World War II in Colour

Recently I watched this documentary series about World War II in (HD) color on Netflix and really liked it. In 14 episodes you get to see a well documented overview of WW2, starting with the events leading up to WW2 in both Europe and Sout-East Asia, the beginning stages with the fast advances both Germany and Italy made in Europe, and Japan in Asia, the mistakes made by the aggressors, the fighting back by the allied forces on different theatres, and ultimately the victories over Germany , Italy and Japan.

The interesting part about this series is that the original black & white footage has been coloured by advanced colouring techniques. While you can occasionally spot the clearly artificial colouring, most of the times it is unobtrusive and hardly noticeable. Watching these scenes in colour definitely add an aspect of realism to them, compared to the same scenes in black & white.

There are many documentaries about World War II, and this documentary deserves a good place between them.

Documentary series on World War 2. Covers each of the major campaigns in detail and uses colourised archival footage.

An excellent documentary series. I've watched all the best WW2 documentaries, including the pinnacle of the genre, The World at War, and this is among the best.

Cynically I thought the series' selling point would be the fact that the footage is colourised and that it would rely heavily on this feature to get by. I needn't have worried: the series does not rest on the fact that it has colourised footage and other than the title of the series, no attention is drawn to this.

It's simply a great all-round documentary series: good detail without being tedious, great, relevant video material, superb, stirring, gravitas-filled narration by Robert Powell. It doesn't quite measure up to The World at War but nothing does.

A cursory review of a series which is quite the opposite; WWII In Color is an awe-inspiring look into the second world war which provides the viewer with a comprehensive understanding of the events of WWII through narration and colorized video. This series ― narrated by Robert Powell ― covers the entirety of WWII from precursory events which would kick-start the war, to Japan's surrender and the beginning of the Cold War. In an already academically intense genre, World War II in HD Color not only meets high expectations, but exceeds them entirely. Easy to pick up, this well-researched series condenses the war into a few episode's worth of educational content. Robert Powell's delivery in narrating vital moments in the war is perfectly done as his talent shows in such a way that the viewer will surely feel the emotion behind each and every catastrophic event. Furthermore, the footage is truly moving accompanied by the expert narration which includes: devastating footage of a holocaust concentration camp, adrenaline-filled battles, convening of world leaders and more, accompanied by geographic animations, the colorized footage is sure to leave an impact. In essence, this 5 star, extremely detailed and historically accurate series will ensure you come away with nothing less than a complete understanding of many events in the Eastern and Western Fronts, the North African Campaign, and the Pacific War via colorized video and emotionally moving narration.

Short and not overwhelming. Great for anyone that's interested in the second World War.

For the first time you can actually view footage from the war in color

Spectacular for anyone ages 13-100

some violent footage is in it so if you're sensitive you might have to reconsider.

Maps are really fascinating and well done.

Robert Powell also does a fantastic job. His accent makes everything simple to understand.

IS IT GOOD FOR EDUCATION?

Yes. It's amazing for education since the episodes cover everything from A-Z.

My favorite segment is the "battle of the islands" where they talk about America vs Japan. Probably my favorite segment because it has tons of footage in it.

The segment "The Island War" treats the liberation of the Phillipines as an unnecessary and overly costly (and therefore ill-advised) operation. However, that totally fails to recognize that in war, there are both military and political concerns and that grand strategy requires the consideration of both. War is, quite simply, foreign policy pursued by other means. Therefore, foreign policy has to be considered in the strategy of the war.

Because the USA had a commitment to the Phillipine people as a protectorate, it was politically necessary to return as soon as was humanly possible. MacArthur may have left, but Phillipine guerrillas had been fighting and dying against the Japanese with US supplies and coordination from the very beginning. To ignore a chance to liberate the Phillipines would have been no different than leaving Paris in German hands while liberating Holland and Belgium. It was politically imperative! Likewise, the episode maintained that the "Northern arm" of the Japanese pincer had "only pretended to retreat and under cover of darkness had reversed course..." both Japanese and American accounts, much closer to the event when interviews with actual participants were available, indicated that the Northern force actually intended to retreat and only reversed course following critical comments from the high command.

Halsey had every reason to have believed that the Northern force was less a threat than Ozawa's aircraft carrier force which had just been spotted. Every previous naval victory in WWII had come at the hands of the aircraft carriers, NOT the battleships. When confronted by two enemies... one with a knife and the other with a machine gun, only the fool deals with the knife first! There were American POWs held in the Phillipines. Many were saved during this operation. The civilian casualties were indeed great, but that was the choice of the Japanese occupiers and how many would've died, either of brutality or starvation had the islands been bypassed? The further we get from WWII, the less accurate do the "documentaries" become. You can tell a good story with the films, but unless you have spent years studying the contemporary histories, from both sides... false conclusions will run rampant. As the last of the participants pass from this life, there can be no more "factual" accounts. The eyewitnesses are silent now. Don't just watch, READ, READ, READ the books that were published before 1960.