De Dunkerque a Hiroshima

The feature film version of "Victory at Sea" was made for movie theatres, not television, much as Walt Disney made a feature-length film out of the three "Davy Crockett" episodes that aired on his program. And it is Alexander Scourby who is credited as being the narrator of the feature-length film.

However, it is very hard to tell the difference in the voices of Leonard Graves, narrator of the TV series, and Scourby. In other films, however, and in the many documentaries that he narrated in the '60's and '70's, Scourby's voice sounds distinctly different from the voice heard in the motion picture version of "Victory at Sea". Here it sounds suspiciously like Graves's voice.

Could it be that it was actually the same narrator for both the TV series "Victory at Sea" and the movie version, and that for some reason, two different actors were credited?

The narrator for the Victory at Sea series was Leonard Graves, not Alexander Scourby. Graves' name is credited at the beginning of each of the 16 episodes.

Also, as noted in Wikipedia, Richard Rodgers, fresh off several hit Broadway musicals, was retained to compose the musical score for the series. Rodgers would contribute twelve "themes"--short piano compositions a minute or two in length. Robert Russell Bennett did the scoring, transforming Rodgers's themes to fit a variety of moods, and composing much more original material than Rodgers. Nonetheless, Bennett received credit only for "arranging" the score and conducting NBC Symphony Orchestra members on the soundtrack recording sessions, and many writers still refer erroneously to "Rodgers's thirteen-hour score."

This summary of the series was very good, covering most of the crucial moments in the sea-war. But I was somewhat disappointed that one of the most singular & heroic actions engaged in an extremely significant battle off Samar was completely overlooked. I get it - you can't cover everything. But the actions of a few Destroyers, Destroyer escorts and a few escort carriers - Tsffy 1, 2 & 3 - engaging a full flotilla of attacking Japanese battleships & cruisers in order to protect the marine action.ashore in Leyte which was the target of this Japanese force who thought all or Adm. Haley's ships had been draw off by a ruse. This heroic David & Goliath battle was crucial to saving thousands of lives and the very invasion operation itself. It should have been mentioned.

Anyone seeing this film today will not feel the impact that it had back in 1954 when it was first released. In those days much of the newsreel content was being shown for the first time. Here in the UK I can remember some film critics saying how they were moved to tears by some of the scenes. The part where the Pardre is giving the last rites to the dying sailor on the deck of an aircraft carrier comes to mind. As stated, much of the film stock has been shown repeatedly in later war documentaries so losing much of it's impact. I've not seen this film for many years but it will always remain in my memory. Rodgers "Beneath The Southern Cross" became "No Other Love" and was a big hit of the time.

An early and wonderful example of what tv can do when it sets itself to do something good. Stuff like this is now all over the History Channel, but you can't do better than Richard Rodger's music for this. Worth it for the score alone.