The World At War (Box Set) (DVD)

The World at War was first broadcast in 1973 and ever since then has stood as the benchmark for Second World War documentaries. Composed of archive footage (mostly black and white) and interviews with some of the eyewitnesses from both sides of the conflict, it avoids the annoying modern trend in documentaries of repetition and pointless and/or endless reconstructions that cannot capture meaning or emotion. It will never be bettered in the sense ...
...It is also narrated by the excellent Oscar-winning Laurence Olivier, whose sparse narration has just the right level of sombre gravitas to provide a fitting frame for the events the documentary relates.


It's a very thorough, comprehensive series. There are twenty-six original episodes and this box set also includes eight special presentations and a three hour 30th Anniversary disc with includes previously unseen interviews ... more

The World at War was first broadcast in 1973 and ever since then has stood as the benchmark for Second World War documentaries. Composed of archive footage (mostly black and white) and interviews with some of the eyewitnesses from both sides of the conflict, it avoids the annoying modern trend in documentaries of repetition and pointless and/or endless reconstructions that cannot capture meaning or emotion. It will never be bettered in the sense that it was made at a time when enough people were alive and well enough to be interviewed about events. It is also narrated by the excellent Oscar-winning Laurence Olivier, whose sparse narration has just the right level of sombre gravitas to provide a fitting frame for the events the documentary relates.

It's a very thorough, comprehensive series. There are twenty-six original episodes and this box set also includes eight special presentations and a three hour 30th Anniversary disc with includes previously unseen interviews and retrospective interviews with the original production team. This is a breakdown of the eleven discs of the boxset:

Part One

Disc One (204 mins approx)

The Making of the Series- filmed shortly after completion of the series, the story of the production process.
A New Germany: 1933-1939: Hitler's rise to power.
Distant War: September 1939- May 1940: The 'Phoney War' period in Britain.
France Falls: May-June 1940: France, unprepared for modern warfare, succumbs to Nazis.

Disc Two (209 mins approx)

Alone: May 1940- May 1941: Britain stands alone in Europe after Dunkirk, and although the RAF win the Battle of Britain, the outlook is grim...
Barbarossa: June- December 1941: Hitler's invasion of Russia and Russia's fightback.
Banzai- Japan: 1931- 1942: Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour.
On Our Way: USA 1939- 1942: America's indecision over whether to join the fight is solved by Hitler declaring war on the USA

Part Two

Disc One (209 mins approx)

The Desert: North Africa: 1940- 1943: The 8th Army and Rommel's Afrika Corps two year fight. The tide finally turns at El Alamein.
Stalingrad: June 1942- February 1943: Hitler's early success in Russia resolves him to capture Stalingrad. The six month battle sees the Russians emerge victorious and the Wehrrmacht devastated.
Wolf Pack: U-Boats in the Atlantic 1939- 1944: U-Boats sucess hindered by introduction of convoys until the 'wolf pack' tactic is instigated.
Red Star: The Soviet Union 1941- 1943: For two years the Soviet Army fight the Nazis almost alone. Russia survives and triumphs, but at a cost of almost twenty million people.

Disc Two (208 mins approx)

Whirlwind: Bombing Germany September 1939- April 1944: The bombing offensive of the RAF and the American Air Force against Germany.
Tough Old Gut: Italy November 1942- June 1944: Churchill calls Italy the 'soft underbelly of the crocodile' and thinks the Allies can cut through it to the heart of Germany, but the 'soft underbelly' turns out to be a 'tough old gut'.
It's a Lovely Day Tommorow: Burma 1942- 1943: Britain's largest army learns to master the jungle and fights the Japanese to a standstill.
Home Fires: Britain 1940- 1944: The British Home Front including Dig for Victory and the influential Beveridge Report.

Part Three

Disc One (209 mins approx)

Inside the Reich: Germany 1940- 1944: Germany's initial victory in Europe turns sour after defeat at Stalingrad.
Morning: June- August 1944: D-Day.
Occupation: Holland 1940- 1944: Neutral Holland is attacked without warning by the Nazis in 1940, but the resistance never dies.
Pincers: August 1944- March 1945: Paris is liberated in 1944 but Britain and USA disagree on how to advance, while Poland suffers huge losses in order to achieve victory.

Disc Two (207 mins approx)

Genocide: 1941- 1945: The Holocaust.
Nemesis: Germany February- May 1945: Hitler retreats to the Bunker while the Russians raise the Red Flag in Berlin.
Japan: 1941- 1945: Japan's early victory and the bombs.
Pacific: February 1942- July 1945: USA's fight across Pacific towards Japan and the Phillipines.

Part Four

Disc One (154 mins approx)

The Bomb: February- September 1945: Western scientists develop the atomic bomb and deliver it to Hiroshima.
Reckoning: 1945...And After: The slow end of the war, and the decisions that await regarding the fate of Europe.
Remember: First-hand remembrances from an array of survivors from all sides.

Disc Two (102 mins approx)

Secretary to Hitler: The story of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's private secretaries.
From War to Peace: Historian Stephen Ambrose examines the aftermath of WWII.
Warrior: Compiled from interviews and archive footage, reveals the realities of combat.

Part Five

Disc One (232 mins approx)

Hitler's Germany: The People's Community 1933- 1939: Rise of the Third Reich and the setting of the stage for WWII.
Hitler's Germany: Total War 1939- 1945: How German's citizens coped with mass bombing, invasion and defeat.
Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler: Did he die from self-inflicted gunshot, or swallow cynacide?

Disc Two (216 mins approx)

The Final Solution Part One: Evolution of Nazi doctrine from their origins to 1939.
The Final Solution Part Two: The Nazi's systematic extermination of millions of Jews and other non-Aryans.

30th Anniversary Disc (189 mins approx)

Making of the Series
Experiences of War: Prominent scholars and military figures recount specifics of the war in previously unseen and extended interviews taken from the archives of the Imperial War Museum.

All in all, this is an excellent documentary series regarding the Second World War. If you know nothing about this period it is an excellent introduction and overview of the conflict, and if you are aware it is highly interesting because of the sheer volume of archive footage and interviews which really help to convey the horror of the situation. Highly recommended.
 

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