Product Description

If youve ever wanted to know what WWI was really like then this film is exactly what you need to watch. This film uses actual combat camera footage to tell the frontline story of World War I through outstanding visual portrayals of the many dimensions of the Allied struggle with the enemy across the rolling plains of France. The scenes are the product of Allied and captured enemy combat filming so the War to End All Wars is seen from both sides. One of the major impacts on the viewer is the state of war technology of the early 20th century. Traveling back to those days through the perspective of our modern "shock and awe" technology the WWI machinery and resources of war seem almost primitive. Here you will see an army that traveled mostly by horse and on foot, while slugging it out with artillery duels and attacks and counterattacks from trenches just yards apart. The limited role of aircraft in this conflict is captured by footage of almost whimsical takeoffs, landings and aerial dogfights. It is interesting to see the use of flamethrowers, U-boats and motorcycles in the war. The film covers the period from the American entry into the Allied cause several years after the conflict had started in Europe when the US was forced into declaring war because of the growing number of America ships being sunk by German subs and ends with the Armistice. You will see dramatic footage of: Captured footage of a German sub sinking American ships; Scenes of the horrid conditions of living and fighting a trench war; Battle scenes on the seas; Artillery duels that light up the night; Shooting down of an Allied balloon ship by an enemy plane; Entertainment on the front lines with doughboys dressed as wild women; Lots of recognizable close-up shots of Allied troops.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #182089 in DVD
• Published on: 2005
• Formats: NTSC, PAL, Black & White
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Glimpse Back
This really should be titled "Official AMERICAN Battlefield Films of WWI." This is mostly film shot by USN and USA cameramen arranged into a narrative for an audience that already knew the official story: German submarine warfare, brave allies with their backs to the wall, the US throws itself into war material production and building an army of eager civilians, then the Yanks come to Europe in droves to save the day.

Without knowing the context of these films, the viewer would have no idea that most of the war had been a static bloodbath. There is almost no trench footage, but a great deal of artillery batteries firing and the puffs of shelling landing in the distance (as well as a town being shelled while the camera is in it). We see several shots of US troops moving in mass across fields, and tanks in action. There is even a scene in which a British raiding party returns walking over open ground in the day time.

The strength of this film is the seeing through contemporary eyes (with contemporary sensibilities). Many titles are decorated with the work of Abian "Wally" Wallgren, a Marine who drew cartoons for "Stars and Stripes" that are light years away from Mauldin's Willie and Joe. The film makes of the experience a great adventure that seems more suited to 1914 than post war, reflecting the limits of American experience. Americans did see some heavy action, but one can argue that the Great War was already coming to its end by the time US troops arrived.

There are no extras here. No menu, no booklet, nothing but a DVD in a naked jewel case. It uses TV rather than film ratio, and the `score' is a sort of light classical/easy listening/light jazz hodgepodge that is wildly wrong for the period--but I have had to sit through worse sound tracks slapped on silent films. At least there are no faked in sound effects. (And, no it is NOT listed in IMDb.)

For the general viewer this is probably not the best place to start. Those with a particular interest in WW I will find this a facinating contemporary document, and worth the price.