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General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: SkyRock on April 04, 2013, 12:46:33 AM

Title: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: SkyRock on April 04, 2013, 12:46:33 AM
I like most I watch, just want to find some I haven't seen... 
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Shane on April 04, 2013, 01:32:31 AM
Pearl Harbor.   

:noid  :bolt:
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: lyric1 on April 04, 2013, 02:10:35 AM
World at war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Lab Rat 3947 on April 04, 2013, 03:15:56 AM
I like the 26 episode "Victory at Sea". I remember watching that with my parents, when I was growing up in the 50's in Burbank.
About 6 weeks ago, I found a 3 disc DVD copy in the $7.00 rack at Walmart.  :old:

LtngRydr
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: mbailey on April 04, 2013, 06:09:11 AM
World at war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War

I remember sitting and watching this with my Dad......If i remember right Sundays at 8pm

Has my vote  :aok
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Shifty on April 04, 2013, 06:22:10 AM
Yeah I still watch World at War and like it as much as I did back in the 70s.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: EagleDNY on April 04, 2013, 06:52:04 AM
World at war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War

+1 - watched them all as a kid too.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: DelClay on April 04, 2013, 07:07:39 AM
While WaW is still the overall greatest, my personal favorite is the Battlefield series. Originally a BBC series that was shown on PBS quite a few years ago. Series 1, narrated by Tim Pigot-Smith in particular was amazing,  it covered  Normandy, BoB, Midway, France, Stalingrad, Berlin, Leyte Gulf, etc.  

The uncut versions on PBS were shown in their two-hour entirety, with the first hour showing the history leading up to the battle, preparations, leaders and armies etc, with the second hour devoted to the battle itself.  The series was later shown on the Military Channel cut into one hour chunks with lots of commercials, and it really lost something imho.

The second and later series tended to focus on theater battles, Battle of Italy, Battle of the Rhine, Battle of North Atlantic, etc, and while still extremely good, they started to lose some of the tightness and focus of the first series as they went on.

I've noticed you can now get them on Amazon in "theater" dvd and blu-ray sets.  I.e Great European Battles which has a mix of first and second series episodes (BoB (1), France (1), Rhine (2)).  Since this is the first time I've seen them re-released in awhile, they're definitely worth the purchase and highly recommended.  

And at 6hrs for $15, its a great buy.  :O

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047WYDKU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: lulu on April 04, 2013, 07:31:54 AM
My favorite is that one about aliens in wwII.
It told about aliens with one eye only with hair around it
and two huge microphone to hear and capturing
enemy weapons, rockets expecially.

 :neener:
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Changeup on April 04, 2013, 08:27:45 AM
War Lover with Steve McQueen...B-17's, officers not doing what their told, risking their men's lives for no reason other than the rush....YA BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!









He would be shot in real life...prolly by his own mother but a great flick.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Triton28 on April 04, 2013, 08:58:57 AM
World at War gets my vote too.  Still watch it whenever it's on the Military Channel.  WWII in color is pretty good too.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: bortas1 on April 04, 2013, 09:21:23 AM
 :salute anyone remember G>I> diaries? hosted by loyd briges? :cheers:
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: tunnelrat on April 04, 2013, 09:24:57 AM
Battle 360, which follows the Enterprise through the Pacific, is very much worth the watch.

Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Rob52240 on April 04, 2013, 10:13:06 AM
Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson did 2 really good ones on Operation Chariot and the Victoria Cross.

Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: SkyRock on April 04, 2013, 10:56:27 AM
World at War and victory at sea were great and also I remember when "The Unknown War" came on public tv back in the late 70's early 80's... I hadn't seen anything about the eastern front before then and I was so glued to the TV....  Burt Lancaster voiced it...    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_War_(documentary)

About 6 years ago I was in Wal-mart and I saw an old guy wearing a USS cap and asked him if he served, he said he did, survived the sinking of his ship, then got my address and sent me a VHS copy of victory at sea that showed his ship going down...
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: 999000 on April 04, 2013, 11:36:50 AM
Hogan's Heroes!! 999000
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Rob52240 on April 04, 2013, 04:14:33 PM
Anyone remember this documentary?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCQIGiXf0JA

Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: TOMCAT21 on April 04, 2013, 07:16:55 PM
GI Diary
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Hajo on April 04, 2013, 08:31:35 PM
World at War gets my vote.  When that was first shown on TV the series showed the US audience visually what happened in the not to distant past.

It was interesting to the general population who got only snippets of film and articles in news papers to inform them of the wars progress.

I remember sitting there as a young lad with my brother and parents watching.  Our Sister hadn't been born yet.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: RngFndr on April 04, 2013, 08:51:57 PM
Too many to list..
I have a large collection..

My favorites are the ones from the 50's..
The participants were still around to give their testimony.. Memories were still fresh!  
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Dragon Tamer on April 04, 2013, 09:21:29 PM
I have victory at sea, haven't watched it yet but I probably will now. While the BBS was down I ended up watching a lot of films on youtube, usually about a specific plane. Here are my three favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHF1CLPJfvo&list=WL438194775091FE03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGTn4CCU1S0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJzKjtjZnY

I also had one of the P-51 development and deployment that was going to be in place of the Russian aircraft video, but I forgot to save the link... oh well.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: BaldEagl on April 05, 2013, 01:00:10 AM
Undisputed that World at War was the best.  Victory at Sea was also very good but no one's mentioned Wings yet.  Wings is a good series if you want to learn a little about the design and history of the aircraft.  And of course, while not always 100% accurate Dogfights is an entertaining series.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: RngFndr on April 05, 2013, 07:11:58 AM
Undisputed that World at War was the best.  Victory at Sea was also very good but no one's mentioned Wings yet.  Wings is a good series if you want to learn a little about the design and history of the aircraft.  And of course, while not always 100% accurate Dogfights is an entertaining series.

Do you mean the one that used to be on (old) Discovery as "Great Planes"?? I have MANY of those episodes on VHS.. Yep, that's a good one, each episode focused on a particular plane, with tons of great film you don't usually see.. Some were obviously pilot training classroom films, and films for ground crew.. Awesome..

(Aside from the British narrator who consistantly said .50 cal, was "50 mm" machineguns, Oopsee! :lol)
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: ozrocker on April 05, 2013, 07:20:05 AM
I like Documentaries, but I love newsreels :aok

There's a plethora of German WW2 newsreels on youtube.
Just look for Deustche Wochenschau.


                                                                                                                                      :cheers: Oz
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Dark on April 05, 2013, 07:25:03 AM
If I remember the name right it is called apocalypse.  Was a DVD special on military channel. Got it at best buy for 5$ . Dsnt show a whole lot of long fights but some good stuff.  Saddest part was watching the Russians strapping explosives on dogs and running under a German tank. It is a semi graphic DVD. But still good none the less. But favorite is world at war.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: RngFndr on April 05, 2013, 07:29:01 AM
Some Guys are doing colorizations of German War films..
Just stunning,  :aok :aok :aok :aok :aok Major great work!
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: BoilerDown on April 05, 2013, 11:49:15 AM
The Color of War: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292774

I like this one a lot better than WW2 in Colour, which is what the History Channel has been showing more recently.  The narration in The Color of War favors the individual soldiers a lot more, and relates the effects combat had on them.  It focuses less on history lessons and more on the horrors of war in the modern age.  The former I can learn anywhere, the latter you can't really get anywhere except in this series.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Brooke on April 08, 2013, 04:15:11 PM
"Clash of Wings" series from the Discovery Channel.  The WWII footage in them is awesome.  I watch *a lot* of WWII historical stuff and have seen the clips used in most series many times over, but this series has lots of excellent footage that I had never seen before.  Also, this series is almost entirely historical footage.

"Lost Evidence" series from the History Channel.  These are excellent, with historical footage and also very high-quality re-enactment (more toward the level of Band of Brothers).

"Battle 360" and "Dogfights" series from the History Channel.  Good, although the computer graphics in them is sometimes not top notch.

"WWII in HD" series from the History Channel.  Some good historical footage.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Seadog36 on April 08, 2013, 04:49:45 PM
Clash of Wings is excellent. Try "Thunderbolt" 1949 lots of amazing color footage of the 57th FG P-47s operating jabo missions out of Corsica.

http://www.youtube.com/movie/thunderbolt
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Masherbrum on April 08, 2013, 05:11:07 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptijNcDanVw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptijNcDanVw)

That is the my favorite "WWII Dcoumentary".

Non-WWII?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUSq7pxux4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUSq7pxux4)

Both of them are a step above the rest.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Doc72 on April 08, 2013, 08:15:34 PM
A few of mine are, The Color of War, D-Day, the total story, The War by Ken Burns, Theirs is the Glory, The bombing of Germany, Battlefield Detectives, Crusade in the Pacific, Greatest Tank Battles (most are during WWII), and Auschwitz-Inside the Nazi State to name a few.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Guppy35 on April 08, 2013, 08:43:40 PM
"World at War" is the best documentary series on WW2.  Still way ahead of anything since too in my opinion.

For just WW2 airplanes and done in wartime I really like "Fight for the Sky"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB2ntxv9_50
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Baggy on April 09, 2013, 07:09:41 AM
World at War is by far the best.

The irritating thing about most modern documentaries is the way after a commercial break they repeat what you saw approximately 2 minutes previously just to puff out the time. Dogfights and Greatest Tank Battles are prime examples of this. CGI is ok but you can't beat proper historical footage.

Considering World at War was made when there were far fewer channels and audiences were consequently far larger, I doubt anything like it will be made again. I hope to be proved wrong!
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: lulu on April 09, 2013, 09:17:37 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8EkmyoG83Q


 :salute
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: texasfighter on April 12, 2013, 01:19:07 PM
I watched Victory at Sea as a kid. Later as an adult I watched it again whenever it was showed; pbs, military channel, etc. My father served on a Fletcher class, the USS Callaghan, which was the last US DD sunk in combat to this day. One day a few years ago I was watching the Leyte Gulf episode of Victory at Sea on video tape. I was watching the part leading up to the first day of naval combat. I realized that there was a 3 sec clip that apparently showed the Callaghan while escorting one of the "light" carriers (Independence class). At that point in the war the Callaghan served with the USS Essex task group which included the USS Princeton, a "light" carrier. I had never seen anything but still photos of my father's ship. I can't absolutely prove that it is the Callaghan but the camouflage scheme matches that of the Callaghan and I've never seen another one exactly like it. I communicated this find to the Callaghan reunion group. They were appreciative as you might imagine.

It would be great to find the original film but most of those films were destroyed by the navy many years ago probably because of the cost of storage.
Title: Re: What is your favorite WWII documentary film?
Post by: Blooz on April 12, 2013, 02:58:33 PM
Time-Life did a series called "Battlefield" for WW2 and Vietnam.

They were so good I bought both complete sets.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5b/Battlefield-Series4b.jpg/220px-Battlefield-Series4b.jpg)