[.ca] Wwii: Color Archives (ISBN 0767026977)

From Amazon.com:
In the 1980s determined researchers began scouring the world for color film shot during World War II, and the result of their quest is spectacular. Seeing the war through the ubiquitous black-and-white footage has always made the experience somewhat distant, but in clear, crisp color, the enormity of the war and its horrors is startling and dramatic. Films of Nazi rallies are all the more disturbing; a viewer seeing the scene in color realizes the massive crowds saluting Hitler are no longer gray and faceless masses, but gatherings of well- dressed civilians. Color combat footage, from across Europe and the Pacific, is frighteningly immediate, and some of it, showing the wounded, the dead, and even prisoners being executed, will no doubt be disturbing for many viewers. Violence and destruction on an unimaginable scale is vividly put on display, as are smaller moments of soldiers smiling for the camera or liberated prisoners from the concentration camps staring in pained bewilderment. The episodes, produced by the History Channel, are introduced by veteran journalist Roger Mudd, and the narration for each individual segment typically contains excerpts from letters and diaries describing events close to those depicted in the film footage. The footage used is of a surprisingly high quality (much of it was shot and stored away, virtually unseen for decades), and it provides a stunning look at how the war appeared to those fighting it. --Robert J. McNamara

Varying quality:
A good overall look at the available color footage during the war. The commentary is quite good as well. Unfortunately, much of the footage is not as good as it could be. The first program on the first disc has a disappointing black level, and as a result, much of the footage looks too bright and washed out. While the next two programs improve on this, other DVDs such as "The Third Reich in Color" have presented color European theatre and Third Reich footage more carefully. However, none can compete all at once with this two disc set. The color footage shot during actual battles and preperation for D-Day are high points, as well as the seven minutes or so of Eva Braun home movies on the end of the disc. Pacific theatre buffs will feel shortchanged; I'd say 80 to 85% of the material concerns Europe. This DVD set is certainly worthwhile if you wish to see a large quantity of period color footage with informative commentary. It succeeds in bringing the war and the period to life.

Powerful Images of the 20th Century's Most Significant Event:
Having read dozens of books on World War Two and having seen many documentaries in the classroom or on my own, I was a little skeptical that simply seeing this footage in color would bring it even more to life. But I certainly was wrong. This is amazing footage from a 3-part History Channel program that presents World War II in color, and there's no way you're going to forget it. Most haunting is the bonus footage of Adolf Hitler hanging out with friends, playing with a dog, petting the animal, playing with children. Seeing a monster in this sort of setting only makes more horrific the Holocaust and Hitler's grand vision of Liebenstraum. Then the footage of Auschwitz and Dachau is enough to haunt you forever. Seeing it in black and white was powerful enough. Seeing it in color, the blank stares of corpses piled up one on top of another in the back of a truck is something that you will never forget. And when you see the kamikaze attack on Okinawa, you'll sit there stunned. In all, the entire 3-DVD series makes for some unforgettable viewing, strung together with historically accurate narration, most of it from diary entries or letters from the average person. For it was roughly 40 million average persons whose lives were lost in this event. As Roger Mudd ends the series, he talks about how Steven Ambrose' D-Day center now houses the color footage of the Normandy Invasion, so, as Ambrose said, future generations would realize that seeing this in color would show that World War Two was not ancient history. Once you see this, you'll never forget that.

the lost archives appear to be still lost:
The footage in this film is fantastic but in no way whatsoever does justice to what the individuals who participated in the war experienced. Unlike the Land of the Czars or other films produced this production does not provide enough detail for any of the events listed in the contents. It is almost like fast forwarding through the war. There is no way i would subject my students to this film. I would be boring them to death and I would here about it. The purchase of this dvd was a total waste of money. I would sooner use many of the dusty copies in our library. pjk

My comment:
It is fascinating and exciting to see World War II not in black and white, as we are used to seeing it, but in color. Its kind of like how it was for theater audiences of the day. Most movies of the day were in black and white, but those that were in Technicolor were absolutely stunning, and still are. Unfortunately, that's what the problem with these tapes are. Even though the colors are realistic, the picture is quite grainy and the image suffers from poor contrast, muddy blacks and blurred colors; it is very slow and sometimes fringing becomes apparent. The reason for this was because it was shot on nonprofessional 16mm film, separated into negatives and then blown up onto 35mm. The best examples of color film remain the old Technicolor movies from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, not Kodachrome films like these. Unfortunately, we can't see World War II in Technicolor, because it would have been way too expensive and out of bounds to shoot in it, but nevertheless the picture would have been much better.

Very Good Documentary Even if it Were Not in Color:
Apart from the obvious important issue of color, "Lost Color Archives" is different from many other documentaries dealing with World War II. The emphasis is much less on causes and facts than it is on the impact of the war on society and individuals. Its use of personal observances is remeniscent of the way Ken Burns used eye witness accounts in "The Civil War" to make more of an impact on the viewer. Evenso, from a historical perspective, "Lost Color Archives" does deserve high praise as a solid explanation of the war as a whole. Because it is told largely from the eye witness point of view, the viewer has a sense of the impending conflict, then the endurance through the war, and finally, the exhausted conclusion. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the war was over, but that much of the world had been destroyed and that the effects and rememberance of the war would linger on. Add color to all this and the documentary clearly stands above anything else I've ever seen about the war. Some of the images are average, some are stunning, some are beautiful, some are horrifying, but all are in color. The combination of the color video and the first person narratives often sent chills down my spine.