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Extras: Extra footage, Diaries and Letters, Key Facts, British WWII Posters,
Booklet
Producers:
Stewart Binns and Lucy Carter
Music:
Chris Elliott
Narrator:
John Thaw
The Second World War was the most catastrophic in human
history. For six years the British people fought and endured. Using original
colour film, letters and diaries, this is their story.
That is how this series is introduced in the first of three 50-minutes episodes,
narrated by John Thaw (Inspector Morse, Kavanagh Q.C.), entitled
Darkest Hour, The Beginning of the End and Unknown Warriors,
all of which serve to cover every aspect such as Blitzkreig: The Invasion
of Western Europe, Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister and his speeches,
Rationing, Vera Lynn, D-Day, the Outbreak of War, the Land Girls and V.E. Day,
to name but a few.
At the age of 28 as I write this, I certainly wasn't around at the time
- although my granddad was a Para - but this programme certainly goes some
way to providing a fascinating insight into everything that went on at the
time, those in authority and how it affected the men and women who are still
alive to tell the tale.
Film fans may be interested to view any or all of the following WWII-related
films:
I never saw this on TV so don't know if it was originally shot in 16:9, like
most prime-time material these days. Part of me doubts it because it features
plenty of 50-year-old 4:3 material which would look badly window-boxed if
cropped top and bottom for 16:9 presentation and then cropped again at the
sides. The vintage footage looks as good as can be expected, but the only time
you notice artifacts are during the vox-pop interviews with members of the
public.
The average bitrate falls between 4-5Mb/s depending on which episode you're
watching. The stereo is fine for dialogue and Chris Elliott's haunting
theme is excellent.
Approximately 68 minutes of extras are here beginning with Extra
footage not seen on TV including London and Southern England 1940-1945,
Battle of Midway 1942 and a 37-minute documentary about the Memphis Belle.
There are five diary and letter pieces with additional footage, ten original
British WWII posters and Key Facts presenting a year-by-year
breakdown of historical events from 1935-1945 with 24 hotlinks to relevant
footage within the series to exemplify each point. A booklet is also included
that contains info about the series itself.
65 chapters break up the series, the subtitles are in English only and the
main menu is the only one to feature animation and the theme tune.
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
