This is the definitive film history of World War II, a great work of research, writing, editing and production perhaps unequalled in the history of TV anywhere. I have read some of the great histories of the war, and of Europe in the 1930s and 40s, and this ranks with any of them; born after the war, I remember only the aftermath.
The 26-episode series is based completely on contemporary footage and interviews with those actually involved, from civilians to soldiers, sailors and airmen to those close to the power and decisions, on all sides of the conflict. It could never be done again, because these people are no longer with us. Of course, in just twenty-two and a half hours, it can't tell the whose story -- the creator and producer Jeremy Isaacs, in a very enlightening documentary about the making of the series, admits that some theatres such Abyssinia and Yugoslavia are barely mentioned; but a very fair and honest story is told of all the major theatres and aspects of the war, in Europe, in Africa and in Asia and the Pacific, omitting nothing of major import, and more than any other history, a sense of the progress of the war, and the feeling of what it must have been like for all those involved, civilian and combatant alike, is brilliantly portrayed. The narration by Laurence Olivier, spare and evocative, is a classic in itself.
In addition to the complete original series from 1973, which can still be seen regularly on TV channels here and all over the world, a further 4 discs of documentaries are included, some of which I have never seen before, over twelve hours in all, covering further interviews, retrospectives, the series itself, and perhaps most striking of all, a chilling and irrefutable two-part documentary on the background and actuality of the "Final Solution", the Nazi extermination of Jews and other non-Aryans, which includes actual footage shot by the Germans themselves.
Anyone with an interest in the state of Europe today, or in the positions of the United States, the Commonwealth, Russia and Eastern Europe, and Japan in the world of today, owes it to themselves to understand the events of seventy years ago that forged the world of today, and there can be no better introduction than this series. I'm delighted to welcome this restored edition, with its improved quality of picture and balance of sound; if I have one reservation, it is of the decision to issue this edition in a widescreen 16:9 format instead of the original 4:3, with obviously cropped pictures, disconcertingly cutting off foreheads in many of the interviews, and losing detail in much of the contemporary footage. Hence, only 4 stars, sadly.