OT: Just recognizing Ken Burn's latest production "The War"...

[Kevan]

I assume there are others of you, like me, getting nothing accomplished while this series shows.

Remarkable footage.

Kinda surprised in you guys...this topic not being raised earlier. Me? I was too busy watching.

[Ozz]

I caught about 30 minutes of it last night....two segments stuck with me:

The "uncensored" diary of Marine Sledge talking about how awful it is that politicians many of whom have never experienced the horror of war, make the decisions to go to war. His thoughts were that if they had experience it, they would work harder to avoid it....I suspect the feelings and thoughts of this soldier have not changed in 3000 years.

The black Marine who was refused a haircut by the barber on the hospital ship...it was good to hear the captain of the ship saw too it that he got his haircut...but sheesh. :crap:

Agreed that the footage is remarkable....

[jimp1234]

Definitely worth seeing but imho not nearly as good or more precisely as "rich" as the "Civil War" which I think is the best documentary (TV or otherwise) ever. Like Orson Wells with Citizen Kane, Ken Burns can't seem to equal or surpass his masterpiece. I think the story "told through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it" idea was a noble concept but the exclusion of historians (like Shelby Foote in CW) to bring out those small wonderful details and as well putting things in a larger context was a mistake.

[Bill Bove]

Agree that CW was great but disagree about including the historians. The History channel does that all day.

[benb]

They are also showing "The Making of the War" and Ken Burns explicitly states he forced himself not to interview any historians, etc.. as that angle of WWII has already been done to death till the horse is dead and then that horse has been beaten and beaten and beaten...

He said including too much from historians turns the individuals who sacrificed so much into simply numbers and arrows on maps.. not what he was going for with this movie.

[gasman]

I've watched every minute, most of it with my wife and son. Wonderful program and i'm glad there are no historians interviewed as I think they have done a great job giving you the big picture then focusing in on the individual stories and often showing film shot of those people during the war ! It is the best program on televison in years. The color footage takes away some of the disconnect one can feel from seeing B&W photos or film.

I haven't read Brokaws -"The Greatest Generation " but now I plan on it.

[sspielman]

My wife and I both thought that the Civil War series was fabulous. Therefore, we were really looking forward to this one. While it is good, I agree that it doesn't come up to the level of the the Civil War effort... i am not sure waht it is...some evenings and segments have been much better than others. No doubt one of the problems with doing a series on WWII is getting the veterans to talk. This is the generation that fought the war, saw untold tragedy, performed amazing acts of heroism, and came back home, shut up and went to work. I was an adult before I knew that my uncle had been a B17 pilot...

[Climb01742]

Definitely worth seeing but imho not nearly as good or more precisely as "rich" as the "Civil War" which I think is the best documentary (TV or otherwise) ever. Like Orson Wells with Citizen Kane, Ken Burns can't seem to equal or surpass his masterpiece. I think the story "told through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it" idea was a noble concept but the exclusion of historians (like Shelby Foote in CW) to bring out those small wonderful details and as well putting things in a larger context was a mistake.

agree. for me, the "civil war" was as great as TV can be. the soldier's letter home, just before he died, hit me like few things ever have. i can't quite say why, but "the war" hasn't grabbed me the same way. it feels slower, somehow removed. which is odd, as my dad fought in the pacific theatre, so there is a personal connection. my respect for what wwII vets did and endured is huge, but the show doesn't pack the emotion that the "civil war" did.

[Kevan]

that made the Civil War series spectacular to me:
-Shelby Foote
- and the music theme, "Ashokan Farewell", which by the way is contemporary and not of the period.

[sg8357]

They are also showing "The Making of the War" and Ken Burns explicitly states he forced himself not to interview any historians, etc.

Sort of true, see the following from the New Yorker review.

As he did in “The Civil War,” Burns brings to the fore an uncannily gifted storyteller and synthesizer, someone who combines emotion and intelligence in seemingly perfect proportions. In fact, he brings two of them to light: Samuel Hynes, a fighter pilot from Minneapolis, and Quentin Aanenson, an Army pilot from Luverne. These two soft-spoken, thoughtful men anchor the series. Burns, coyly, never identifies them fully. Hynes is a distinguished professor (now emeritus) of literature at Princeton, and the author of a highly regarded memoir of the war. Aanenson made a documentary about his experiences in the Pacific, which was shown on PBS in the nineties; he was a panelist on Charlie Rose’s show on the fiftieth anniversary of D Day, and the airport in Luverne is named for him. Together, they are the Shelby Foote of “The War.”

[goonster]

Guess I'm in the minority here, but I found "Jazz" to be fascinating and moving, and possibly on par with "Civil War".

"The War" is hitting me like a ton of bricks. Fantastic stuff, imo. Both my dad and grandfather fought, and the latter did not return.

[rwsaunders]

I've watched every minute, most of it with my wife and son. Wonderful program and i'm glad there are no historians interviewed as I think they have done a great job giving you the big picture then focusing in on the individual stories and often showing film shot of those people during the war ! It is the best program on televison in years. The color footage takes away some of the disconnect one can feel from seeing B&W photos or film.

I haven't read Brokaws -"The Greatest Generation " but now I plan on it.

Brokaw's book was good, but I though that Terkel's "The Good War" was better.

[gdw]

It a very good series but not in the same league as Burns earlier work, The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz. The History Channel's Color of War and the BBC series from the 70's, The World at War, are much better.

[bironi]

So I watched the first episodes last week, then my station took a break from the series. Did it resume last night, and I missed one?
Thanks.

[GregL]

I guess the relative merits of the Burns documentaries depend on your personal interest. None of my ancestors arrived in the United States until well after the Civil War, so it is not as much a part of my life. WWII played a very large role in the lives of my parents' generation. My father emigrated to the United States as the Nazis took over his country. Three of my uncles fought in the war. As someone else said, they came home and never really spoke about it. "The War" is very compelling to me because it makes me appreciate the forces that shaped my parents' generation.

Regards,
Greg

[Kevan]

So I watched the first episodes last week, then my station took a break from the series. Did it resume last night, and I missed one?
Thanks.

Yup, still going for 2 more nights (Mon. Tues.). 6 in the series.

[Ken Robb]

Yup, still going for 2 more nights (Mon. Tues.). 6 in the series.
In SD they are re-showing the episodes during the day so if you're still working :rolleyes: I guess you can frecord them.

The guys from WW2 were/are my heros. I was born in Feb. 1943 and remember a surprising amount about that period. My dad's elder brother was a London bobby and he sent his daughter to live wiht my folks in Chicago when they got married in 1940. I remember going to NYC to put her on a ship for home in 1945. We sent "Care" packages to relatives in the UK well into the 1950s because their rationing went on for years.

I think that "The War" is less compelling for some viewers is that the real participants are not as dramatic as the actors in the previous series. Many of these vets were my uncles, neighbors, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, etc. and as others have said: they usually didn't want to talk about their experiences with people who hadn't been there too.

I am amazed at how much of the footage I have never seen before because I've always watched everything I could about that period. Where did they find the new film?

[gasman]

[QUOTE=Ken Robb]
I am amazed at how much of the footage I have never seen before because I've always watched everything I could about that period. Where did they find the new film?[/QUOTE

I agree-amazing.Maybe because I have read a lot about WW II is the reason I find it so compelling. Also my father,uncle and all my friends fathers growing up were in the war.

[goonster]

I am amazed at how much of the footage I have never seen before because I've always watched everything I could about that period. Where did they find the new film?

+1

I suspect that a lot of this "new" footage was considered too graphic for newsreels, History Channel etc. I'm thinking here, for example, of the footage showing a Japanese woman jumping off a cliff in Saipan.

Additionally, Burns' team gives new life to old images through editing and addition of sound effects.

[KeithS]

Stephan Ambrose didn't just write about Lewis and Clark, he was Ike's biographer and his non-fiction reads like fiction. He wrote a lot about everything on WWII. James Bradley's "Flyboys" is almost without comparison if you want to understand the cultural underpinning of the Japanese and their involvement (and brutality) in the war.

Tonight's "Battle of the Bulge" was as gritty and uncomfortable to watch as it could have been. Spent Sunday nights though college watching the BBC's "World at War" series. If I remember (because it was British) it really focused on Europe. I never knew how bloody Anzio beach was. Another amazing part of this was the fact that "The Greatest Generation" did indeed save the world then came home and built our country.

[Grant McLean]

Guess I'm in the minority here, but I found "Jazz" to be fascinating and moving, and possibly on par with "Civil War".


Jazz was great.

Ric Burns' New York was awesome too.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/index.html

g

[RIHans]

Brokaw's book was good, but I though that Terkel's "The Good War" was better.

If you haven't heard of, or read this book, by all means...Do so! Outstanding oral history by Studs Terkel.

Thanks for reminding me of such a great read!
Hans

[Climb01742]

one small fact really jumped out for me: a b-17 bomber had one million parts and they built one, 24-7, every 63 minutes! along with soldiers, america's industrial might was key to victory. my dad always said that while the new deal helped, it was the second world war that ended the depression. it was amazing what a united america could do.