Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

I was just wondering what WWII documentaries my fellow wargamers would recommend.

New war movies are few and far between, so I am looking for some great documentaries to watch during the summer months.

I hear that World at War is good. However, when I read up on it, mention was made that it is biased: ie more attention is placed on British actions vs American ones. So that Patton is never mentioned and that the Pacific war is given short treatment. Is this a fair assessment?

Thanks.

quote:

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

quote:

ORIGINAL: Neilster



... Given that the vast majority of American-made WW2 documentaries are outrageously ethnocentric...

Here we go with the inevitable American bashing. Thanks, Neilster, you'll undoubtedly succeed in getting this thread locked soon.

BTW, you're welcome for we Yanks keeping the rump of the British Empire alive during the WWII years.

quote:

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

quote:

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

quote:

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin
BTW, you're welcome for we Yanks keeping the rump of the British Empire alive during the WWII years.

KG

Normally I'm on your side with a fair few arguments on these boards, but you are out of order there, my friend.

You weren't the only "...keep the rump of the British Empire alive" during WWII. There were plenty of British that died for the cause also.

And as Neilster said...he didn't disparage the actual input by the Americans during either war, or indeed any other conflict. What he did allude to was the fact that alot of US documentaries are biased.

If you fail to distinguish between media propaganda effort and real life effort, then that's your lookout...not anyone elses.

Ok, my admiration for the Aussies, who were part of the empire, is well known, but I crossed the line with that careless remark. In the context of recent events, it was in extremely bad taste. I sincerely apologize.
I am an American and very proud of it. Normally, I would back my fellow countryman here, but I'm going to go agauinst the grain here and side with Neilster.
I'm not going to say anything more other than to his defense we are being bashed across the world and we are getting a bit sensitive about it. So I can fully understand and appreciate where he is coming from. So let's all try and get along here. This is a very interesting topic and we all just want to find out what's out there.
As far as that goes: I just say to continuously watch the History Channel. They are always coming up with something new like, as stated earlier, the battlefield series with all the computer animations and analysis. also, even though it's the 20th century , try the century of warfare. Obviously WWII is well represented there, but you also get everything that led to WWII in that series. That's the kind of thing I like. I saw the WAW series, and I agree with everyone that it is awesome. But, outdated now. I'm more interested in all the new serieses where they can use the computer to analyze situations much like battlefield to give us a better and more knowlegible base and understanding of how and why everything went down like it did.
One more series I like and it is a very old series but fun to watch is the classic victory at sea series. One more: unsolved mysteries of WWII gives you a different spin on some of the mysteries Like the riddle of Dunkirk.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

I taped a bunch of documentaries onto VHS tapes over the years, and would love to get them on dvd, but alas they are either not available, or out of stock.

My fear is that the way history is being shoved onto the back burner by mainstream TV, many these may not be available at all.

Has anyone seen the documentary called "TANKS!"? It was a multi-episode doc about different German tanks in WWII. I thought it was quite well done.

I've got "Tanks" and it's definitely available on DVD as a 3 disc set.

The thing with specialised documentaries like the one on Russia is that very often they only run for 50 minutes and they show King Tigers storming in Barbarossa or Shermans at Dunkirk. I HATE that


I bought a combined DVD/Video player/recorder last year and it's a breeze to copy tape to disc with one button. A worthy investment if you need a second DVD machine and very cheap now too without hard drive.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

quote:

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

..It's an eternal quest... does it ever end?

No it doesn't. Once the passion grabs hold of you, your thirst for more never seems to be satisfied. That's the curse of a researcher.

There's more -- once you can start pointing out factual errors in a given documentary or book, you know you're hooked.

Funny thing is that I have loved history even when I was a young sprite. I devoured books from my school library. Before the advent of computer games and CGI movies I was reading about Napoleon, Caesar, The Civil War, etc for days on end....

Then I found wargames. The thought that I could now game battles that I had always read about, was a dream come true.

I remember picking up the board game "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". I skipped school and spent the whole day in the local library reading the rule book. My imagination was on fire...

Then came computer wargames. I was in heaven.

Funny thing is that I thought I was relatively alone in this little hobby of mine. No one else I knew cared to talk about history, let alone thought about playing wargames.

Then came the internet. And my discovery that there are all these lovers of history and wargames the world over. Truly a "Unified Field Theory" of history and wargame enthusiasts.

Frankly, I could talk about history and wargames all day. I never tire of it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

Just a question about "Victory at Sea":

I understand it's narrated with a musical score, but are there sound effects as well?

I mean, when sea battles are shown, do we hear any naval guns or planes? Or is it all just music?

Thanks.

quote:

ORIGINAL: panzers

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

quote:

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

..It's an eternal quest... does it ever end?

No it doesn't. Once the passion grabs hold of you, your thirst for more never seems to be satisfied. That's the curse of a researcher.

There's more -- once you can start pointing out factual errors in a given documentary or book, you know you're hooked.

Funny thing is that I have loved history even when I was a young sprite. I devoured books from my school library. Before the advent of computer games and CGI movies I was reading about Napoleon, Caesar, The Civil War, etc for days on end....

Then I found wargames. The thought that I could now game battles that I had always read about, was a dream come true.

I remember picking up the board game "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". I skipped school and spent the whole day in the local library reading the rule book. My imagination was on fire...

Then came computer wargames. I was in heaven.

Funny thing is that I thought I was relatively alone in this little hobby of mine. No one else I knew cared to talk about history, let alone thought about playing wargames.

Then came the internet. And my discovery that there are all these lovers of history and wargames the world over. Truly a "Unified Field Theory" of history and wargame enthusiasts.

Frankly, I could talk about history and wargames all day. I never tire of it.

Dude: If I didn't know any better, I could swear I just wrote everything you just said. You read my mind.
Everything is right on the money with me. Like everyone else, it all started with axis and allies and has been a run away fright train out of control ever since. Now, here I am anxiously awaiting for the mother of all wargames: World In Flames. Now tentetively scheduled in December with a probable public beta testing due at Origins international gaming expo in July in Columbus Ohio.

quote:

ORIGINAL: SuluSea

For my money Victory At Sea is without question the best.

Recently I've been buying stuff from The War File , Carrier Wars, Greatest Sea Battles, Battle of Midway, all are very good.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

Just a question about "Victory at Sea":

I understand it's narrated with a musical score, but are there sound effects as well?

I mean, when sea battles are shown, do we hear any naval guns or planes? Or is it all just music?

Thanks.

YES Sound effects as the person filming it would hear. With studio added narration and music.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Warfare1

Air Power with Walter Cronkite




The Riveting Stories of
World War II Air Combat

Narrated by Walter Cronkite

* 3 DVD Set
* Running Time: Over 6 Hours
* Color and B & W

This riveting 6 hour documentary, produced by CBS News in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force and narrated by Walter Cronkite, chronicles the impact that the fighting machines of the air had on the outcome of World War II. Follow Hitler's determined attempts to conquer Britain by sending the Luftwaffe over the English Channel to bomb London. Relive the infamous day when Japan's Air Force attacked Pearl Harbor, the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the deadly dogfights in the Pacific theater.

Featuring spectacular and rare documentary film footage, this fascinating retrospective also explores aviation's impact on the 20th Century. Culled from over 300 million feet of film including captured enemy footage. Here are the unforgettable stories of World War II... Air Power.



MY RATING: 5 STARS/5 STARS

This is a superb collection of documentaries covering both the European and Pacific Wars as it examines the use of air power.

Narrated by the great Walter Cronkite, this 6 hour collection is tightly edited, exciting and is something you will want to watch again and again.

No movie will be able to capture the excitement of seeing actual film footage from dogfights in the Battle of Britain, huge bomber formations over Germany, carrier battles, to B-29s heading over the Pacific to Japan.

This collection has it all.

My only nitpick is that there is a slight lip-sync problem with the veteran being interviewed on two of the short extra features on disc two. This only lasts a few minutes and does not detract from this great dvd collection.


Amazon.ca:
http://tinyurl.com/ywcaow

Amazon.com:
http://tinyurl.com/28r5hk

quote:

ORIGINAL: panzers



Air Power with Walter Cronkite


Anything at all having to do with the name Walter Cronkite attached to it has to be good.
It doesn't get any better than that. He is as good as it gets as far as information about the war from the American point of view. I'm ordering first thing tomorrow.