The Stilwell Road

Starring:Ronald Reagan, Archibald Wavell, Harold Alexander, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George C. Marshall, William D. Leahy, Alan Brooke, Winston Churchill, Chester W. Nimitz, Ernest J. King, Claude Auchinleck, Charles Portal, Douglas MacArthur, Claire Chennault
Studio: Delta
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Produced by the Army Signal Corps, this film chronicles some of the most vicious fighting of World War II as American General "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell and his ragtag army oppose the Japanese in the jungles of Burma and southern China. Narrated by Ronald Reagan, Stilwell Road provides a great pictorial history of this forgotten theatre of war.

Customer Reviews:

Horrific task surmounted by unsubduable will........2005-07-11

An excellent tribute to the 63000 men who constructed the 478 mile road from Ledo, Assam, into East Burma, this documentary depicts many of the extraordinary achievements of military engineering required for the passage's completion, a 26 month ordeal completed in 1945 by bordering massive gorges, overstriding raging rapids and invading some of the world's most impenetrable jungles, with a cost of many lives and 150 million dollars. "We got run out of Burma, and it is humiliating as Hell", early in the film states "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, Commander of troops in the CBI (China-Burma-India) Theatre, and the veteran warrior, serving as Chiang Kai-shek's chief of staff returned with a vengeance at the head of his doughty troops, aided later appreciably by personnel from Australia, New Zealand and India under the leadership of British General Ord Wingate, whom we see just prior to his final, fatal flight. Incisively edited, and briskly narrated by Ronald Reagan, the 51 minute work reveals the ongoing testing endured by the construction crews (28000 engineers), in addition to support personnel such as medical staff, maintenance workers for the heavy machinery, et alia, and is replete with combat footage recording the manner in which the original Ledo Road was expanded into the Stilwell Road (renamed in 1945 by Chiang Kai-shek) despite vigourous Japanese opposition, enabling crucial supplies to move from India to China.

Stilwell Road.......2005-06-20

Narrated by Ronald Reagan and produced by the Army Signal Corps in 1945, STILWELL ROAD uses stock footage and the ever-popular animated arrows spearheading their ways across maps of the Far East to tell the story of the Allied Armies' mission to reopen the old Burma Road, the overland supply route from India to China.
The Japanese army conquered and occupied Burma by the time America entered the war. `Reopen' is a misleading word to use. The completed road would contain nearly 1,100 miles of newly constructed road - from Ledo in India to Kumning in China - an engineering marvel completed in the face of a hostile enemy, in a land whose torrential monsoons made road construction, not to mention maintenance, a logistical challenge of the highest order in peacetime.
As usual with the documentaries from this period - at least the ones I've seen - STILWELL ROAD is relevant, coherent, and concise. Although it's a little too sketchily drawn to substitute for the written word, this documentary is a wonderful supplement for anyone studying World War II in the Far East. The transfer print is in good to very good condition. A strong recommendation for those interested in the subject.

RONALD REAGAN NARRATES THE GRIPPING STORY OF WWII BURMA.......2002-11-29

Some of the worst fighting of World Ward II occurred in the jungles of Burma. Heat, disease, pestilence worked as allies to the Japanese as General Joseph Stilwell attemped to turn the tide and keep the Japanese out of india, and keep the road to China open.

Product Description

Even before December 7th, American volunteers fought against Japanese forces as members of the so-called "Flying Tigers". Once the U.S.A. officially entered the fight, the Tigers became the 14th Air Force, and their exploits the stuff of legend.

Featured on this DVD are four rare films made during WWII in the China-Burma-India Theatre. See a rare Japanese-made propaganda film about Manchukuo. In "The China Crisis" see Claire Chennault's airmen, and see the Flying Tigers as they go into combat in antiquated P-40 Warhawks and modern P-51 Mustangs. In "The Stilwell Road" narrated by actor Ronald Reagan, learn how this vital supply link kept China in the war, and how the Chinese theatre kept hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops tied up for year after bloody year, crippling the rising sun and ensuring America's victory. It's history, like you've never seen it before!

Digitally remastered and restored from original 16mm film prints, some of the films on this DVD have never been made available to the public. Because of their age and rarity, image and sound quality can vary.

Films are black and white. Over 120 minutes of material.

Description

Produced by the Army Signal Corps, this film chronicles some of the most vicious fighting of World War II as American General "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell and his ragtag army oppose the Japanese in the jungles of Burma and southern China. Narrated by Ronald Reagan, Stilwell Road provides a great pictorial history of this forgotten theatre of war.

B&W
Running Time: 51 min.

Customer Reviews:

Horrific task surmounted by unsubduable will........2005-07-11

Stilwell Road.......2005-06-20

RONALD REAGAN NARRATES THE GRIPPING STORY OF WWII BURMA.......2002-11-29

Description

3DVD SET INCLUDES:
Santa Fe Trail
This Is The Army
Stilwell Road

B&W/Color
2852 min.

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