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doesn't know REAL wrestling...
This 26-part documentary narrated by the great Sir Laurence Olivier has been airing again here in the UK. It was commissioned in 1969 and first aired in 1973 and at the time, it was the most expensive British TV series ever made.
It documents everything from the rise of Hitler to the Nuremburg Trials and the beginnings of the Cold War. The plain-speaking interviews and graphic nature of the videos (I'm surprised that it is allowed on during the day), coupled with Olivier's ability to articulate emotion, makes for a harrowing experience.
Despite being nearly 40 years old, the use of video material taken at the time by all sides and interviews from a long list of major contributors to both the Allied and Axis war efforts, as well as other eye-witnesses has made sure that its impact has not diminished. The horrors of Stalingrad, Burma, Iwo Jima and the Holocaust are all tackled.
The writing is just as good such as the last line of Episode 22 "Japan." Olivier speaks of how the Japanese were training all of their citizens, women and children included, to fight to the death with rifles, guns, bows and arrows and bamboo pikes but then calmly states that the resolution would not come from fighting on the ground. It would come from the sky - "irresistible... inconceivable... mushroom-shaped..."
The soundtrack is one of the more enduring parts of the documentary. It was just chilling and still is.
I have no doubt that this is the best documentary on the Second World War and perhaps one of the greatest ever.
Anyone else seen it?
It documents everything from the rise of Hitler to the Nuremburg Trials and the beginnings of the Cold War. The plain-speaking interviews and graphic nature of the videos (I'm surprised that it is allowed on during the day), coupled with Olivier's ability to articulate emotion, makes for a harrowing experience.
Despite being nearly 40 years old, the use of video material taken at the time by all sides and interviews from a long list of major contributors to both the Allied and Axis war efforts, as well as other eye-witnesses has made sure that its impact has not diminished. The horrors of Stalingrad, Burma, Iwo Jima and the Holocaust are all tackled.
The writing is just as good such as the last line of Episode 22 "Japan." Olivier speaks of how the Japanese were training all of their citizens, women and children included, to fight to the death with rifles, guns, bows and arrows and bamboo pikes but then calmly states that the resolution would not come from fighting on the ground. It would come from the sky - "irresistible... inconceivable... mushroom-shaped..."
The soundtrack is one of the more enduring parts of the documentary. It was just chilling and still is.
I have no doubt that this is the best documentary on the Second World War and perhaps one of the greatest ever.
Anyone else seen it?