WW II hd

[slantman]

A new multi hour documentary about World War Two is being broadcast on the History Channel. The films are all in color and according to the channel were recovered two years ago by the producer. Almost all of the films have never been seen before on TV. The narrator is Gary Sinise and some of the voices depicting soldiers are famous stars. Its probably about 6 hours or more running time in 1 hour increments. I rate this show equal to "Victory At Sea" which ran in the 50s and "World At War" which ran in the 70s. Mr Sinise is as good a narrator as Leonard Graves(Victory series) and Sir Lawrence Olivier(World series. Please don't miss it.

I would suggest to DVR or DVD it if you have no time to see it all together.
Check historychannel.com for times of broadcast.

 

[Angus Young]

This sounds good but I must disagree with your comparison between Gary Sinise and Sir Lawrence Olivier. IMO The World at War is the greatest documentry series ever made and Sir Lawrence's narration helped make it a cut above anything else.

 

[Navig8tor]

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this monday night. So far it's been good. I will have to see all of it to compare but I do like the naration. Gary Sinise is no Sir Lawrence but then who is?

 

[Jim]

This sounds good but I must disagree with your comparison between Gary Sinise and Sir Lawrence Olivier. IMO The World at War is the greatest documentry series ever made and Sir Lawrence's narration helped make it a cut above anything else.

Have you seen the new show that the OP Mentions?

 

[bishop]

I'm DVR'ing this as it runs.

I hope this will help make WWII more "real" to those of us who have a hard time imagining the real world in black & white. I have that problem. Seeing footage in color really makes it stick.

Speaking of which, I hope color footage of Nazi Germany is given substantial time. For all the horrible things we can (and should) say about the regime, it's worth noting the power of their propaganda - particularly the colors. Black & white footage doesn't convey all of that. Seeing it in color, maybe folks can understand how ordinary citizens were swept up into the frenzy. Sensory experiences are powerful.

I hope that last bit doesn't get edited out. I'm speaking on a psychological level, not a political one.

 

[Angus Young]

Have you seen the new show that the OP Mentions?

As my post suggested I haven't seen this show but I have seen another documentary with Gary Sinise narrating and his vocal talents cannot be compared to Sir Lawrence.

 

[slantman]

I didn't say Mr Sinise was better just that his narration is as good

 

[airplanedoc]

My dad is really excited about it even though he does not have a HD tv or programming. What I have seen of it, has been really good.

 

[richmondesi]

I got a chance to catch some of this today actually... I'll be setting the DVR for the rest

 

[_JP_]

I have been watching this series with great interest. Some of my elders were fighting in the war in both the Pacific and Europe. The last one of them passed away last year. He was in the Aleutians. The footage helps to put their stories in perspective, and the stories of the many other WWII Vets that I always make a point to listen to.

My only negative critique of the show is that it spends more time showing footage of bodies than I think is necessary. The footage needs to be shown, but it takes up a huge amount of the time.

 

[mark the shoeshine boy]

i agree with the showing of the nazi propoganda stuff...the color film of the Nuremberg (i think) parade with all the huge tall banners of maroon, black and white, and the grayuniformed soldiers was quite impressive...it was a spetacular show of force back then. Similar to the Russian parades in the 60's and 70's....

it seems that they spend a bunch of time on the dead bodies....i agree...

overall, i am glad they are doing this....so far so good.

watch this video....it came out in just the right time...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXKBUK94cC0[/YOUTUBE]

 

[WhosYerBob]

Looking forward to seeing it!

 

[Argonaut]

I'm watching it right now, I'm not sure how they call it HD considering the film quality of the time, but that's not why I'm watching. First Lieutenant Giles F. Ackerman told me stories of this war, even brought home a german luger (which he let me shoot when I was 10) with a swastika on the handle. He was proud of his army and his time served. It's hard for me to imagine he was 19 years old when he started his tour of duty. He didn't reveal too much about his time spent in Europe, just enough to know it was rough. My favorite story was when they were defending a hill in France, The Germans had let off for the night and a few of the boys were indulging in some local wine. My grandfather never touched the stuff, he asked them "how can you drink knowing what we've got to face in the morning?" The older soldier told him, "you may as well drink tonight, you'll probably be dead tomorrow night." Grandpa said he thought about it and decided "goddamned right", says that was the first time he drank alcohol of any kind. Anyway thats my interest in the series.

 

[RBE17]

I'm letting the DVR catch all of them for me. I've only watched ~3/4 of the first episode, but it's riveting. It should be required watching for all high school history classes.

 

[KaiserKrebs]

Catching this as when possible, it's outstanding! Huge WWII history buff, and it is truly amazing to see the newly discovered footage. Just makes me respect the
"Greatest Generation" that much more. Sadly I missed the episode that covered the liberation of the Philippines, and Okinawa. My Paternal grandfather's theater of the war. My Maternal Grandfather was on Iwo Jima as a Marine, I never had an opportunity to meet the man though, he divorced my Grandmother after the war and my mother never had a relationship with him after that. But, can't imagine the stories that I missed out on. My Mom's stepfather was a WWII Navy vet, who served on Destroyers in the Pacific.

I always think of them, especially on Veteran's day. I wish they would have been more willing to talk about it when they were alive. Bits and pieces came out over a period of years, and I have found anecdotal info on my own.

I guess the point is that a show like this really adds to the overall background of what I'd been curious about.