Awash with war documentaries

[Guest]

With all the channels available now, there seems to be a decent programme on every day. Does anyone watch Freeview channel 48 Movies4men? They have lots of docs that I've not seen elsewhere.


Then there's PBS America on Virgin. They show The War, which is America's answer to the sublime The World At War. It's excellent. It shows America's involvement, but anchored around the inhabitants of six or so key US towns - Mobile Alabama for example.


Great stuff.

[yak face]

Yes Ive seen the documentaries on movies4men , they have some good ones , but all of the actual movies are hilariously bad !! Tony

[Alan 45]

I have about 100 hours of docs to watch from the stations now available to you


The only downside is Dutch saturation can water down the experience of such shows , I have found myself thinking ive seen loads on the Battle of Britain so I don't need to see this one but you never know if your going to miss some bit of information that you didn't know before so it's a bit catch 22

[stona]

A lot of documentaries are awash with bad information! Better made ones, usually with higher production values which translates into proper research, can be very good. Some of the cheaper ones just repeat the same old banalities around a framework of stock and often anachronistic film footage.


I love a good documentary, but the bad ones want me want to throw things at the TV


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

but all of the actual movies are hilariously bad !! Tony

Agree Tony almost as bad as Clint Eastwoods Spanish cowboy films. Love the sparkling new uniforms in the heat of battle. And the hair do.


On the Normandy landings the British Soldier struggling up the beach from the landing craft must be the only footage on the British sector as it appears time and again. Often wonder if he made it to see himself. He could have been a rich man. Now the Archive Company must have made many many thousands of pounds at the rate they charge for war clips.


Laurie

[Guest]

Yes, some of them are awful - I remember the voice over on one show talking about the 8th Airforce losses until the arrival of the P51. Trouble was it was a Spitfire on screen.


The War on PBS is good quality though. Just watched an episode called FUBAR, which used Operation Market Garden and Peleliu as examples of soldiers paying the price for poor planning and cock-ups.

[dave]

. They show The War, which is America's answer to the sublime The World At War.

for anyone who does not have it I recently bought the remastered box set of "The World at War" they have done an excellent job on cleaning up the sound and the archive footage without overdoing it.

[stona]

for anyone who does not have it I recently bought the remastered box set of "The World at War" they have done an excellent job on cleaning up the sound and the archive footage without overdoing it.

One of the best made! Some of the wartime footage is a bit out of place, but the series had the advantage of all those interviews with both important protagonists and other people for whom the memories were still relatively fresh, no different to asking us today about the 1990s.


I recently re-watched the entire series and there is little to quibble about, even in the light of forty odd years more research.


You do have to put up with Olivier's sometimes bizarre pronunciations on the voice over


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

One of the most interesting, imaginative in it's production for that era, I watched every one.


This was L.General Sir Brian Horricks depicting battles fought during WW11. Very well illustrated. Brian Horricks just flung himself into the battle as he described the on TV each part of the action.


Laurie

[Guest]

The World at War has been on BBC2 around tea time recently. Nicely contrasted with "Red Tails", which was on late last night. Oh dear...