan--but inevitably the focus is on America's war. The very dated narration gives a fascinating insight into how America saw WWII in the early 1950s, while the dynamic cutting and often genuinely remarkable wartime footage make Victory at Sea still gripping today. Twenty years later, Granada's The World at War would become the definitive television WWII history, but this release offers a unique opportunity to see a series of great importance from the very early days of television. --Gary S. Dalkin

Special features

Wraps by Peter Graves
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection

Product details

Actors: Leonard Graves, Karl Dönitz, Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Henry Kent Hewitt
Format: Multiple Formats, Box set, Black & White, Color, NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 4
Rated:
NR
Not Rated
Studio: A&E Home Video
DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003
Run Time: 690 minutes
Average Customer Review: 281 customer reviews
ASIN: B0000AQS3X
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,881 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #2133 in Movies & TV > DVD > Military & War
- #5143 in Movies & TV > DVD > Documentary
- #10552 in Movies & TV > DVD > Action & Adventure

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Customer reviews

281

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		55%
4 star		18%
3 star		6%
2 star		8%
1 star		13%

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Victory at Sea Periscope Film LLC Edition (Blu-ray)

ByDoctor Johnon April 9, 2011

Format: Blu-rayVerified Purchase

I have the History Channel set, which is decent, and so I was hoping for a major image upgrade here. It's not. Marginally better, perhaps. What is MOST annoying - as other reviewers have mentioned - is the NON-REMOVABLE company logo in the LR corner of EVERY frame (it changes to their URL from time to time). This is their legal department's doing. I'm downing the Periscope set and will *never* buy another one of their products.

44 comments 64 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

It's a Victory for me!

ByJeffery L. Richardsonon October 20, 2013

Format: DVDVerified Purchase

Hi Reviewer, a kid of the 50's here, and a guy that was often called a Nerd because I liked the technical things, like science. Now I mention that because I read too many reviews that said this footage is too Analog, and Oh no, God forbid, it's even in ( Dare I say the the words), BLACK AND WHITE? Yeah, Black & White film, not Digital, was the format of choice in the 40's. So if you want to see what I saw on TV in the 50's, get this Extraordinary collection of films re-formated to DVD, then sit back, sip a cool one, and count your blessings that we had a bunch of Americans that was willing to step up, and fight back. Young thankless Americans have no idea today what took place during that time, and it's probably because the uncaring public schools have stopped teaching American HIstory. Well, you will get some here on these DVD's, and your chest will swell with pride when you see Allied Forces kick butt on the high seas, and on Pacific Islands of the Pacific. Some of the new High Tech guys say it's disappointing that they could tell some of the shots were re-enactments of battles, and that degrades the series, yeah right! Having been to Viet Nam, I can till you that getting a Live Fire Action on film is not an easy thing. Staying alive is not an easy thing, taking a hit is, and filming a Fire Fight is not a wise thing to try. Ahhh, yeah, I'll go for the re-enactmet, thank you. So, Check It Out and see some live stuff from Pearl, and the Island, but realize, not all battles could be filmed. Now, as for the music, the film still has the TV sound, which is so heart moving, but if you want clean orchestration with great Fidelity, get the CD of Richard Rogers fully orchestrated and recorded on more modern Stereophonic surround sound equipment. Some of the reviewers think this equipment has always been in existence, and have poo-poo'd the soundtrack. Duh! Listen, one more time please. Buy it, view it, File it! This is one for your collection. Jeff

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Piracy(?) and Bugs

ByRichard Thompsonon May 2, 2014

Format: Blu-rayVerified Purchase

I've always been a fan of this series, much preferring it "World at War," which to me is dry in the extreme (you wonder if Olivier's narration is at a special "monotone" rate). The picture looks worlds better than it did for the set put out by History Channel, but that logo in the corner is very annoying, which is what pulls me down to four stars. As for suggestions that this is a pirated set, that's highly unlikely for two reasons. First, don't you think NBC would have filed suit if they owned the rights and weren't getting paid? Second, Periscope was working from the original elements, otherwise it would look no better than the DVD. Where do you think Periscope got the original film? Do you think NBC would have just given it away? Then you have the music. Do you think the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, which through Williamson Music holds the copyright, wouldn't be in court? Even if the series copyright had lapsed, the music copyright has not.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

If you love annoying logos then buy these disks

ByRoger Safianon March 28, 2011

Format: Blu-rayVerified Purchase

I'm a huge fan of Victory at Sea. I own the music on albums and CD's. I have the series on VHS and DVD. I decided to treat myself to a Blueray copy. When it showed up I popped in in at once. Imagine my horror when I discovered that the company that produced the disks has added their logo, which occasionally changes to their URL, in the lower right hand corner of the video. Look, this annoys me when I see it on TV, and I sure am not going to buy a disk that has this trash on it. I returned them, as they are unwatchable.

33 comments 66 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Source material is fine but presentation is poor

ByK. J. Kendallon March 28, 2014

Format: Blu-rayVerified Purchase

This package looks like it was put together by someone using desktop PC software. The menus look just like the default menus you get with Roxio's "Create DVD" application: the main menu has little preview boxes with numbered titles on a static background and there is no"Play All" option. The episodes all feature the distributor's logo at the bottom right, which is really annoying and finally the ubiquitous FBI piracy warning appears after EVERY episode. All in all this is a pretty amateurish product. I hope someone decides to do a better job of it than this company.