Browse Documentary. Military & War

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The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition)

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Anthony Eden, Averell Harriman, Albert Speer, Siegfried Westphal
ASIN : B0002F6AH0
Sales Rank : 239
Studio : A&E Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780767065757
ISBN : 0767065751
UPC : 733961713749
Release Date : December 24, 2004
Publisher : A&E Home Video
Manufacturer : A&E Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 10 days
Label : A&E Home Video
Running Time : 1357

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Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II.

The Second World War was different from other wars in thousands of ways, one of which was the unparalleled scope of visual documents kept by the Axis and Allies of all their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much through written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis were particularly thorough in documenting even the most abhorrent of the atrocities they were committing--in a surprising amount of color footage. The World at War was one of the first television documentaries that exploited these resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable visual guide to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say nothing of the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights:

A New Germany 1933-39: early German and Nazi documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the impending attack on Poland
Whirlwind: the early British losses in the blitz in the skies over Britain and in North Africa
Stalingrad: the turning point of the war and Germany's first defeat
Inside the Reich--Germany 1940-44: one of the most fascinating documentaries that exists on life inside Nazi Germany, from Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth
Morning: prior to Saving Private Ryan, one of the only unromanticized views of the Normandy invasion
Genocide: this film is one of the most widely shown introductions to the Holocaust
Japan 1941-45: although The World at War is decidedly focused more on the European theater, this is an important look into wartime Japan and its expansion--early 20th-century history that lead to Japan's role in World War II is superficial
The bomb: another widely shown documentary of the Manhattan Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki

The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of World War II, analogous to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No serious historian should be missing The World at War in a collection, and no student should leave school without having seen at least some of its salient episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J. Macki

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The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns

Actor: David McCullough
ASIN : B000BITUE8
Sales Rank : 473
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Pbs Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0841887051248
UPC : 841887057059
Release Date : December 28, 2004
Publisher : Pbs Paramount
Manufacturer : Pbs Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Pbs Paramount
Running Time : 680

Product description

Hailed as a film masterpiece and landmark in historical storytelling, Ken Burns's epic documentary brings to life America's most destructive-- and defining--conflict. With digitally enhanced images and new stereo sound, here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one.

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The most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation, reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: voice-over narrators reading letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic musical scores taken from the era he depicts. The Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew only from stale history books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's above all a gifted storyteller, and it's his narrative powers that give this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror. Using the words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained photos, Burns allows us not only to relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. --Dave McCoy

On the DVD
The DVD features on The Civil War provide a wealth of insight, creative philosophy, historical perspective, and educational enjoyment. Twelve years after its premiere broadcast, the film was given a digital facelift, sharpening image clarity, correcting color, and enriching its soundtrack with a remastered 5.1-channel mix, as demonstrated in the "Civil War Reconstruction" featurette. In interviews from 2002, producer-director Ken Burns, historian Shelby Foote, journalist George Will, author Stanley Crouch, and composer-musicians Jay Ungar and Molly Mason reflect upon The Civil War's enduring significance. And Burns's eloquent commentary--selectively included on each disc and totaling five hours--illuminates the historical importance and creative impulse behind crucial chapters of the film. Fifty-seven onscreen biography cards detail important North, South, and civilian figures, and two 1990 featurettes—"Making History" and "A Conversation with Ken Burns"--provide a more personal perspective on the creation of this extraordinary film. Useful for both personal and academic study, these features stand as a fitting supplement to one of the greatest documentaries ever produced. --Jeff Shannon

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The First World War - The Complete Series

Actors: Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Andrée Bernard, Emperor Franz Josef, Hermann Göring
ASIN : B0009S2K9C
Sales Rank : 2447
Director : Corina Sturmer, Marcus Kiggell, Simon Rockell
Studio : Image Entertainment
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0014381055122
UPC : 014381055122
Release Date : December 30, 2005
Publisher : Image Entertainment
Manufacturer : Image Entertainment
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Image Entertainment
Running Time : 523

Description

This definitive ten-part series offers insight and analysis to provide a coherent and strategic military narrative of the worldwide conflict that changed history.

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The General (The Ultimate 2-Disc Edition) (1926)

Actors: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
ASIN : B001E18222
Sales Rank : 3822
Director : Buster Keaton;Clyde Bruckman
Studio : KINO INTERNATIONAL
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Silent
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0738329063726
UPC : 738329063726
Release Date : December 11, 2008
Publisher : KINO INTERNATIONAL
Manufacturer : KINO INTERNATIONAL
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : KINO INTERNATIONAL
Running Time : 78

Product Description

NEWLY MASTERED IN HD FROM A 35MM ARCHIVE PRINT STRUCK FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE

THE NUMBER 18 GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME (AFI 100 YEARS... 100 MOVIES)

Consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made, Buster Keaton s THE GENERAL is so brilliantly conceived and executed that it continues to inspire awe and laughter with every viewing. This Kino Ultimate 2 Disc Edition was mastered in HD from a 35mm archive print struck from the original camera negative. Rejected by the Confederate army as unfit, and taken for a coward by his beloved Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), young Johnny Gray (Keaton) is given a chance to redeem himself when Yankee spies steal his cherished locomotive. Johnny wages a one-man war against hijackers, an errant cannon and the unpredictable hand of fate while roaring along the iron rails. Every shot has the authenticity and the unassuming correct composition of a Mathew Brady Civil War photograph, wrote film historian David Robinson, No one not even Griffith or Huston and certainly not Fleming (Gone With the Wind) caught the visual aspect of the Civil War as Keaton did.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Three musical scores to choose from:
(1) Music composed and conducted by Carl Davis, performed by The Thames Silents Orchestra (in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo)
(2) Music arranged and directed by Robert Israel
(3) Theatre organ score by Lee Erwin
- A video tour of the authentic General, presented in association with The Southern Museum
- A tour of the filming locations, presented by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes
- Behind-the-scenes home movie footage
- Filmed introduction by Gloria Swanson
- Filmed introduction by Orson Welles
- The Buster Express, a brisk montage of train gags from throughout Keaton s career

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Buster Keaton's career reached its creative apex with this rousing comic adventure. Not merely one of the finest silent films, this remains one of the great film comedies of all time. The Great Stone Face stars as Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray, a man with only two loves: the sweet Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) and his trustworthy engine, the eponymous General. When Fort Sumner is fired upon he's one of the first to enlist, but when the war office rejects him (he's too valuable as a trained engineer) his sweetie rejects him as a coward. Johnny has the opportunity to prove his bravery when Yankee spies steal his engine and inadvertently kidnap Annabelle, and Johnny pursues with all the resources at his disposal: handcar, bicycle, and finally railroad engine. Keaton's love/hate relationship with technology and machinery shines as he becomes one with his beloved locomotive and wrestles with a finicky cannon that threatens to blow his engine off the tracks; with tremendous dexterity, he nails the humor with inimitably deadpan takes. Spunky Marion Mack makes a perfect partner for Keaton, not merely a foil but a gifted comedienne in her own right. Other Keaton films contain more laughs and inspired comic stunts, but none combines romance, adventure, and comedy into a solid story as seamlessly as this silent masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker

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Operation Valkyrie: The Stauffenberg Plot to Kill Hitler

Actors: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
ASIN : B001E1HCQO
Sales Rank : 1688
Director : Jean-Pierre Isbouts
Brand : Koch International
Studio : Koch Vision
Format : Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0741952652892
UPC : 741952652892
Release Date : December 11, 2008
Publisher : Koch Vision
Manufacturer : Koch Vision
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
Label : Koch Vision
Running Time : 76

Description

The Definitive Story Based on Eyewitness Accounts
Produced in Collaboration with the German Resistance Organization Forschungsgemeinschaft 20. Juli 1944

July, 1944. As WWII raged on, a group of conspirators, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, plotted to assassinate Hitler and end his reign of terror. Using rare color footage, painstakingly recreated dramatizations, detailed CG reconstructions and exclusive interviews with leading historians, this thrilling documentary presents the definitive record of what happened before, during and after these pivotal events.

INCLUDES 2 HOURS OF BONUS FEATURES:
-The Eva Braun Films: Newly Re-Mastered Home Movies shot by Hitler's Mistress
-An Exclusive Visit to the Stauffenberg Estate
-Killing Hitler: Other Assassination Attempts on the Fuhrer presented by author Roger Moorhouse
-A Visit to the German Resistance Memorial Center in Berlin
-Footage from the Volksgericht Trials
-Interview with Philipp Baron von Boeselager, the last surviving member of the Stauffenberg Conspiracy

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Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]

Actors: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, George Montgomery
ASIN : B000OCZD5Q
Sales Rank : 2487
Director : Ken Annakin
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : Blu-ray
EAN : 0085391142621
UPC : 085391142621
Release Date : December 15, 2007
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 167

Description

Nazi Panzer forces stage a last-ditch Belgian front offensive that could turn the tide of WWII. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan in the spectacular recreation of a crucial campaign. Year: 1965

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The German offensive in December 1944 became the basis for this all-star Hollywood take on the Battle of the Bulge. Henry Fonda is an officer who predicts the assault, Robert Ryan and Dana Andrews are Army brass skeptical of his intuitions, and Robert Shaw (his hair dyed yellow and his eyes glinting with malice) is a German officer leading the tank attack. Shaw is certainly the most compelling thing about the film, especially in his philosophical debates with ambivalent underling Hans Christian Blech. Elsewhere, the movie jumps around to sidebar stories (cowardly James MacArthur becomes a leader, wheeler-dealer Telly Savalas falls in love) while messing around with the historical facts of the battle. There are interesting episodes, such as the Malmedy massacre of American POWs and the Germans' use of English-speaking spies, but overall Battle of the Bulge has the feeling of having been patched together from different scripts. On the physical level the movie comes up short, with the Spanish locations rarely suggesting the wintry misery of the battle, and the use of models and studio sets highly inadequate. A number of war films from this era are compelling on their own terms, but in the wake of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, this one looks antique. --Robert Horton

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Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)

Actors: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, George Montgomery
ASIN : B0000AQS3X
Sales Rank : 5323
Director : M. Clay Adams
Brand : A&E
Studio : A&E Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780767057066
ISBN : 0767057066
UPC : 733961709674
Release Date : December 30, 2003
Publisher : A&E Home Video
Manufacturer : A&E Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : A&E Home Video
Running Time : 690

Product Description

Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 12/16/2008 Run time: 78 minutes Rating: Nr

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A 26-episode World War II documentary, Victory at Sea is one of the most important series in the history of television. Made in 1952, the show was a huge success, winning many major awards and even spawning albums featuring the orchestral score by Richard Rodgers, best known for his musicals with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Produced with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, each 26-minute program consists of black-and-white wartime film set to a narration by Leonard Graves. The two years leading up to America's entry into the war are dismissed in episode one, while the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor gets a show of its own, the raid depicted in a brilliantly edited montage that almost certainly contains "docu-drama" footage. Each episode contains at least one powerful stand-alone sequence in the tradition of Serge Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), these action-suspense set-pieces giving the programs an urgent, surprisingly modern feel. Indeed, the emphasis is at least as much on entertainment as information, the factual content delivered in poetic narration, the score transforming the war into a more than usually serious Hollywood adventure. The documentaries are nothing if not wide-ranging, covering parts of the land war despite the title, and including everything from the Atlantic convoys and U-boat "Wolfpacks" to war in Alaska, the South Atlantic, and the Far East, the Pacific War, and the Fall of Japan. There is an attempt to include other nations--certainly the D-Day episode acknowledges the British far more than Saving Private Ryan--but inevitably the focus is on America's war. The very dated narration gives a fascinating insight into how America saw WWII in the early 1950s, while the dynamic cutting and often genuinely remarkable wartime footage make Victory at Sea still gripping today. Twenty years later, Granada's The World at War would become the definitive television WWII history, but this release offers a unique opportunity to see a series of great importance from the very early days of television. --Gary S. Dalkin

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The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Actor: Robert McNamara
ASIN : B0001L3LUE
Sales Rank : 2943
Director : Errol Morris
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 99
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781404941663
ISBN : 1404941665
UPC : 043396019164
Release Date : December 11, 2004
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 95

Product Description

The story of america as seen through the eyes of former secretary of defense robert mcnamara. One of the most controversial & influential figures in world politics he takes us on an insiders journey through many of the seminal events of the 20th century. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Robert Mcnamara Run time: 107 minutes Rating: Pg13

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The Fog of War, the movie that finally won Errol Morris the best documentary Oscar, is a spellbinder. Morris interviews Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and finds a uniquely unsettling viewpoint on much of 20th-century American history. Employing a ton of archival material, including LBJ's fascinating taped conversations from the Oval Office, Morris probes the reasons behind the U.S. commitment to the Vietnam War--and finds a depressingly inconsistent policy. McNamara himself emerges as--well, not exactly apologetic, but clearly haunted by the what-ifs of Vietnam. He also mulls the bombing of Japan in World War II and the Cuban Missile Crisis, raising more questions than he answers. The Fog of War has the usual inexorable Morris momentum, aided by an uneasy Philip Glass score. This movie provides a glimpse inside government. It also encourages skepticism about same. --Robert Horton

Dogfights -The Complete Season 2 (History Channel)

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High above the ground, at speeds reaching thousands of miles per hour, fighter aircraft face off in some of the most intense battles in the history of warfare. THE HISTORY CHANNEL® brings these battles to life in DOGFIGHTS, a riveting documentary series that follows the development of air combat from the planes of the First World War to showdowns between the most cutting-edge aircraft flown today.

The second season of this wildly popular series features first-hand accounts of the flying aces themselves, combined with rare archival footage and state-of-the-art CGI graphics. Each air battle is recreated in stunning detail, putting viewers in the cockpit, facing the enemy. From Fokker triplanes and SE5s dueling over Belgium and F86s and MiG-15s battling in the skies above North Korea to World War II s P-51 Mustang and the American F-15s that fought in Operation Desert Storm, DOGFIGHTS: THE COMPLETE SEASON 2 puts viewers right in the cockpit to relive 17 of modern history s greatest battles.

Browse Military & War Online

The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition)

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The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns

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The First World War - The Complete Series

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The General (The Ultimate 2-Disc Edition) (1926)

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Amazon.com essential video

Operation Valkyrie: The Stauffenberg Plot to Kill Hitler

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Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]

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Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel)

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Amazon.com

The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

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Dogfights -The Complete Season 2 (History Channel)

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The History Channel Ultimate Collections: World War II

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