Search - The Great War: WWI on DVD

Poorly executed....and not worth the money

Kenneth M. Pizzi | San Mateo, CA United States | 05/08/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"To echo the sentiments of the previous reviewer, I must contend that this documentary is a real disappointment to anyone with even a fleeting interest in WWI. With just reel upon reel of reused newsreel footage and the ramblings of only one relatively unknown, anonymous "historian" (whose name I have already forgot!) to provide additional "analysis" and commentary to the bland and deadpan narration, that makes the 40 year old, black and white, 1960's era, CBS documentary series narrated by the late actor, Robert Ryan, nothing short of a masterpiece.

One would be better served to spend a little extra and purchase the acclaimed British Channel 4 series, "The First World War" (see my review) also available from Amazon.

With crude graphics and nary an animated map, this is a cheaply put together documentary series using decades-old material that even armchair historians would take offense at. Thankfully, I purchased my set for only $4.99 at Ross-Dress for Less rather than the $11.98 price here thru Amazon."

Unbelievably bad !!!

M. Donahue | Elk Grove, CA USA | 12/11/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, this movie is the oddest retro 1950's documentary ever. Throughout the story are endlessly repeated footage(some repeated more than ten times through the episodes) while the broad-statement voiceovers seem to bear little to no relationship to the photos and videos you are seeing. The entire story of Russia and the Revolution was captured in two sentences about half-way through. Individual episodes start by jumping back in time to long before the previous episode ended....so you keep covering the same ground. Historical significance is defined only in the broadest-brush concepts and no real chronology is ever provided. Finally, the in-house history expert had meandering explanations and questionable grammar. I love history but this oddball production really shreds it badly."