World War II: Tank Overhaul Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

World War II: Tank Overhaul Blu-ray Movie Review

Keeping history alive.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 27, 2012

Those of us with parents or grandparents who fought in World War II feel a special, albeit perhaps unwarranted, connection to that epic battle. I came rather late in my parents’ lives (I’ve often joked that I was my parents’ mid-life crisis), so I grew up perhaps more aware of the War era than many of my friends, whose parents, if they remembered the War at all, did so from the vantage point of having been fairly young when it occurred. My father’s military career continued for decades after World War II, and he in fact finally attained the rank of Major General, spending the bulk of his post-War years at Fort Douglas in Utah and Fort Lewis in Washington. He was an avid historian and I am very proud that his efforts not only saved Fort Douglas from certain destruction in the 1970s, he also virtually single handedly founded the Fort Douglas Military Museum, a facility which has grown to become one of the premiere resources for military historians wanting information on everything from the Mormon expansion to Operation Iraqi Freedom (it was a Utah battalion that found Saddam Hussein). Military museums often exist to let even those without a direct relationship to any given conflict feel some sort of connection to various historical events, and at least one of the participants in this compilation of two episodes of the Military Channel’s Tank Overhaul series is known for his work at England’s Isle of Wight Military History Museum. It’s somewhat odd that American niche label hasn’t chosen to release an entire season (or more) of Tank Overhaul, a Canadian produced show that ran for two seasons on the Military Channel, and has instead cobbled together two episodes on one Blu-ray (as well as an accompanying standard definition version on DVD), but military history aficionados should get a kick out of either or both of these episodes, which show private collectors and restorers attempting to make that oft-mentioned connection not only for themselves, but for anyone who comes along later to see their handiwork.

The M4 Sherman

This episode focuses on one of the most famous tanks ever built, the M4 Sherman, which was the workhorse of the Allied tank assaults. This episode concentrates on a crew led by Dave Arnold of the Isle of Wight Military History Museum. (The Isle of Wight has its own vaunted history with regard to World War II, as avid armchair historians will no doubt know.) Arnold has restored more than 36 tanks and it is obviously a labor of love for him, as well as for several others whom he has persuaded to help him out. These include a young man of 21 named David Barnes, who despite his relative youth has spent most of his life helping to restore tanks.

While most of this episode concentrates on Arnold’s perhaps insane sounding attempt to cut two semi-destroyed Shermans in half, and then to weld together the undamaged sides of each to create a restored whole, there is also a long segment here detailing the really interesting history of the M4 Sherman. The Sherman was the most widely used tank of World War II, and part of what made it so ubiquitous was the then radical decision on the part of the U.S. Government to demand standardized parts, no matter who the individual manufacturer was. That meant that the Sherman was the “same” tank no matter what company had actually made it. With several manufacturers cranking out tanks on their various assembly lines, over 25,000 Shermans were produced in the first year alone, more than Germany managed to create during the entire course of the war. More than 43,000 Shermans were built over a three year time span during World War II.

The ostensible focus here, though, is on Arnold and his team, who must delicately bisect two old, badly damaged tanks, and then weld the remains together to craft a seeming whole. There’s some fascinating, if frankly kind of bizarre, footage here, of blowtorches slicing through aged metal and the attempts to get each half into some sort of reasonable shape so that they can be attached to each other. There’s one kind of scary segment that shows Barnes lying under a suspended half, sandblasting the bottom clean, seemingly only one quick drop of tonnage away from his early demise.

The Panther

If the Sherman was the best known tank in the Allied brigade, the Germans’ claim to fame was no doubt the Panzer (Panther), one of the most feared tanks of the War. This virtually unstoppable beast was so formidable the Allies had little in their arsenal that could effectively confront it, though over the course of the intervening decades, finding Panzers has become so rare that they’re highly prized by collectors and many spend years hunting for one to try to rescue it from oblivion.

This episode of Tank Overhaul concentrates on two collectors, both of them very wealthy, and each of whom has spent years devoted to rescuing and restoring tanks. In America we meet Jacques Littlefield, owner of one of the largest tank collections in the world, held in California. He has a staggering 220 vehicles, most of them combat oriented and 65 of those being battle tanks. England’s Kevin Wheatcroft actually tops Littlefield’s feat by having 230 vehicles to his credit. Wheatcroft mentions that with each restoration taking between two and four years, he’s come to the realization that he’s never going to live long enough to actually be able to restore everything he owns.

This episode has a very interesting tangential “plot” (for want of a better term) as the restorers also try to figure out how one of these Panzers ended up at the bottom of a river in Poland. Some forensic detective work, including locating old serial numbers, leads them on a somewhat wild goose chase, until they actually manage to find an elderly eyewitness to the day the tank sank in the river during a January 1945 assault on the Germans by the routing Russians.

This is overall an interesting, albeit obviously niche, title that should appeal to military history fans, and even those with a mechanical bent who like to see old vehicles being ripped apart and then reassembled. As seems to be the case with Questar Entertainment releases, there are some minor niggling issues with regard to the authoring. Once again, neither episode has chapter stops or any way to chapter skip ahead through the episode. Fast forwarding is the only way to return to the main menu once an episode has been selected.

World War II: Tank Overhaul Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

World War II: Tank Overhaul is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Questar Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is pretty typical looking television fare, with decent sharpness and clarity with regard to the contemporary segments which are in fact the bulk of both of these episodes. Color is consistent and accurate looking, contrast is very good to excellent, and overall this is an above average, pleasing looking high definition presentation that offers some nice fine detail in the many close-ups. Both episodes feature both a wealth of archival footage as well as recreations, and those vary in quality. Some of the archival footage is badly damaged, as might be expected, and some of the recreations have been "dirtied" up to approximate an older appearance. While World War II: Tank Overhaul is certainly not going to set any videophile hearts on fire, it's a decent, solid presentation that shouldn't engender too many complaints from viewers with appropriate expectations.

World War II: Tank Overhaul Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As I've mentioned in reviews of other Questar Entertainment releases, this smaller label, like many niche distributors, hasn't yet fully adopted the lossless audio standard that most high definition consumers prefer for their home theater experiences, and therefore only a standard Dolby Digital 2.0 mix is included on this disc. That said, this is after all a rather small scale, unambitious soundtrack that, despite some recreations of battles, really doesn't offer a lot of opportunity for a "wow" factor in terms of the sound design. Narrator Andrew Pifko is presented cleanly and clearly (though there is one weird very audible drop out at around 1:27 in the M4 Sherman episode. Talking head segments are delivered with similar clarity. Fidelity is very good and dynamic range is also above average, though of course everything plays out on a narrow and not very exciting soundstage.

World War II: Tank Overhaul Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there are no supplements per se on the Blu-ray disc, as is Questar's usual practice this Combo Pack includes a DVD copy as well as a Digital Copy.

World War II: Tank Overhaul Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

World War II: Tank Overhaul is fine as far as it goes, though fans of the Military Channel series are going to wonder why only two episodes are included on this release. This is obviously the very definition of a niche title, but those with some military background, or who are interested in World War II, or even mechanics in general, will probably find a lot to enjoy here. These tank restorers are a unique breed, to say the least, but it's a lot of fun watching them piece together both ancient machinery and the history that accompanies it.