War and Remembrance - The Final Chapter

Starring:Robert Mitchum, Jane Seymour, Hart Bochner, Victoria Tennant, Polly Bergen, David Dukes, Michael Woods, Sharon Stone, Robert Morley, Barry Bostwick, Sami Frey, Topol, John Rhys-Davies, Ian McShane, William Schallert, Bill Wallis, Jeremy Kemp, Steven Berkoff, E.G. Marshall, Robert Hardy
Director: Dan Curtis
Studio: Mpi Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The second half of this massive miniseries covers events from the last two years of World War II with members of our fictitious family--the Henrys--scattered throughout the world. Pariah "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) visits Russia and England as an advisor--and proposes to his much-younger lover, Pamela (Victoria Tennant)--before retuning to the Pacific theater to join his son Byron (Hart Bochner), a submariner, in battling the Japanese. Meanwhile, Byron's wife, Natalie (Jane Seymour), and her uncle (John Gielgud) continue their harrowing plight, starting in the "Paradise Ghetto" and leading to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

This half--11.5 hours--aired on ABC in May 1989, six months after the first half. Unfortunately there is no kinetic battle sequence like the first half's Midway clash to absorb the viewer. Director Dan Curtis relies more on newsreel footage (and the sometimes heavy-handedness of narrator William Woodson) to cover large events. To compensate, the filmmakers give inordinate screen time to the conspiracy to kill Hitler (Steven Berkoff) by his inner circle. Like in Herman Wouk's novel, Hitler's decision to eliminate the Jews is the backbone of the entire series and the film's steely reenactments of these events--an amazing achievement for network television--is quite harrowing. Authenticity (filming at Auschwitz) plus ace performances (Seymour has been rarely better, Gielgud is outstanding) combine for a powerful statement, although the whole production is sometimes weighed down by the soap-opera elements of the Henrys' lives. The original Winds of War miniseries had a higher caliber cast, which is missed here. However, a few actors shine in their atypical performances, including Barry Bostwick (who tied with Gielgud for the Golden Globe) as a flamboyant submariner and David Dukes as a desk side attaché who reaches new depths in the war. Although admired and very watchable, the series did not impact the industry as much as its predecessor or sweep the award circuit as other miniseries (Roots, Holocaust, etc.) did, although it did take home the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries.

The 7-DVD set contains an informative booklet, a CD soundtrack, and a disc of extras. Dan Curtis makes comments over 70 select minutes of the series (shown out of context), hitting the highlights of filming, a nice way of letting the filmmaker talk without searching for the commentary throughout the various discs. There's a new 30-minute feature combining new and old footage on the making of this massive production, and a 15-minute featurette on composer Bob Cobert. --Doug Thomas
Description
A grand story of love and death, faith and betrayal, "War and Rememberance- The Final Chapter" completes the saga that began with "The Winds of War". World War II continues to rage and the Henry family is swept up in the battles of Europe and the Pacific. Natalie, Louis and Aaron experience the horror of the Holocaust firsthand at Auschwitz and the world changes forever with the American decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan.

Amazon.com

The second half of this massive miniseries covers events from the last two years of World War II with members of our fictitious family--the Henrys--scattered throughout the world. Pariah "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum) visits Russia and England as an advisor--and proposes to his much-younger lover, Pamela (Victoria Tennant)--before retuning to the Pacific theater to join his son Byron (Hart Bochner), a submariner, in battling the Japanese. Meanwhile, Byron's wife, Natalie (Jane Seymour), and her uncle (John Gielgud) continue their harrowing plight, starting in the "Paradise Ghetto" and leading to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

This half--11.5 hours--aired on ABC in May 1989, six months after the first half. Unfortunately there is no kinetic battle sequence like the first half's Midway clash to absorb the viewer. Director Dan Curtis relies more on newsreel footage (and the sometimes heavy-handedness of narrator William Woodson) to cover large events. To compensate, the filmmakers give inordinate screen time to the conspiracy to kill Hitler (Steven Berkoff) by his inner circle. Like in Herman Wouk's novel, Hitler's decision to eliminate the Jews is the backbone of the entire series and the film's steely reenactments of these events--an amazing achievement for network television--is quite harrowing. Authenticity (filming at Auschwitz) plus ace performances (Seymour has been rarely better, Gielgud is outstanding) combine for a powerful statement, although the whole production is sometimes weighed down by the soap-opera elements of the Henrys' lives. The original Winds of War miniseries had a higher caliber cast, which is missed here. However, a few actors shine in their atypical performances, including Barry Bostwick (who tied with Gielgud for the Golden Globe) as a flamboyant submariner and David Dukes as a desk side attaché who reaches new depths in the war. Although admired and very watchable, the series did not impact the industry as much as its predecessor or sweep the award circuit as other miniseries (Roots, Holocaust, etc.) did, although it did take home the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries.

Customer Reviews:

Correction to actors/actresses in the series.......2007-06-09

Jane Seymour was not in the series. It was Ali MacGraw. Also starring was Jan-Michael Vincent, John Houseman, Peter Graves, Polly Bergen, Lisa Eilbacher, David Dukes, Topol, Ben Murphy, Jeremy Kemp, and Ralph Bellamy as FDR, and Introducing Victoria Tennant

This goes for Vol 1 also.

Epic Mini Series.......2007-04-08

This is an epic production. The scale of this production, the quality of the acting and the tragedy and triumph it depicts make it my favourite television series. Many young actors today could learn something from Mitchum's legendary minimalism.

Worth every penny.......2007-03-26

I purchased the whole series, partly because I love it and partly because it goes down as the most tremendous undertaking ever attempt for television.
The last Chapter is both appalling and mesmerizing. Sir John Gielgud's performance as the redeemed Aaron Jastrow is magnificent and worth the price alone. The work of Polly Bergen and Mitchum and Jane Seymour are a bonus.

THE CONCLUSION OF THE EPIC WORLD WAR TWO SAGA.......2007-03-25

This 6-disc set concludes the turbulent story of `War and remembrance' miniseries, based on the successful book by Herman Wouk, whose predecessor, `Winds of war', was shot five year prior to this, in 1983. Made during a 5-year period on location in 10 countries, `War and Remembrance' thusly remains one of the biggest achievements in the history of television. The story comes to an end with this 11 and half hours of footage, covering the period from November 1943 to summer 1945.

The main plot of this last part mostly concerns the final stages of the holocaust. Again, we see it through the characters of Natalie (Jane Seymour), an American Jewess, and her uncle Aaron (John Gielgud), who after many escapades across Europe ended up in Theresienstadt, a Nazi ghetto in occupied Czechoslovakia in summer 1943. The so called `paradise ghetto' turns out to be a monstrous hoax: an overcrowded place filled with sickly and dying Jewish people, many of whom were sent to Auschwitz on the regular train transports. The Theresienstadt scenes (shot in my native Croatia) show some of the most brutal holocaust-related moments: a very disturbing scene where Aaron is beaten in front of Adolf Eichmann (Milton Johns), one of the highest ranking Nazis responsible for the implementation of `the final solution' and the one where Natalie's small son is almost tore in two in front of her. We also get to see the famous Red Cross visit to Theresienstadt in June 1944. The Nazis allowed this visit and tried to deceive the visitors, by implementing `the great beautification': the false stores and cafes; furnished houses and hospitals, putting some of the residents on display, etc. However, all this pales in comparison to the episode where Natalie and her uncle are put on the last train from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, in October 1944. What follows is one of the most gruesome and most vivid depictions: a long and for some fatal trip to Auschwitz; the arrival and the selection (who goes to the camp and who to the gas chamber); the procession of the able bodied prisoners (that is, Natalie) and the very end of her uncle (undressing and dying in the gas chamber). These exterior scenes were shot on location on the exact spots in the actual Auschwitz-Birkeanau camp (first time to be done so) and are deeply moving and disturbing and because of that are not suitable for the small children. This remains the most detailed TV account of the holocaust until today.

Besides this, the story also wraps up the subplots concerning the fictional characters from the Henry family (the love between Pugh and Pamela, for example). The historical events are covered, albeit with less live footage and space (D day; the atom bomb, whose implications of use are strangely left untouched and the whole thing is only mentioned). Considerable space has been given to the July plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. Sky Dumont (who had a cameo in `Winds of war' as the Italian foreign minister Ciano) is excellent in his portrayal as Count Stauffenberg, the tragic and dignified leader of this failed attempt.

Most of the cast continues their persuasive job (Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Jane Seymour, John Gielgud, Ralph Bellamy...). However, the same problem from the first DVD set is painfully obvious, that is, the character of Hitler. In `Winds of war' Hitler was played by the late German actor Günter Meisner, who played this role a few times during his career. Although a bit too old for the role, he managed to keep things under control, so despite the fact his Führer was stiffed and not altogether perfect, he gave a hint of the evil personage Hitler was. Here, however, the role is taken by the British actor Steven Berkoff and he did an awful job out of it. According to the interview on the extra disc, the director Dan Curtis wanted Hitler to be overplayed. The reasons remain unknown, although one can guess that he wanted to downgrade the character more by doing this. Berkoff's Hitler is a mixture of a buffoon and a yelling maniac. He portrays these sides in such an overacted manner that the result is anything but believable. This makes the Hitler scenes really uninteresting to watch and the way he behaves with his inner circle has no trustworthiness at all. Therefore it is hard to believe such a person could put a spell on the entire nation, let alone be listened by his generals, most of whom are shown here as the observers who put up with him. The role of Hitler is a hard and yet manageable task for an actor who can make a character, as shown by Bruno Ganz in the recent movie `Downfall'. The same difficulty is evident in case of Robert Stephens, who plays Karl Rahm, the SS commandant of Theresienstadt, in the manner of a cartoon villain.

In the same way, the same slip ups from the first disc set are also present here. The most noticeable concern is the narrow scope used in reference to the holocaust, i.e. by showing it to be solely and exclusively a Jewish matter. There is no doubt that the Jews suffered far worse than any other nation, but the subject matter cannot be understood without mentioning all the other groups that suffered under the Nazis. Here there is no reference whatsoever as to all the others that perished in Auschwitz and other places: Slavs, Jehovah's witnesses, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc. This is something that should not have been done in the series of such importance and scale. The book and the movie `Sophie's choice' (where, incidentally, the same actor played Rudolf Höß, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp) recognize this problem by showing a Polish woman caught in the tragedy that is holocaust. Another evident thing is the fact that the authors tend to be too biased: the subtle message is all Americans are totally honest and good in each step of the way, while all the Germans are bad and vicious. Some of the scenes and lines are quite unnecessary. For example, the Germans on the train to Auschwitz are shown in the stereotypical form as a bunch of beer-gobbling goons. At the same time, the exhausted Natalie says in her boxcar: "I am an American and I will survive.", like one has something to do with the other. The same thing can be said about her line in the last episode, when she is describing a dead friend to her husband (who is a gentile himself), by saying: "His heart was in the right place for a gentile." A bit more of objectivity would be more than welcome.

One of the DVD-related problems is the fact that some of the spelling is incorrect, especially German names and phrases. Thusly Morrell became Müller and Roon is subtitled as Rohem. The German phrase `Zu Befehl', which means `As you ordered', is wrongly subtitled as `To be fair'.

Despite all this, the series remain more than plausible for anyone interested in World War II fiction. The bonus DVD includes another behind the scenes documentary with the cast and the crew (the difficulties of getting permission to shoot at Auschwitz, a homage to the actors and crew people who died since filming...); director Dan Curtis' comment of the selected important scenes and an interview with Bob Cobert, the composer who wrote the memorable score for the series.

If you enjoyed `Winds of war' DVD set, be sure not to miss this.

Great historical data.......2007-03-08

I give this a five star....becuase of the story content with the Historical data...given

It was very interesting.

Average customer rating:

Correction to actors/actresses in the series
Epic Mini Series
Worth every penny
THE CONCLUSION OF THE EPIC WORLD WAR TWO SAGA
Great historical data

War and Remembrance - The Final Chapter
Starring: Robert Mitchum , Jane Seymour , Hart Bochner , Victoria Tennant , and Polly Bergen
Director: Tommy Groszman , and Dan Curtis
Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00007G1WO
Release Date: 2003-03-25

Amazon.com

This half--11.5 hours--aired on ABC in May 1989, six months after the first half. Unfortunately there is no kinetic battle sequence like the first half's Midway clash to absorb the viewer. Director Dan Curtis relies more on newsreel footage (and the sometimes heavy-handedness of narrator William Woodson) to cover large events. To compensate, the filmmakers give inordinate screen time to the conspiracy to kill Hitler (Steven Berkoff) by his inner circle. Like in Herman Wouk's novel, Hitler's decision to eliminate the Jews is the backbone of the entire series and the film's steely reenactments of these events--an amazing achievement for network television--is quite harrowing. Authenticity (filming at Auschwitz) plus ace performances (Seymour has been rarely better, Gielgud is outstanding) combine for a powerful statement, although the whole production is sometimes weighed down by the soap-opera elements of the Henrys' lives. The original Winds of War miniseries had a higher caliber cast, which is missed here. However, a few actors shine in their atypical performances, including Barry Bostwick (who tied with Gielgud for the Golden Globe) as a flamboyant submariner and David Dukes as a desk side attaché who reaches new depths in the war. Although admired and very watchable, the series did not impact the industry as much as its predecessor or sweep the award circuit as other miniseries (Roots, Holocaust, etc.) did, although it did take home the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries.

Description

A grand story of love and death, faith and betrayal, "War and Rememberance- The Final Chapter" completes the saga that began with "The Winds of War". World War II continues to rage and the Henry family is swept up in the battles of Europe and the Pacific. Natalie, Louis and Aaron experience the horror of the Holocaust firsthand at Auschwitz and the world changes forever with the American decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan.

Customer Reviews:

Correction to actors/actresses in the series.......2007-06-09

Epic Mini Series.......2007-04-08

Worth every penny.......2007-03-26

THE CONCLUSION OF THE EPIC WORLD WAR TWO SAGA.......2007-03-25

Great historical data.......2007-03-08

I give this a five star....becuase of the story content with the Historical data...given

It was very interesting.

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