WW2 With Tom Hanks
Discussion
shirt said:
I watched them all the other day. It s nothing new, but has a lot of footage I ve never seen before, some of which was quite jaw dropping.
Agreed. I watched the first episode only, hoping the others would be repeated ad nauseam during the week. No such luck. It was nothing special, but there was new footage (new to me) although it was always difficult to beat World At War.nicanary said:
Agreed. I watched the first episode only, hoping the others would be repeated ad nauseam during the week. No such luck. It was nothing special, but there was new footage (new to me) although it was always difficult to beat World At War.
Every programme of this type lives in the shadow of World at War; how can you compete with interviews with Donitz, Speer, ‘Bomber’ Harris, Mountbatten etc? Plus Dear Larry’s wonderful pronunciation of Ukraine!
Legacywr said:
WW2 ended 80 years ago, why are people expecting anything new?
I m quite enjoying it, it s being presented very well IMO.
It was such a huge conflict which engulfed most parts of the world and hundreds of millions of people that there are still stories emerging - and different observations become possible as unresearched archive material is either released or found.I m quite enjoying it, it s being presented very well IMO.
The benchmark for all World War 2 series has to be the Thames TV series "The World at War" which was released in 1973. They deliberately decided to make this programme then because they knew that many of the senior protagonists who were still alive at the time were getting old and wouldn't be around much longer. They actually started their interviewing in 1971.
I have the DVD boxed set of TWAW which conytains some additional information over the original series. Jeremy Isaacs, the producer, says that if he was doing it again he would have put a lot more emphasis on the war in Eastern Europe and he admits that they barely covered the war inn China at all. The China/Japan conflict resulted in tens of millions of deaths and hardly gets a mention, even now.
Eric Mc said:
Legacywr said:
WW2 ended 80 years ago, why are people expecting anything new?
I m quite enjoying it, it s being presented very well IMO.
It was such a huge conflict which engulfed most parts of the world and hundreds of millions of people that there are still stories emerging - and different observations become possible as unresearched archive material is either released or found.I m quite enjoying it, it s being presented very well IMO.
The benchmark for all World War 2 series has to be the Thames TV series "The World at War" which was released in 1973. They deliberately decided to make this programme then because they knew that many of the senior protagonists who were still alive at the time were getting old and wouldn't be around much longer. They actually started their interviewing in 1971.
I have the DVD boxed set of TWAW which conytains some additional information over the original series. Jeremy Isaacs, the producer, says that if he was doing it again he would have put a lot more emphasis on the war in Eastern Europe and he admits that they barely covered the war inn China at all. The China/Japan conflict resulted in tens of millions of deaths and hardly gets a mention, even now.
The fact that World War 2 historians like James Holland, Max Hastings and Anthony Beevor are so successful these days seems to indicate to me that there is a still insatiable appetite for WW2 stories.
I have to confess that I am a WW2 junkie and I do an awful lot of reading of WW2 books. I'm currently reading "Sword", a new book by Max Hastings on the events on Sword beach on D-Day.
I'm also building a model of a Douglas TBD Devastator. I met Ensign George Gay in 1981. He was the only survivor of an entire Devastator squadron that was shot down during The Battle of Midway.
I have to confess that I am a WW2 junkie and I do an awful lot of reading of WW2 books. I'm currently reading "Sword", a new book by Max Hastings on the events on Sword beach on D-Day.
I'm also building a model of a Douglas TBD Devastator. I met Ensign George Gay in 1981. He was the only survivor of an entire Devastator squadron that was shot down during The Battle of Midway.
said:
GetCarter said:
Wills2 said:
Wacky Racer said:
Nothing ever will beat The World at War, narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier.
Agreed, his narration was superb. Yes a lot of the old footage is obviously even worse but they can make it fit. High definition everywhere and our expectations of it is ruining a lot.
I do have TWAW on Blu-Ray remastered but it's so long since I watched it that I don't recall how good the quality is. I do agree though, my kids will be watching it once they're old enough.
It definitely has a very 70s feel to it. All the interviews would have been filmed on standard 16mm film stock which gives it a soft and grainy look.
The use of graphics to describe campaigns etc is very reminiscent of the opening titles for "Dad' Army". I reckon they were inspired by that
The use of graphics to describe campaigns etc is very reminiscent of the opening titles for "Dad' Army". I reckon they were inspired by that
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