The World at War: a remarkable TV documentary that cries out to be seen

Daily Mail ^ | 6th July 2007 | Max History

[Lorianne]

[UKrepublican]

Absolutely. One of the most remarkable pieces of documentary film ever made. It goes on and on but is facinating throughout.

[Spruce]

One of the only, if not the only, tv shows my father insisted all us kids watch.

[weegee]

I remember when it aired nightly in the 1970s.

It is available on DVD today I believe with some expanded materials.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[SunkenCiv]

Images of the Italian mountains in 1944 drive home the madness of the Allied decision to fight a campaign up their entire length, in territory so perfectly suited to German defence.

The idea of attacking the "soft underbelly of Europe" was pushed, hard, by Churchill, part of the critical contribution made by the British in defeating the Axis. ;')

[Kevmo]

Good place to bump this thread. I’d like to find out how to get the DVD series.

[Publius]

Carl Davis's theme music for this show was one of the very best things he ever wrote. It's in A-flat minor (7 flats), and just when you think it is going to resolve in the major key, he turns and slams you with a minor key cadence.

It's a devastating ending.

[RetiredArmy]

I saw it here in the States and again while stationed in Germany. AFNTV carried it in Germany. I think Lord Lawrence Oliver narated it didn’t he?

[csvset]

The World At War: Collector's Edition DVD set

From The History Channel.

[indcons]

Thank you, SunkenCiv. Time to start cranking the old ping machine.

[dfwgator]

When I think of Laurence Olivier, I think of “The World at War” over his movies. Amazing documentary series. The episode on The Battle of Stalingrad was the highlight.

[uglybiker]

...the series opens amid the ruins of the French village of Oradour-Sur-Glane, to this day preserved as a memorial, exactly as it was on the June day in 1944 when it was visited by men of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, the Das Reich.

www.oradour.info/

[Pelham]

Churchill also had a hand in the Gallipoli disaster in WWI. His eye for soft underbellies hadn’t improved much in the intervening years.

[indcons]

Last milhist ping for the day...have a great weekend, everybody.

[GATOR NAVY]

I had forgot all about this series but now I remember watching it as a kid. Olivier was great.

[grey_whiskers]

Now you've done it.

I've got the theme music running through my head and it won't leave! AIEEEEE!!!

Full Disclosure: I grew up on that show, being a WW II buff from a young age.

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

You too. See my post 17 this thread.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) And he tried to support the Greek resistance to the Nazi invasion, and thus delayed victory in North Africa by a couple of years. But I think Churchill knew what he was doing from a certain standpoint — he wanted the Germans and Russians to wind up chewed up and spit out by each other, and didn’t much care how long it took. British armed assistance to Greece was believed by Churchill to be of political advantage after the war, regardless of its success or failure.

I’m not sure he thought Italy was going to be easy, but he certainly did act like it; insisted on the Italian sideshow to delay a cross-channel invasion; and then used the lack of progress in Italy as an argument for further delay on the cross-channel invasion. At one of the wartime conferences (hmm, must have been Yalta?) Stalin finally put his foot down and insisted the real second front be opened, embarrassing Churchill in the process.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

One of the best ever historical documentary series ever made BUMP.