Product Description

Considered the most influential documentary in television history VICTORY AT SEA in the words of Harper s Weekly "created a new art form." The 26 half-hour episodes were culled from over 13000 hours of footage shot by the U.S. British German and Japanese navies during World War II. Narrated by Leonard Graves and set to a score by Richard Rodgers this program offered a remarkable look at the realities of naval warfare and the extraordinary challenges faced by the Allies. From U-boat "Wolfpacks" to the epic battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa every major naval engagement of World War II is captured in some of the most riveting combat footage ever shot.Now the complete landmark series is available on DVD for the first time. And to celebrate this 50th anniversary release television legend Peter Graves (Mission Impossible) enriches the viewing experience by framing each classic episode of this Emmy® and Peabody® award-winning series against the World War II cultural and political landscape. From U-boat "Wolfpacks" to the epic battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa every major naval engagement of World War II is captured in some of the most riveting combat footage ever shot.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 733961709674 Manufacturer No: AAE-70967

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4247 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2003-09-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .80 pounds
• Running time: 690 minutes

Amazon.com
A 26-episode World War II documentary, Victory at Sea is one of the most important series in the history of television. Made in 1952, the show was a huge success, winning many major awards and even spawning albums featuring the orchestral score by Richard Rodgers, best known for his musicals with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Produced with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, each 26-minute program consists of black-and-white wartime film set to a narration by Leonard Graves. The two years leading up to America's entry into the war are dismissed in episode one, while the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor gets a show of its own, the raid depicted in a brilliantly edited montage that almost certainly contains "docu-drama" footage. Each episode contains at least one powerful stand-alone sequence in the tradition of Serge Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), these action-suspense set-pieces giving the programs an urgent, surprisingly modern feel. Indeed, the emphasis is at least as much on entertainment as information, the factual content delivered in poetic narration, the score transforming the war into a more than usually serious Hollywood adventure. The documentaries are nothing if not wide-ranging, covering parts of the land war despite the title, and including everything from the Atlantic convoys and U-boat "Wolfpacks" to war in Alaska, the South Atlantic, and the Far East, the Pacific War, and the Fall of Japan. There is an attempt to include other nations--certainly the D-Day episode acknowledges the British far more than Saving Private Ryan--but inevitably the focus is on America's war. The very dated narration gives a fascinating insight into how America saw WWII in the early 1950s, while the dynamic cutting and often genuinely remarkable wartime footage make Victory at Sea still gripping today. Twenty years later, Granada's The World at War would become the definitive television WWII history, but this release offers a unique opportunity to see a series of great importance from the very early days of television. --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Video is great; Audio is HORRIBLE
The History Channel and NBC NEWS should be ashamed of themselves for putting out this long awaited DVD version of Victory at Sea. I watched these shows as a kid back in the 50s and waited for the DVD version. I was warned by someone that the sound wasn't great, but I bought the set anyway. Big mistake. You have to watch some of them with a remote in your hand to constantly raise and lower the sound. The narration is too low and the music is too loud. A review on another website defending the DVD set said that there is a warning on the box that says "audio levels may vary". Yeah, right, but the sites that sell the DVDs don't point that out. This was very disappointing. I can't, and won't, recommend this set to anyone.

2 STARS FOR EXPECTED CONTENT 0 STARS FOR SOUND
Ever since I had my first DVD player I wanted to get Victory At Sea. It turned out to be quite a disapointment. The sound track leaves much to be desired. When the DVD starts the music is wonderfull, as soon as the first part goes on you know the sound and effects will be and are awfull.The sound is low and lifeless.The sound is most of what makes the stories come alive. I own the CDs of this music and they are great. These DVDs seem as though they were copied from an old tape and never enhanced. I know the stories, I have the tapes, these DVDs are a rip off.
Joel Powell

Not what you'd expect from the History Channel
I was greatly dissapointed in this 4 disc set from the History Channel. I have VHS versions of some episodes, and they are much superior in both picture and sound quality. What happened? The editing/compilation of the DVD's is VERY poorly done, the intro to each segment (by Peter Graves) is much louder than the following program, so you constantly have to run the volume up and down ( and not just a little +/- 100% ). The resulting sound is muddy, with severe flutter and poor dynamic range ( film not kept tight on the sound drum during transfer ). The narration of the episodes is hard to hear, while the sound effects and music come blaring out at you - drowning out everything. The overall effect is about what you might expect of a high school kid's first attempt at making a home movie - and only a C- at that. There is no capability to play the entire disc, you must select each episode from the main menu, and then select "play this episode" again from the sub-menu, repeated seven times for each disc. I was supremely dissapointed - I have many History channel DVD's, and this is far and away the worst - a prime example of "let's make a quick buck - people are too stupid to care" thinking...The History Channel ought to be ashamed of themselves !!! if I had paid the $ 60.00 list price I would have really been outraged - as it was for $ 40.00 I still felt cheated and ripped off. It is hard to imagine what the producers of the original series would think - this was one of the finest original programs ever shown on TV - and to have the DVD's be so crudely done - no attempt to clean up the picture, no effort put into making the sound anywhere close to even, some episodes are very loud ( even distorted ) and some you can hardly hear, the inconvienient playback features, and cheesy packaging all contribute to the worst transfer, poorest DVD watching experience I have ever come accross. A Golden Rasberry candidate if ever there was one.