Gladiators Of World War II + Heroes Of
World War II & Weapons Of World
War II + Secrets Of World War II
(BBC DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B+
There was
a time when the biggest danger about World War II was forgetting about The
Holocaust, but due to double-dealings, censorship and revisionist thinking over
the current Iraq debacle that has in effect ignores, desecrates and mars
everything the United States and its victory in that real war was all about. Add that WWII is being ignored because all
that effort finished the Axis Powers off faster than all the plodding, stalling
and money-lining activities of the Bush II junta and their guns for hire and
WWII itself is in danger of being forgotten.
Fortunately,
there are millions of hours of footage on the subject and the great BBC
archives are issuing some key programs from 1998 on the subject on DVD that
hold up extraordinarily well and are must-see compilation documentaries that
are among the best we have seen to date.
The include three multi-DVD sets: Gladiators
Of World War II, Heroes Of World War
II & Weapons Of World War II
and Secrets Of World War II.
Gladiators has two double-sided discs with gives
us the best fighters on each side of the battle, Heroes covers the great individuals who made the difference in
stopping the worldwide spread of Axis Fascism and Weapons covers some of the most interesting devices that were and
were nearly used, some of which will surprise, amaze and impress. Each of those have their own double-sided DVD
in a single case. Secrets is made of 26 episodes (seven sides of four DVDs) that
offer even more surprises about the still-unbelievable twists and turns that
made WWII the single biggest event that determines the future of the human race
like nothing since.
The 1.33
X 1 image looks good for as nine-year old taping, but since these originated on
the analog PAL format and the BBC took care of these programs well enough, they
hold up well. The only other tell-tale
sign of the age of these Nugus Martin-produced shows is that the film footage
looks more like old analog transfers than the PAL tape looks old. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and
holds up well enough for its age, though you can heart the roughness of some
edits and definitely some audio. There
are no extras, but the main programs offer plenty to watch and are musts for
any serious WWII archive.
- Nicholas Sheffo
