Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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66 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Colour makes the Difference?, 19 Sep 2003
Does colour make a difference? It certainly seems to bring the events closer to our own times. The impact of some scenes hits you with a wallop, knowing for instance, that the gore is real and the bodies are actual corpses - far more explicit than the broadcast footage of the Gulf Wars. Still, I found it a bit irritating to be told of this enhancement on several occasions during the narrative, not to mention the somewhat tedious technical descriptions of the stock used. Nevertheless, what really impressed me was the sheer novelty of the subject matter. To many of us the 1934 Nuremburg Rally is visually familiar through Leni Riefenstahl's work, but I can't remember ever seeing that of 1938 (not that there's a deal of discernible difference from year to year). I would have expected more of the 1936 Olympics though. But it is the amateur, casual material I find really memorable - some of it shot in battle conditions. It is sometimes not so obvious that the ordinary German had little idea of the depravities and deprivations of the 2nd front and the ruinous battles with the Red army. This compilation certainly puts that across.
The real horror is that had Hitler been more circumspect and listened to advice, the power he would have been able to bring to bear should have proved inexorable. We must thank Providence for megalomania and the climate of Russia. Even without the infamous greatcoat buttons of tin, the Russian winter did for the Wehrmacht as it did for Napoleon more than a century earlier. You'd have thought they'd have learnt the unavoidable lesson.
We in the West have been brought up to believe the Allies won the 2nd world war : rather Hitler lost it. With his death went the infamous 3rd Reich, Nazi pseudo-philosophy and their incredibly evil proponents. This DvD goes some way to reminding people we can never risk it happening again. Does colour make a difference? I suppose it does. Some of these scenes could have been shot in April this year....
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44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Colour Brings Home Realism, 6 May 2001
By A Customer
The video, Third Reich in Colour is very good, contrary to the standard of many video's about the subject. I myself am an A Level History student and have examined the Third Reich in great depth and this video revealed many things I did not realise. It examines the behind the scenes state of affairs in Nazi Germany as well as the cosmetic outer layer. However, the Video does put perhaps a little too much emphasis upon the battles of the second world war and is disproportianate considering that half of the Nazis rule was before the war and, as some may state, more interesting. However, all in all it is a good educational videos, those students amongst us, and those who are interested in the subject...
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Third Reich in Colour" - but a lot more besides, 2 Feb 2008
Anyone interested in the Second World War will find this DVD interesting and well worthwhile. The title, however, does not do the DVD justice for, while there is much footage of the the Third Reich and wartime life in Germany, there is also considerable footage from the UK, USA and the Pacific theatre.
The key to this title is "in Colour". The producers (Spiegel TV, 2001 for the UK's Channel 5) have clearly tried to make some sense of the chronology of WW2 but have been limited to what is available in colour footage. The two parts of this DVD won't help those unfamiliar with WW2 understand the chronology but, for those with some knowledge, the two parts might seem odd but certainly won't affect the value of seeing this colour film. The BFI website indicates that this TV documentary was made in three parts - for more detail of the contents see http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/680465?view=synopsis.
As well as showing footage of some familiar events, but in colour rather than black and white, the value of this DVD is the unfamiliar. Life went on, and early colour film buffs covered minor and ordinary events that rarely feature in the classic documentaries about the war. There are extracts from the work of famous film directors while in uniform, some of which was never screened owing to censors, and extracts from both German and Allied propaganda films. But, most of all, it is the work of private individuals, both civilians and military, that make this DVD unique. Some footage is just like a home movie and it helps to remind one that, even in total war, with all its horrors, life did indeed go on.
Robert Powell's narration is excellent, and film buffs and historians will be interested to know about the colour stock used when colour film was rare indeed and expensive. My only quibble is his misuse of English when he makes an all-too-common error and refers to "the HMS Ivanhoe" (it's never "the HMS", as it makes no sense!) and, also, he refers to this ship as a cruiser when, in fact, she was a British I class destroyer (built 1937 and lost on 1 September 1940).
Overall, this is an excellent DVD and a worthwhile addition to any library - it is certainly different.
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