War and Remembrance

I doubt anyone could afford to produce this miniseries today. I saw it when it first aired and I watched it again this month on DVD and it is amazing how well it holds up. The only possible improvement would be to the special effects in the naval battle scenes because of how far we've come in 20 years with CGI graphics; but that's it! This is a masterpiece and I include the "Winds of War" in that category. The attention to detail of the period, the vehicles, costumes, locations, and interiors just take your breath away.

The cast was superb and right down the line. I can't think of a weak link among them. I did see a comment here about Robert Mitchum being a "lazy" actor in this role as "Pug" Henry but I think he played it just right. He was first and foremost a dedicated military man, not a Lothario. For an interesting contrast to his on-screen relationship with Polly Bergen as his wife Rhoda Henry, you should see the chilling dynamics between the two in 1962's "Cape Fear". By any measure Mitchum was a great actor.

Although other actors in this miniseries have more on-screen time than does Mitchum, Mitchum is clearly the anchor. And, although the performances throughout the entire cast were stellar, I have to mention that John Gielgud's Aaron Jastrow was absolutely brilliant. John Houseman, who played Jastrow in "Winds of War" was magnificent in his own right but John Gielgud made Jastrow his own in a way that I doubt even Houseman could match.

There are very few guarantees in life but "War and Remembrance" is worth every viewing minute. Just be sure to watch the "Winds of War" first.

.....of War" But as reasons, they cited production values centering on shooting locations, authentic sets, care in staging shots, and other technical aspects of production. No one said the very obvious: "Remembrance" is better than "Winds" because of the higher caliber of acting. Jane Seymour's nuanced portrayal of Natalie was certainly better than Ali McGraw's one-dimensional haughty, petulant and flibbertigibbet Natalie. Gielgud was more professorial and a really convincing intellectual Jew compared to Houseman. His delivery of that sermon on the biblical Job as a "stinking Jew" (an epithet Jews were required by the SS to use in introducing themselves in the concentration camps) was very moving. The noble but conflicted Byron characterization by Hart Bochner is certainly not the shallow hot in the pants Byron portrayed by Jan Michael Vincent. For some reason, I also preferred the Warren Henry of Michael Woods over that of Ben Murphy who wasn't bad at all but Woods had the charisma or the "glow about him" that Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant) described. Polly Bergen's acting or maybe her role as Rhoda much improved in "Remembrance" because in "Winds" she was just this overly excited and artificially cheerful navy housewife bowled over by the seeming glamor of Nazi Germany. Now in "Remembrance" she displays a fuller range of acting descending into regret and downright pathos as she realized that she flirted away her marriage and family. I realize I may not be being fair in blaming the actors named. For all we know, Herman Wouk's screen writing skills improved in the five-year interim between "Winds" and "Remembrance." Similarly, Curtis' directorial savvy may have also improved. And that brings me to the matter of comparison between the book and the screenplay. The film generally succeeds in bringing to the TV audience the gist of the story (stories actually) in "Remembrance," but actually it is not a faithful rendition of the book's narrative. Certain contrivances were used to bring key characters to interact with each other to get the audience into the flow of the epic. For example, in the film Pug and Armin von Roon were personally acquainted or even friends in a sort of way. But in the book they never met as far as I can recall. Admiral Henry was writing a memoir or a postwar analysis of the battles and the conduct of the war and was using a book written by Von Roon as a reference which he was refuting on several points. I was somewhat sympathetic to the Von Roon character in the book but still he was presented as somewhat of an opportunist who supported Hitler as long as he was winning the war and turned against him only when Germany was losing. In the film, however, Von Roon (excellently played by Jeremy Kemp) was shown to be an early critic of Hitler and hinted at as one of the plotters of the failed assassination of the Fuhrer.

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Only Dan Curtis with his genius for horror could portray the holocaust for the horror that it actually was. Watching this series can give one nightmares, and they can be more frightening because this all actually happened. Never before or since have I seen such gruesome details about what went on in places like Auschwitz and Thereisenstadt.

I loved the documentary style in which they told this story. The only thing I didn't like about this series was that the bombing of Hiroshima seemed to be glossed over in the end. It was like an "Oh, by the way..." thing. A brief comment about the war being over, and on to look for the kid. Such an important moment in the movie--and history--deserved more attention than it got. But I guess at that point, they were in a hurry to finish the thing because it was eighteen hours long as it stood. Except for the hurried ending, it was a great series.

Without doubt the most stunning work of filmmaking I have ever seen, "War and Remembrance" is a massive experience to watch that will haunt you always. This last great mini-series dramatizes the ENTIRE Second World War, and does so at times with a raw honesty unseen before or since on network TV.

Shot on location around the world, the soap opera stories are always intriguing as we follow the various members of the Henrys, an American Naval family as they encounter every major event of the war.

The heart, though, is the central plot of Jane Seymour, in a heartbreaking career-best performance as an American Jew trapped in Europe, and John Gielgud, mesmerizing as her uncle. As they are slowly, inexorably pulled into the Holocaust we follow them, step by agonizing step, to the final horrors of Auschwitz, filmed entirely on location.

The movie is aided by a brilliant, unforgettable score by Bob Cobert, especially the main theme which seems to encapsulate every single emotion of the thirty hours into its two minutes.

It may be a bit of a commitment to watch this, but it is worth it. "War and Remembrance" is as close to time travel as is possible, and makes that dark period of history come powerfully alive.

Dan Curtis, the producer of this epic, must have been obsessed. His vision of the war years 1936 through 1945 as depicted in this and the companion work "The Winds of War" is unquestionably the best view of the impact of war on simple human beings as could ever be imagined in fiction and on film.

Based on a novel by Herman Wouk, with a screenplay written by him, the events of the pre war and war years are played out through the eyes of the family of Victor Henry a fictional middle aged naval commander and close confidant of President Roosevelt who is, at various times, posted in Berlin, Moscow, Pearl Harbor and ultimately made captain of a cruiser in the pacific. Captain Henry and his family are witness to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe, the conduct of Hitler's "Final Solution", the Russian front, and the war in the pacific. The graphic detail of this production will literally bring tears to your eyes. It is hard to watch at times as you become so very intimate with the characters.

Robert Mitchum turns in a fabulous performance as Victory Henry the no nonsense patriarch of the family. Polly Bergen plays his flibbertigibbet wife Rhoda to perfection. The rest of the cast is all really remarkable but my favorite was G.D. Spradlin who portrayed Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance , fleet commander during the Battle of Midway, above and beyond understanding.

If you're into accurate historical drama, and can deal with reality, go to your library and check this out. If you haven't seen it, you should. If you don't you will miss a genuine historical document.