7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 2.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
Adolf Hitler. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Benito Mussolini. Winston Churchill. Charles de Gaulle. George Patton. Before they were the giants of WWII, they were infantrymen and privates in WWI, the "war to end all wars." "The World Wars" from History(R) and H2(R) brings you the story of the devastating three decades of 20th-century world war through the eyes of the men whose characters were forged in the trenches before they commanded a world on the brink of disaster. See how, from Ypres and the Somme to the Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Normandy, the iconic figures of WWII became synonymous with either battlefield glory or murderous fascism.
Starring: Don Hartman (II), Ian Beyts, Dean Gosdin, Hugh Scully, Jonathan HartmanWar | 100% |
History | 88% |
Documentary | 48% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Let’s face it: History and its sibling channel H2 often labor under a near impossible standard that other niche content centered cable outings don’t. After all, unless either of these stations went to something akin to a 24 hour a day news format, the “biggies” in history have probably already been covered by one (or both) of these outlets. And there’s probably nothing bigger than either World War I or World War II, at least insofar as 20th century history is concerned. And so History has frequently relied on gimmicky abstractions or approaches to infuse its latest “documentary” covering much the same subject or subjects as the network has done countless previous times. That may set some viewers’ teeth on edge right off the bat when they see the cover of The World Wars, for instead of pictures of actual historical figures there are pictures of actors portraying those men. Is this going to be another quasi-fictional miniseries traipsing through a supposed actual historical milieu? While it can’t be denied that there are indeed “reenactments” galore here (not to mention outright flights of the writers’ fancies), the good news is that The World Wars sticks mostly to the facts and indeed even gets into some of the fascinatingly picayune material that resides in the backgrounds of both of these epochal battles. The series’ central conceit is that we mistakenly view the two 20th century world wars as separate incidents, when in fact they’re inextricably bound together, a long lasting duel that in the words of Winston Churchill approaches the modern era’s version of a 30 years’ war. The series therefore tends to concentrate on some of the titanic figures that were involved in both conflicts, drawing broad strokes across several decades while focusing in on foibles and tricks of fate that ended up defining an entire century.
The World Wars is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of History and Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The bulk of this outing is "new" material, i.e., shot expressly for the series, though there is occasional stock footage, newsreels, and what looks to me like brief snippets from some epic film production detailing an aerial attack of an island (this pops up largely in the Midway sequence, but it does not look like anything from Midway, and the closing credits offered no clues as to where it was sourced). The contemporary footage looks very good, although almost all of the reenactments are hobbled by almost comically low lighting—was everything pre-1946 slathered in deep shadows and murky contrast? Contemporary talking heads sequences look great, and even the reenactments provide great fine detail in close-ups (look at the ribbing on Hitler's swastika armband in screenshot 14 for a good example). As with most History outings, some of the CGI is very soft looking. Back in the days of DVDs and the early years of Blu-ray, I regularly took History to task for releasing nonanamorphic product. Now that they've gone anamorphic, they need to learn to deal with archival footage better (I know, I know, some people are never satisfied). This documentary is filled with anamorphically stretched archival content that looks pretty silly at times (see screenshot 16). There are some brief moments of banding, but otherwise this is a solid and sharp looking release.
The World Wars' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is a typically busy History Channel affair, with lots of effects like panning plane engines and rumbling tanks dotting the surrounds, and regular uses of LFE helping to give the battle sequences some sonic punch. Dialogue is very cleanly presented, and both the narration as well as the talking heads segments come through cleanly and clearly, with no problems whatsoever.
- Trial By Fire (1080p; 20:17)
- A Rising Threat (1080p; 16:39)
- Never Surrender (1080p; 22:39)
I was frankly primed to hate The World Wars as soon as I saw the actors on the cover, thinking I was in for yet another gimmicky attempt by History to "tart up" the past with a bunch of hokey bells and whistles. While there is indeed gimmickry here, it's put mostly to good use, and the documentary is consistently engaging and, even better, informative. There are a number of nice tidbits about the various major characters who played important roles in both World Wars, and the documentary's sweeping view of these supposedly separate battles as merely two chapters in one story provides some fascinating interconnections. Technical merits here are generally very strong, the supplementary material is quite good, and The World Wars comes Highly recommended.
1973
2012
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Under Sandet
2015
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1977
World War II in HD
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