Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Product Description
As broadcast on Channel 4, Apocalypse is the groundbreaking documentary series that tells the brutal and moving history of World War 2 entirely through colourised archive footage. Three years in the making and gathered from more than 60 national libraries and personal archives, Apocalypse tells in amazing, never-before-seen detail, the key events that shaped the conflict: from the Blitzkrieg to the Allied bombing of Berlin and Stalingrad, through to the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. In six one-hour episodes, prepare to experience first-hand how nations were saved, whole armies lost and heroes made.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
70 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Apocalypse is good in parts; *very* good in its visual presentation, less wonderful in its approach to detailed, unbiased re-telling of major historical events.
The good bits first: the footage is incredible and fascinating to watch. It has been carefully and subtley 'colourised' with an attention to detail that is utterly impressive. It really does make a difference, seeing even familiar film shots in an entirely new perspective. The use of colour, even in the very gentle shades which have been utilised here, make the scenes of invasion, retreat, refugees, bombing and so on extremely personal. It takes 'history' from 'long ago' and transforms it into something which could happen to any of us at any time. The people become real. And the few scenes which are left in their original black-and-white then stand out in stark contrast, miserable mono being used to best effect to illustrate the horrors of the ghettos and camps.
This series also contains an occasional gem, like the information that Von Paulus, commander of the defeated armies at Stalingrad, cooperated with the Soviets after his surrender and eventually took up residence in East Germany. The footage of beaten German troops being shipped to Canada and the USA was remarkable, too.
On the downside, the commentary is quite lightweight and at times very subjective. This is hardly an in-depth examination of the events of WW2, although an occasional snippet of unusual information does creep in (like those above, or the fact that German pilots who were captured by the French were not shipped overseas before the fall of France, which meant they could return to their planes to attack Britain).
But too many of the main characters are presented as two-dimensional sketches. Hitler is an insane, unstoppable war criminal; Churchill is the British bulldog, and so on. There's precious little detail about how individual battles were won or lost, and far too much use of cliche. Really, no one should even need to use the phrase 'men, women and children'... Also, the narrator struggles with the most basic German and Russian pronunciation. The Russian name 'Georgi' somehow became an English 'Georgie' and some place names are utterly mangled. You get the impression of someone reading from a script without a proper idea of the relevence of the information.
So each 45 minute programme is filled with both wonders and irritants. The flow of the narrative is very pacy, much more to modern tastes than the all-time classic of WW2 histories, The World At War: The Ultimate Restored Edition 2010 [DVD]. But The World At War is a far more accomplished series, which uses interviews and examination to far better explain the appalling events of the time.
So Apocalypse is recommended as one to watch -- but mainly to enjoy the film. Get your facts and understandings from other sources!
7/10
The good bits first: the footage is incredible and fascinating to watch. It has been carefully and subtley 'colourised' with an attention to detail that is utterly impressive. It really does make a difference, seeing even familiar film shots in an entirely new perspective. The use of colour, even in the very gentle shades which have been utilised here, make the scenes of invasion, retreat, refugees, bombing and so on extremely personal. It takes 'history' from 'long ago' and transforms it into something which could happen to any of us at any time. The people become real. And the few scenes which are left in their original black-and-white then stand out in stark contrast, miserable mono being used to best effect to illustrate the horrors of the ghettos and camps.
This series also contains an occasional gem, like the information that Von Paulus, commander of the defeated armies at Stalingrad, cooperated with the Soviets after his surrender and eventually took up residence in East Germany. The footage of beaten German troops being shipped to Canada and the USA was remarkable, too.
On the downside, the commentary is quite lightweight and at times very subjective. This is hardly an in-depth examination of the events of WW2, although an occasional snippet of unusual information does creep in (like those above, or the fact that German pilots who were captured by the French were not shipped overseas before the fall of France, which meant they could return to their planes to attack Britain).
But too many of the main characters are presented as two-dimensional sketches. Hitler is an insane, unstoppable war criminal; Churchill is the British bulldog, and so on. There's precious little detail about how individual battles were won or lost, and far too much use of cliche. Really, no one should even need to use the phrase 'men, women and children'... Also, the narrator struggles with the most basic German and Russian pronunciation. The Russian name 'Georgi' somehow became an English 'Georgie' and some place names are utterly mangled. You get the impression of someone reading from a script without a proper idea of the relevence of the information.
So each 45 minute programme is filled with both wonders and irritants. The flow of the narrative is very pacy, much more to modern tastes than the all-time classic of WW2 histories, The World At War: The Ultimate Restored Edition 2010 [DVD]. But The World At War is a far more accomplished series, which uses interviews and examination to far better explain the appalling events of the time.
So Apocalypse is recommended as one to watch -- but mainly to enjoy the film. Get your facts and understandings from other sources!
7/10
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A very good series, which attempts to cover the same ground as 'The World At War', but in only 6 episodes! This is a tall order indeed, but this fast-paced series manages to do this admirably well, and I have learnt a lot of interesting new facts about WW2. The dramatic visuals are the strong point of the series, many of which I have not seen elsewhere.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Although not a natural history buff I ended up watching 'Apocalypse' on Saturday night and was pleasantly surprised. Having basic knowledge of both World Wars, gauged from subjects at school, I found this documentary brought to life historic events that I had previously took little interest in.
The footage used is truly astounding and really puts into perspective the unfathomably crisis that the world faced due to one man and his regime. What must be commended is that this series is far from Anglo-centric, taking into account the sheer immensity the war had on the world as a whole, an angle that is so often overlooked in many teachings.
I would recommend this series to anyone who has an active interest in history or anyone who simply wants to learn more about a subject that is often touched upon at school but never explained in such details and depth as it is here.
Unique, restored, colourised - Apocalypse is definitely one to watch. Bring on the next episode!
The footage used is truly astounding and really puts into perspective the unfathomably crisis that the world faced due to one man and his regime. What must be commended is that this series is far from Anglo-centric, taking into account the sheer immensity the war had on the world as a whole, an angle that is so often overlooked in many teachings.
I would recommend this series to anyone who has an active interest in history or anyone who simply wants to learn more about a subject that is often touched upon at school but never explained in such details and depth as it is here.
Unique, restored, colourised - Apocalypse is definitely one to watch. Bring on the next episode!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great footage, just watch it muted
Whilst watching the first episode, I began wondering why exactly the narrator was delivering some strangely flattering comments about the French efforts in the Battle of France. Read more
Published 21 days ago by K McCarthy
4 stars for filmage...2 stars for narration ..so average it out at 3...
Great footage from the war mostly..but the narration style sounds awful pretty much and very horribly biased. Sounds like it belongs on The History Channel. Read more
Published 4 months ago by horoscopy
WWII for ignoramus
The product is comprised of six episodes with little actual contents. It should be hard to press the whole war in less than 5 hours, but it seems that this was never attempted. Read more
Published 4 months ago by tope
CANDYFLOSS HISTORY
this series regardless of the positives i have read this series is told from a very simplistic point of view.it doesn't convey the seriousness of the events that happened. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Popeye2471
Apocalypse
WWWWHaooooo Its A Great Documentary Very Good on DVD & Blu ray Those Guys Did a Great Job on Remastering This Scenes in Colours A must Have Movie That Teaches us a Great Lesson
Published 6 months ago by Gebran
Great documentary, but the Blu-Ray is missing an important feature
Many reviewers praised this documentary and I couldn't agree more.
However, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment deserves criticism because they didn't include any subtitles! Read more
However, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment deserves criticism because they didn't include any subtitles! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. White
For the money, an excellent documentary series
Might seem to be a bit stingey only giving this four stars but it's simply because I have to compare it with The World At War, the seminal television treatment of one of the worst... Read more
Published 11 months ago by David A. Rice
Apocalypse
Apocalypse is surly one of the most underrated series to follow the Second World War! The six part series starts from Hitler's rise to power to the eventual dropping of the atomic... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Badger
Best WW2 documentary ever !!
I have seen pretty much all WW2 documentaries available and Apocalypse tops them all. Beginning with Hitler taking power in Germany in 1933 and ending with the Japanese surrender... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Niels Kabel
The Best WW II Documentary
It is the real best World War 2 documentary so far in colors
Never before seen footage
A must have catalog.
Never before seen footage
A must have catalog.
Published 12 months ago by Stallion
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
