The World At War

The most interesting, informative and moving account of the Second World War that I have ever seen. Correctly regarded as the definitive TV dcoumentary series about WW2

I find if facile that so many people are moaning about the aspect ratio of this blu-ray of the World at War. Surely the content makes up for that. If I read war and peace in a circular book, I wouldn't care about the shape of the page, the words are the same. If you're sitting at home complaining about the ratio then you're neglecting the actual documentary. You can perfectly see all the people in the interviews, the war footage is fine ! what is the problem ?! If you actually care about the story and morality of WW2 then get this. If you like complaining for no apparent reason then i suppose you could get this. If you care about the actual documentary then you won't notice the aspect ratio. Down with the sad people comparing this with the old-school 4:3 who ignore the whole point !

Having been entertained by some of the negative reviews here, I felt a reply was necessary. If you want an account of World War II that does not insult your intelligence, then watch this series. If you want shoot-em-up action or musing celebreties staring out of train windows, then don't.

I was particularly entertained by the reviewer who could not work out which disk to watch next. One possible clue is that since this is history, the lower numbers come first: 1940 is before 1943. But perhaps best to avoid the Ancient Greeks. I hope this helps.

The series itself is absolutely superb. Twenty-six episodes deal with twenty-six distinct aspects of the Second World War. Firsthand accounts from such people as Albert Speer, Arthur Harris, Karl Dönitz and Mark Clark, first-class research and wry, authoritative (and occasionally borderline sarcastic) narration by the sublime Lawrence Olivier make TWAW the definitive history of the period.

Unfortunately, the DVD version is a terrible mess. The menus are confusing, inconsistent across volumes and bereft of a 'play all' button. The episodes are presented in a timeline format, which gives context, but unfortunately there's no indication as to which ones can be selected on this particular disc, and which are held elsewhere. There's always a nagging feeling that you may have missed an episode. Added to this, you have a text summary of each episode that reads like a school essay. Total garbage.

Given that the series is *always* running on the History channel, the temptation is just to Sky+ the episodes. Doing it this way would, unfortunately deprive you of the bonus content of Jeremy Isaacs explaining, in great detail, how the series came about and how it was made. That section, if you can find it, is utterly superb.

This is the most factual, real and complete history of the second work war. No other WW2 documentary comes close.

What was most most interesting for me was when they interview civilians, military leaders and even Hitlers secretary, These aren't historians reflecting and hypothesising, these are people who were actually there, telling their stories.