I still remember World at War being on Tyne Tees at the peak 9pm time with it's haunting soundtrack.
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World War 2 with Tom Hanks on Sky History
- Thread starter Gobuchul
- Start date
I remember it in the 80s on one of the 4 channels then. Only seen a few episodes, but watched it all on dvd in the 90s. Probably revisited it every decade since. I don’t think anything can top it really.
Started the year we won the FA Cup
RichD
Striker
The world at war didn't have to put "Laurence Olivier's" name in the title to sell it to an audience...
Excuse my ignorance, but what else would you see in historical footage. I know stuff was doctored for timeline purposes and re-enactments like.
In a lot of documentaries, they just use stock footage when discussing various periods in the war, then you end up with film of Panther tanks when talking about events in 1940, Lancaster bombers in 1941 etc.
It's not just stock footage, there are so many inaccurate cliches, that are repeated, particularly regarding the "Nazi War Machine" that people just accept as fact. There was a BBC documentary on WW2 tanks a few years back and they were discussing the Battle of France, where they compared the various tank gun shells and they had a German 88mm shell, next to 2pdrs and 75mm shells. The Germans had 88mm guns in 1940 but not one on a tank.
safcuntilidie
Midfield
I notice in a lot of programs where the Battle of Britain is covered, they always show a flight of late mark Spitfires. They have different engines, camo and tear drop canopy, probably around 44-45 time period. Either the footage is mislabeled or the researcher is lazy. There is a lot of original 1940 footage that can be used.
Luca Changretta
Midfield
As much as Tom Hanks is a great actor, he'll never have the gravitas of Olivier
hank williams
Striker
Did they turn up late
alanturing
Winger
As good as the World at War is there is no mention of Bletchley Park or Enigma.
I couldn’t say for certain, but when World at War was made, the details of Bletchley park and Enigma hadn’t yet been made public. Hence they weren’t in the series.
jackynutmeg
Striker
Cant get away with him narrating.
Trying to be Olivier and Attenborough.
SuperSub
Midfield
You're right, when the World at War was commissioned and first aired in 1973 the Enigma and Blechley park were still classified under the Official Secrets Act.
I find the WW2 fascinating. 1973 I was 5 years old living in Hebburn, so a too young to know about all this. But in 1974 I moved to the North West and my life changed beyond all recognition, 1973 when Sunderland won the cup and 1974 when I moved are the two dates that are ingrained in my childhood memories.
Luca Changretta
Midfield
No one likes a braggard !! Even if you did shorten the war and save lives
His narration on the Americas nature docs was ok, not Attenborough but then who will be ?
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contrarian
Central Defender
Sadly without them we were royally screwed
However if we were to believe in the likes of Yaxley Lennon and Nige, we would in fact have been better off letting Adolf win
Ive watched first couple and it's decent enough I suppose. Trouble is nothing is even going to beat world at war with first-hand accounts from major players and theirs been that many other documentaries this Hanks effort is not telling you nowt that hasn't been told a number of times before
cosmicchris00
Striker
The World at War is epic.
Me Da encouraged me to watch it after The Falklands lads started returning in not so glorious shape - the burned and other badly injured from the ships was shocking.
War in the Pacific is fairly bleak, especially the Okinawa and Iwo Jima parts.
It seems completely unnecessary and just another vehicle for Tom Hanks. There is already a very good documentary series about WW2 through American eyes by Ken Burns. Like The World At War it uses interviews from people who lived through it at the time rather than just historians.
