you know what... $19.99 for 36 DVDs about war... you can't go wrong unless it is 36 copies of pearl harborI'm buying it!
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful: Jaw Dropping Collection of War Documentaries and Films, January 20, 2009 By Robert Huggins (Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews "America: Stories of War" is a huge collection of 36 DVDs, representing over 170 hours (7+ days!!!) of war documentaries and theatrical films dealing with various conflicts throughout America's history. Attractively packaged in a tin designed to look like an ammo can (complete with battle scars), this collection from Mill Creek Entertainment assembles two of their sets in a single, larger package, including a documentary set that's also titled America Stories of War and a 50 movie set titled Combat Classics 50 MoviePack. The documentaries are spread over 24 single-sided DVDs and cover the following: * The Civil War (10 documentary segments) * World War I (10 segments) * World War II (91 segments) * The Korean War (32 segments) * The Vietnam War (51 segments) One might quibble about the exclusion, especially, of the Revolutionary War and other conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, and the current War in Iraq, but with nearly 200 documentary segments included for the five conflicts listed above, it's easy to overlook these omissions. There's also a certain amount of propaganda throughout some of the documentaries, but that's largely overshadowed by some extraordinary images captured by numerous combat photographers. Both the Civil War and World War I documentaries were produced by Creation Films and are of recent vintage, carrying a 2008 copyright date (the only licensed material in this otherwise public domain collection). As I viewed the Civil War documentary segments, they reminded me of a poor man's version of "Ken Burns' The Civil War" that was broadcast on PBS. While the production values aren't in the same class as the Burns film, the narration is compelling in its own way and, after a slow start, I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the material. The World War I documentaries fare a bit better; motion picture cameras had been developed by that time and cameras were taken into battle. I hadn't heard about Creation Films before watching these two documentaries, but despite what must have been a modest budget, the documentaries are well done and I'd be interested in seeing other documentaries that the company might produce in the future. The World War II segments comprise the largest portion of the documentaries and include some notable documentaries that were developed for television, including NBC's Emmy award winning "Victory at Sea" (yes, the original Richard Rodgers/Robert Russell Bennett score is intact), "Crusade in Europe," which was one of the earliest war documentary series developed for television, running on ABC from May to October of 1949, and "Crusade in the Pacific," a syndicated series. All of the World War II films that were part of Frank "It's a Wonderful Life" Capra's "Why We Fight" series are also included in this grouping. Many of the Korean War segments are from yet another television documentary series, "The Big Picture," that ran on ABC from 1953 to 1959. This series was produced by the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense. Likewise, the Vietnam War segments are also government productions, but some of the segments are in color. The films selection is a decidedly mixed bag as the films included consist of older films that have slipped into the public domain due mainly to lapses in copyright registrations. There are some bonafide classics and near classics in this group, including "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" and "The Immortal Battalion" (both British films made during the years of World War II), as well as "Go for Broke" and "Blood on the Sun," among a few others. But the vast majority of the films are B-movie programmers from the U.S., England, and Europe that were produced between the 1930s and 1980s. There are even a few made-for-TV movies in the mix, including "The Black Brigade" a/k/a "Carter's Army" and "Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil." The bulk of these films are focused during the World War II era, but a few films like "Drums in the Deep South" and "Hearts in Bondage" are set in the Civil War era and then there's the odd film like "Eagle in a Cage" that tells the story of Napoleon's exile and "The Mark of the Hawk," a drama that uses an African uprising as its backdrop. The films appear to be unrestored, but are in relatively good shape. However, most of the discs have four films on a single side, so there is some occasional digital breakup/blurring in scenes where there is a lot of motion, due to the compression of so many films on each disc. But, considering that a collection like this is the only way that many of these older films will ever see a release on DVD, they are generally acceptable. The challenge for many purchasers of this set will be finding time to view the many hours that are included in this collection and, in fact, this is one of the few times where it's fair to say that this collection offers years of viewing pleasure. In fact, this set is so large that viewers will need to pace themselves, perhaps watching a film each week along with several of the documentary segments. Veterans, military enthusiasts and those interested in a visual history of America's conflicts will find much to like in this set. While the documentary segments (comprising two-thirds of this set) rate an easy *****, the theatrical film selection isn't quite up to scratch and, as such, my overall rating for the set is closer to **** & ½.
Here is a customer quote from amazon.. Looks pretty good especially for the price. Might have to pick this up.
