The World At War: 30th Anniversary

I have binge-watched 20 of the 26 episodes and whilst much TV from the 70s - even what you remember fondly - has dated quite badly, this documentary remains masterful. You just keep wanting to see the next episode. The simple bringing together of archive footage, the key people who were there just being allowed to talk, and Olivier's considered but compelling narration, does not look its 43 years. The range - truly global - reflects and emphasises the global nature of the war. Plus the focus on the military reminds you how extraordinarily difficult a lot of it was to pull off (on both sides). And how cruel and random war can be. Meanwhile for those of us watching in 2016 when this is now really really history it's amazing to see so many of the key players talk - Doenitz and Speer and Himmler's chief of staff and Hitler's secretary, Eden, Harris, Mountbatten, Rab Butler. Not to mention ordinary people and Auschwitz survivors. Of all the people interviewed I think only one is still alive, Vera Lynn and she's 99. There are also innovations that you still see today - an introduction before the opening titles, freeze framing the last frame for the run out, the use of music generally. Ironically it was all harder to watch originally as it was first shown through the difficult winter of 1973-74 with the 3 day week and regular power cuts. In terms of quality, I have the DVD, it's a bit grainy but as good as it could be, a great restoration. As for the much debated cropping issue, maybe it's worse on the Bluray but I don't get it. I suppose having read the reviews there is a minor cropping at top and bottom but I don't see sections of heads cut off. Watching it full screen on my 42" screen is an immersive experience that it just wouldn't be if in original format with sides in black (like Brideshead that I rewatched recently) and even though I'd read the reviews before I bought I just haven't noticed it as I've watched. Maybe it would be different if I could remember watching it originally when it came out (when I was 9) but I don't think I saw much of it then. One final note - for anyone who grew up with ITV in the 70s the start of each episode with the Thames TV logo and short jingle is a little kick of nostalgia every time. I keep expecting the Magpie theme tune to come next.

There is no better TV documentary telling the extraordinary story of the Second World War like this Thames Television production from 1973. It has for so long been a regular feature on our TV screens that surely just about everybody in Britain with access to a television must have least watched a couple of episodes in their lifetimes. In time I bought `The World at War' with its stunning musical introduction feature, all on DVD. However, the clumsy menu was so off-putting when trying to find a particular episode on its particular disc that I tended to put it all to one side, and watch the broadcasts instead.Seeing that this prized compilation had been revivified and Blu-rayed at a reasonable price, I thought I should send for it. I read a number of reviews that were mostly favourable with some concerns expressed about the film clips being cropped from 4:3 to match the current video aspect of the 16:9 of our flat screen TV's. Personally, I don't find this too off-putting: Close-ups become really close up, but distance shots of battles etc. are quite acceptable to this viewer. More positively, the images are much sharper, the colours more vibrant, and the sounds vastly improved. The menu is much more logical and user friendlier than before, as a welcome bonus.I'm glad I bought this wonderful series in this updated form, and would heartily recommend it to history buffs and army barmy nuts everywhere.

I did used to have this series before but it seemed to have disappeared. I saw a series about Berlin during & after the war & that is why I decided to buy 'the world at war' again. The picture quality has been digitally restored, so it looks a lot better than the previous one. The series itself has to be the best to show how the second world war was fought & all the tragic lives that were lost during this period of conflict.I am amazed at after all the cities, towns & villages that were demolished during this dark time in our history, how places were rebuilt to hardly show that there had ever been a war at all. It must have been a giant undertaking to achieve this, also to clear all the mechanised abandoned equipment that littered all the different countries that fought this war. Although there will always be conflicts going on somewhere in the world, let's hope there will never be another world war. With the weapons they have today, it would be a war to end wars fou sure!