"The World at War" (1973) TV series

User Rating:

9.7/10   

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

1976 (Denmark)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Plot:

A series of accurate documentaries about World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Resistance | Germany | Japan | Dam Busting | Dive Bomber

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Laurence Olivier

...

Himself - Narrator (26 episodes, 1973-1974)

(more)

Series Directed by
Hugh Raggett		(3 episodes, 1973-1974)
John Pett		(3 episodes, 1974)
David Elstein		(2 episodes, 1973)
Ted Childs		(2 episodes, 1974)
Michael Darlow		(2 episodes, 1974)
Martin Smith		(2 episodes, 1974)

Series Writing credits
Peter Batty		(6 episodes, 1973-1974)
Neal Ascherson		(3 episodes, 1973-1974)
Laurence Thompson		(2 episodes, 1973)
Charles Bloomberg		(2 episodes, 1974)
Jerome Kuehl		(2 episodes, 1974)
David Wheeler		(2 episodes, 1974)
John Williams		(2 episodes, 1974)

Series Produced by
Peter Batty	....	producer (6 episodes, 1973-1974)
David Elstein	....	producer (3 episodes, 1973-1974)
John Pett	....	producer (3 episodes, 1974)
Ted Childs	....	producer (2 episodes, 1974)
Michael Darlow	....	producer (2 episodes, 1974)
Martin Smith	....	producer (2 episodes, 1974)
Phillip Whitehead	....	producer (2 episodes, 1974)

Series Original Music by
Carl Davis		(unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Eva Braun		(unknown episodes)

Series Film Editing by
Jeff Harvey		(unknown episodes)
Peter Lee-Thompson		(unknown episodes)
David Taylor		(unknown episodes)
Beryl Wilkins		(unknown episodes)

Series Production Management
Liz Sutherland	....	unit manager (unknown episodes)

Series Art Department
Tony Bulley	....	graphic artist (unknown episodes)
Lester Halhed	....	graphic artist (unknown episodes)
Ian Kestle	....	graphic artist (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Keith Barber	....	sound (unknown episodes)
Nigel Bell	....	dubbing editor (unknown episodes)
Colin Charles	....	sound (unknown episodes)
Bob Harvey	....	dubbing editor (unknown episodes)
Sandy MacRae	....	sound (unknown episodes)
Brian Rendle	....	sound recordist (unknown episodes)
Nola Schiff	....	dubbing editor (unknown episodes)
Freddie Slade	....	dubbing mixer (unknown episodes)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Mike Fash	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Peter Goodwin	....	camera operator: rostrum camera (unknown episodes)
Peter Lang	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Ray Orton	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)

Series Editorial Department
Alan Afriat	....	supervising editor (unknown episodes)

Series Other crew
Roger Chinery	....	laboratory liaison (unknown episodes)
Louis De Jong	....	special consultant (unknown episodes)
Raye Farr	....	film researcher (unknown episodes)
Michael Fox	....	film researcher (unknown episodes)
Noble Frankland	....	historical advisor (unknown episodes)
Sherman Grinberg	....	archive source (unknown episodes)
Isobel Hinshelwood	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Heinrich Hoffmann	....	archive source (unknown episodes)
Ian Kestle	....	opening titles (unknown episodes)
Jerome Kuehl	....	script associate (unknown episodes)
Susan McConachy	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
Alan Patient	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
John Rowe	....	film researcher (unknown episodes)
Ben Shepard	....	researcher (unknown episodes)
D.A. Spencer	....	archive source (unknown episodes)
John Stamp	....	opening titles (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Imperial War Museum (in cooperation with)
• Thames Television

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2001) (UK) (TV)
• Danmarks Radio (DR) (1976-1977) (Denmark) (TV)
• Danmarks Radio (DR) (2004) (Denmark) (TV)
• Danmarks Radio (DR) (2004) (Denmark) (TV) (repeats)
• Danmarks Radio (DR) (2006) (Denmark) (TV) (repeats)
• Fremantle Media (1974) (UK) (TV)
• Independent Television (ITV) (1974) (UK) (TV)
• Oy Nordisk Film (2006) (Finland) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Die Welt im Krieg (West Germany) [de]
El mundo en guerra (Venezuela) [es]
En värld i krig (Sweden) [sv]
En verden i krig (Denmark) [da]
Maailma sodassa (Finland) [fi]
The World at War (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
The World at War (Finland) (DVD box title) [fi]

Runtime:

52 min (26 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | French | Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-15

Company:

Imperial War Museum

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Screenwipe: (#3.1)" (2007)

Of unmatched significance in the library of video productions

This series, produced at the propitious time following the events of the second World War, is on a scale of value that stands far above any individual's presumption to criticize it in any way.

The timing of production in 1974, surrounding some three decades after the fact, permit both an accounting uncoloured by residual propaganda and slant, and the reinforcement of accounts by an impressive and fascinating panoply of the very individuals involved, from some of the highest military and political personnel to field soldiers, civilians, and such survivors of the death camps as have remained to bear witness to the unimaginable inhumanities that civilized humans are yet capable thereof.

We hear and moreover see the postures and expressions born by those who were there and share with us the sometimes wrenchingly painful memory of those times. Such names as Ira Eaker, Adolph Galland, Louis Mountbatten, Albert Speer, Gertrude Junge (Hitler's personal secretary)... the list is too long to relate.

Today, within the lifetime of the survivors of this enormous lesson in the hideous price of political ambition, are young people who chant the same sort of militaristic and nationalistic war promotion as led to WW2. The DVD series we discuss here ought to comprise the core of a mandatory history subject in schools, that the lessons bought at such a horrible cost in those days should not have been wasted but should be taken to heart by those who cannot remember.

I am almost done watching the 11 disk set, having seen most of the series when a local TV channel aired it more than 10 years ago. It has lost none of its poignancy to me, indeed has become yet more a magnificent chronicle of some of the very darkest days of human times.

The highest possible rating seems unworthy of being applied to this presentation.