The American Revolution (The History Channel)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episodes: B
In a massive 5-DVD release, The History Channel is
offering their documentary mini-series The American Revolution, which
originally ran six hour-long time slotted parts. The reason there are more discs here is because A&E/New Video
has not only put the complete show together, they have also wisely included
four installments of the great Biography series, but are not listing
them as extras. We disagree and will
count them as such here.
The six parts of the main mini-series are as follows:
1) The
Conflict Ignites
2) 1776
3) Washington
& Arnold
4) The
World At War
5) England’s
Last Stand
6) Birth Of
The Republic
Though this is limited time to cover so much history, the
series (as usually is the case from the network) makes the events interesting
by pacing them with surprise and Bill Kurtis is the host and voice-over
narrator. Actors like William Daniels,
Charles Durning, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Learned, Cliff Robertson Rick Schroder
and David Warner do the voices of major figures like John Adams, Ben Franklin
and King George III. You will enjoy the
way they set up every surprise and twist in how rebels in America defeated the
then most powerful country on earth, England.
Though there is so much more to say and tell, this is a fine beginning
for those who do not know and should be mandatory viewing in schools
nationwide.
The four episodes of Biography are very key installments
on the following: George Washington: Founding Father, Benjamin
Franklin: Citizen Of The World, Paul Revere: The Midnight Rider
and Benedict Arnold: Triumph & Treason. Having any one of those is handy, but all
four terrific and a great boost to this set.
All very well done, there is only so much overlapping between the
mini-series and these shows, but it is necessary to make sure key points are
covered, no matter where you start. The
American Revolution set is highly recommended, especially for history
libraries.
The 1.33 x 1 image on the mini-series sometimes has
misleading 1.78 X 1 letterboxing, but know it is full screen al the way
otherwise. This also extends to the Biography
segments, but some of them are much older being such key figures to cover
first. Sometimes, the video will be a
bit fuzzier, but not that much and certainly not enough to penalize the
performance. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo sound in all cases is adequate and none of the mixes offer any serious
surround information of any kind.
Except for the Biography segments, there are no extras. All in all, this runs just over 8 hours, and
not a moment is wasted. This is the
kind of programming that made The History Channel as respectable as PBS and should
be a very desired set for years to come.
- Nicholas Sheffo
