Older VHS vs new DVD

Buyer beware! The newer DVD set of this FABULOUS series is not up to the quality of this VHS edition. The DVDs are made by the History channel, and the sound quality is awful. This older VHS version, produced by New Line features (although on tape) has a much finer sound quality and even the video isn't that bad, compared to the lousey transfer of the DVDs.
These are still the finest chronicles of war footage AND narration that have been made of WWll, in my opinion. Try to get thru them without tearing up at the human sacrifice and bravery.

UPDATE: Mill Creek Entertainment now has a 3 disc DVD set for UNDER $10.00 with all the 26 episodes. I have compared them side by side PIP on my TV....Identical prints as the VHS tapes, only slightly sharper on the DVD's. Sound quality same as tapes, Great bargain!

Hopelessly Old Fashioned

Once considered one of the greatest TV documentaries ever made, no one under the age of fifty is going to be able to sit through this overblown, hoaky collection of war footage. The narration is so overdramatic it's almost laughable, like the propaganda films made during the war to increase morale. Roger's score is great music, but it's just too prominant and often completely inappropriate (like the cheerfull flute music as Hitler marches into Paris).

Skip this dinosaur and go directly to World at War, the great BBC series from the 1970s.

"Victory at Sea" -- A Victory to See

Probably the most extraordinary documentary of World War II ever produced for television, the original 26 episodes of "Victory at Sea" have been collated into six VHS tapes. To own the original 26 volumes on individual tapes is a collector's treasure indeed. Virtually impossible to find in that format and, if you can find it, good luck on the price!

Starting with "Prelude to War," each episode of the series focuses on a distinct naval engagement or campaign in the Second World War. Captured enemy film from various Axis sources enhances the vast collection of U.S. Navy and other Allied and private sources used to compile each episode. The narration by Leonard Graves is superb and the writing for the narration is equally prominent. Narration is always just right and never excessive allowing the viewer to relish the award-winning musical score with its familiar and sometimes haunting refrains. Three long-playing recordings of the original soundtrack and variations thereof from the series were released in the heyday of "high fidelity" recordings. Soundtrack CDs are currently available for those who enjoy the music as much as the video images.

All footage is in black and white and there are some technical "deficiencies" for the purists among the viewing audience. However, considering the series made its television debut in 1952, the historical accuracy, content and balanced perspective are truly remarkable. In the episode centered around the climactic naval and island battle for Okinawa, Leonard Graves describes the kamikaze threat to the U.S. fleet off the island as a "duel between gunners who fight to live and pilots who fight to die." There is no judgment of kamikaze fanaticism a mere seven years after the end of the war. Episode after episode, it is a factual account of what occurred on the vast oceans and seas of the world without political inclination of any sort.

"Victory at Sea" is a true classic documentary of American television with the bonus of one of the most enduring soundtracks of any film presentation of any kind. It is a mandatory addition to the video library of anyone interested in World War II -- especially all aspects of the war at sea. Selections from the series should be used to educate the youth of the nation in the secondary schools to convey the scale and sacrifice of so many six decades ago.