World War II in HD: A review of the standard definition DVD set

Because World War II was the defining conflict of the 20th Century - its aftermath continues to shape our lives almost 70 years later - and because it was a globe-spanning conflict, it is not surprising that many filmmakers continue to chronicle those awfully bloody six years that ended over 50 million lives - most of them civilian lives.

Some, of course, are big Hollywood recreations of actual battles (The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far) or fact-based miniseries along the lines of Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Others are fictional stories that range from the somber eulogy of Saving Private Ryan to the more action-oriented baubles a la The Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare, both of which exemplify the Commando Raid Adventure sub-genre.

Nevertheless, from the dawn of the Television Age back in the 1940s and ‘50s, the millions of feet of combat and propaganda footage shot by both the Axis and Allies have been mined for a plethora of documentaries made for television, starting with NBC's paean to the U.S. Navy and its Allied counterparts, Victory at Sea.

Now, you'd think that after 60 or so years, television documentary makers would probably have run out of ideas for World War II projects, especially those that are made for - or aired on - cable's History channel and its spinoffs.

After all, once you've seen all the Big Picture projects (such as the classic British documentary series The World at War or the Ken Burns/PBS non-fiction miniseries The War) and the plethora of narrowly focused works (Tora! Tora! Tora! The Complete Story of Pearl Harbor) which used to be History's "bread and butter" fare, you've seen everything about World War II, right?

Er, not quite.

WWII in HD: In November of 2009, History aired a 10-episode miniseries titled simply WWII in HD, which was "shot and remastered in high definition" and culled from - as the package blurb puts it - "three thousand hours of color film few knew existed" from several countries' archives.

Essentially, producer Lou Reda and writers Matthew Ginsburg, Bruce Kennedy and Liz Reph take a page from the Ken Burns playbook and follow the wartime experiences of 12 American men and women who participate in World War II either as combatants (Jack Werner, Shelby Westbrook), caregivers (Jane Wandrey) or reporters (Robert Sherrod, Richard Tregaskis) from Pearl Harbor Day to VJ Day.

The narrative, which combines color footage collected over a two-year world-wide search in Allied and Axis archives, interviews with now-elderly veterans and dramatic readings from the 12 "characters'" letters and journals to recreate as vividly as possible what they saw, heard, tasted, smelled and felt during World War II

WWII in HD is narrated by actor Gary Sinise (CSI: New York), who has done voiceover work for many documentaries, including When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions He does a good job of stitching the various storylines and complements the readings of the other cast members very nicely.

The People We Follow and the Actors:

* Jack Werner: Justin Bartha
* Rockie Blunt: Rob Corddry
* Richard Tregaskis: Tim DeKay
* Archie Sweeney: Mark Hefti
* Jimmie Kanaya: James Kyson Lee
* Charles Scheffel: Ron Livingston
* Shelby F. Westbrook: LL Cool J
* Robert Sherrod: Rob Lowe
* Bert Stiles: Josh Lucas
* Jack Yusen: Jason Ritter
* June Wandrey: Amy Smart
* Nolen Marbrey: Steve Zahn


About the HD:

Of course, when this aired on History in 2009 it was aired in two formats, HD and "standard definition" so that basic cable subscribers without HD packages or TVs could see it, and that's how it is presented on the standard definition three-disc DVD set, so I can't say that I was able to get the full visual impact of the series' "immersive HD" format.

My Take:

While WWII in HD is nowhere as moving or powerful as The War or as instructive as The World at War, it does give viewers a very personal view of the American experience in the Second World War.

The series' structure is fairly chronological, following the course of events from the start of the "European War" on Sept. 1, 1939 till the end of the conflict. Most of the pre-Pearl Harbor events are dealt with in pro-forma fashion because - as many international viewers will note - its focus is on America's participation in World War II.

That having been said, the series covers battles and campaigns that overlap, so sometimes the narrative skips backward and forward in time depending on which "character" it is following.

The 12 main characters, as I mentioned before, are real persons who in one way or another were caught up in the maelstrom of World War II. Some, we know (because we see them on screen) survived to the present time, while others either die during the war or a short while after.

Obviously, which format you buy will determine how HD WWII in HD is for you on home video. On DVD, naturally, playback will be standard definition on DVD players even if you have an HD TV set.

On Blu-ray, which is what I should have ordered, playback is fully HD, so the sound and audio should match the intentions of its creators if you have a Blu-ray player.

Though when WWII in HD aired on History (see Episode Guide below) the stated running time was 10 hours, the home version has a run time of seven hours and 35 minutes because there are no commercial breaks or channel promos.


Episode 1: Darkness Falls
Original Air Date-15 November 2009

Episode 2: Hard Way Back
Original Air Date-15 November 2009

Episode 3: Bloody Resolve
Original Air Date-16 November 2009

Episode 4: Battle Stations
Original Air Date-16 November 2009

Episode 5: Day of Days
Original Air Date-17 November 2009

Episode 6: Point of No Return
Original Air Date-17 November 2009

Episode 7: Striking Distance
Original Air Date-18 November 2009

Episode 8: Glory and Guts
Original Air Date-18 November 2009

Episode 9: Edge of the Abyss
Original Air Date-19 November 2009

Episode 10: End Game
Original Air Date-19 November 2009

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age