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Amazon.co.uk Review
World War I in Colour is a Channel 5 documentary (6 x 50-minute episodes) made with the cooperation of the Imperial War Museum, designed to make the Great War come alive for a 21st-century audience. The events of 1914-18 are authoritatively narrated by Kenneth Branagh, who presents the military and political overview, while interviews with historians add different perspectives. The human cost is conveyed by moving interviews with the now very elderly survivors, and by extracts from letters and memoirs. All aspects of the war, on land, sea and air are covered in separate programmes. In theory the series continues the heritage of ITV's The Second World War in Colour (1999) and Britain at War in Colour (2000), and with 75 per cent of the material never shown on television before there is every reason to watch.
The crucial difference between this and the WWII programmes is that the Great War wasn't filmed in colour, and the footage has been computer colourised. The programme-makers argue the conflict itself was in colour--but however realistic the digital processing, it still feels inauthentic and historically a distortion. Worse still is their destroying the original compositions by cropping the top and bottom of the material to fit widescreen TVs. The result is a potentially excellent series badly presented, best watched with the colour turned off. Even then it cannot compete with the BBC's 26-part The Great War (1964), still one of the finest documentaries ever made.
On the DVD: World War I in Colour is presented on two discs with three episodes on each disc. The modern interview clips look and sound immaculate, while the historical footage varies from very poor to quite good. Even so, the picture resolution is not helped by discarding a third of the original images and stretching what remains to widescreen. The budget spent on colourisation would have been better used to restore the often very scratchy black-and-white film, and to pay for an orchestra to rerecord the score, which is realised with a clichéd palette of preset electronic samples.
Both DVDs reproduce the same general background facts, timeline and 20 biographies as static text screens. Disc One has a 15-minute behind-the-scenes feature in which producer Philip Nugus and director Jonathan Martin justify the colourisation. Disc Two offers Tactics & Strategy, which at 52 minutes amounts to a whole seventh programme, mixing archive footage with new computer graphics to illustrate in detail 13 specific aspects of the conflict. Presented in 4:3 ratio this is the most creative, original and rewarding part of the entire package. --Gary S Dalkin
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
The First World War in Colour accomplishes all it says on the box, covering the Land Sea and Air War with no particular bells or whistles. As previous reviews suggest, the same footage is repeated several times over, and the shot of the guy carrying a wounded soldier through the trenches as he looks towards the camera is shown in every episode, sometimes two or three times an episode.
Branagh does a decent job with the narration, however, the best part of the series for me is seeing some of the old veterans telling their stories, in what was probably the last time they will ever appear on camera talking in depth of their experiences. Just seeing and hearing their tales of horror on its own makes the series worth watching, and it is primarily because of them I gave it a three Star rating, otherwise it would have been two.
The programme as expected does rely heavily on footage of the land war, and I was rather disappointed at the short space of time they dedicated to the Battle of Jutland in the Sea War programme. The same can be said of the BEF action in August 1914 at the start of the war, and as always the magnificent fighting retreat from Mons was almost totally ignored - arguably one of the greatest military actions in the history of the British Army.
So in conclusion the programme is certainly worth watching as an introduction to the Great War, but compared to the definitive BBC production in 1964 on the Great War, or the 1969 Thames TV production called the World at War, the First World War in Colour certainly falls a long way short of reaching these standards.
Branagh does a decent job with the narration, however, the best part of the series for me is seeing some of the old veterans telling their stories, in what was probably the last time they will ever appear on camera talking in depth of their experiences. Just seeing and hearing their tales of horror on its own makes the series worth watching, and it is primarily because of them I gave it a three Star rating, otherwise it would have been two.
The programme as expected does rely heavily on footage of the land war, and I was rather disappointed at the short space of time they dedicated to the Battle of Jutland in the Sea War programme. The same can be said of the BEF action in August 1914 at the start of the war, and as always the magnificent fighting retreat from Mons was almost totally ignored - arguably one of the greatest military actions in the history of the British Army.
So in conclusion the programme is certainly worth watching as an introduction to the Great War, but compared to the definitive BBC production in 1964 on the Great War, or the 1969 Thames TV production called the World at War, the First World War in Colour certainly falls a long way short of reaching these standards.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
When You see film clips from WW1 You normally see them in black&white and with a "film-speed" too quick and funny looking. Men like ants crawling up from the trenches and running across the battlefield against the german machine guns, ra-ta-ta-ta, a bit like the Keystone Cops.
In these film-clips You have living color, the speed is right, the pictures are enhanced and it's all just terrific right looking. It's like viewing a fine piece of drama from to day. The persons You watch is real living and dying persons. The whole thing goes from 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional, in any aspect.
Best damn thing about this terrible war i ever saw.
larsdeleuran
Jan 16th, 2011
In these film-clips You have living color, the speed is right, the pictures are enhanced and it's all just terrific right looking. It's like viewing a fine piece of drama from to day. The persons You watch is real living and dying persons. The whole thing goes from 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional, in any aspect.
Best damn thing about this terrible war i ever saw.
larsdeleuran
Jan 16th, 2011
69 of 80 people found the following review helpful
The formula of using a famous actor to do a war documentary is a well tried one. Michael Redgrave and Judy Dench have done it very well for the First World War. Laurence Olivier did it superbly for the Second. Unfortunately Brannagh is a very pale imitation of any of these. Worse still is the commentary he is asked to read. This is a very shallow script. The idea of colorising the film is little more than a gimmick. The film editors have also committed the monumental error of reusing the same bits of film in different contexts thereby showing their very limited concern for historical reality. If you are interested in the First World War save your money and buy 'The Great War', '1914-1918 Total War/The Crucible' or even Richard Holmes' 'The Western Front'.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
World War 1 In Colour
I purchased this DVD after being asked to do some Battlefield tours, I am a coach driver and have an onboard DVD player (with the appropriate Licences to broadcast)I play certain... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Classy56
Good
Too many people unfortunately are "picking" too much. Yes it hasn't got every insite or plans and missions etc, etc: but overall it's good viewing. Read more
Published 7 months ago by S. ANDERSON
A Thoughtful 'Living' presentation of WWI
"World War I in Colour" is an empathetic presentation of the herendous darkness of WWI, greatly helped by the colourisation which doesn't seem modern to the eye; just realistic and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ms. C. C. Dobson
World War 1 in Colour
This would have to be the best documentary on the subject of World War 1 I have seen. The old footage in colour makes for interesting viewing and the commentary is well researched... Read more
Published 20 months ago by LynD
Colour? accurate no
I have not bought the box set for the simple reason that I watched it with eager anticipation on the television only to be totally disappointed. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by L. A. Camy
A Fantastic Documentary on WW1
Enough already from the pompous so called know all historians of the Great War. Not everything is black and white guys. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2009 by Tom Trifonoff
Schlieffen Plan Any one?
Did some one mention the Schlieffen Plan not this dvd. how in gods name can you talk about the german offencive and not talk about the Schlieffen Plan. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2009 by 20mbieboy
World War 1 in Colour
I was very disappointed since the format didn't work in my DVD player. I wasted my money since the return policy said I had to return it without being opened.
Published on 22 Aug 2009 by Debra L. Pohlman
This could have been so much better!
First, the good points.
1. The colour really does help, whatever others may say. Things do happen in colour, and if you're really dead set against it, turn the colour... Read more
1. The colour really does help, whatever others may say. Things do happen in colour, and if you're really dead set against it, turn the colour... Read more
Published on 7 July 2009 by Mr. P. D. Humphreys
Great chance to see some of the rarer WW1 pictures
A great insight in to WW1 and works well at reminding us of the horrors of war, especially WW1. Many in here are long dead and it's important we remember. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2009 by Hades
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