The First Olympics - Blood, Honor, and Glory (History Channel)

Starring:First Olympics
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The First Olympics: Blood, Honor, and Glory includes three exciting History Channel documentaries about ancient roots of the Olympics in fact and myth. Curiously, the first two films, "The First Olympics" and "Blood and Honor at the First Olympics," are essentially the same, with slightly different narration, editing, and chapter titles. Of the two, "Blood and Honor" is a little more streamlined and is voiced by Leonard Nimoy, but the material is compelling enough to check out both works over time. Among other things, one learns that the first Olympians competed in the nude for all sports, that winning was everything and penalties for fouls and bribes were severe, and that there has been an Olympics committee--and Olympics competition every four years--since 776 B.C. "The Greek Gods" is a fine supplemental work introducing us to Zeus, in whose honor the Olympics were born, and the other divinities on Mt. Olympus. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Review from Oz.......2004-08-21

A compilation of three documentaries "The First Olympics", "Blood and Honour at The First Olympics" and "The Greek Gods". It consists mainly of the same archival film footage used over and over again in "The Real Olympics", "The Games for The Gods" and "The Ancient Greek Olympics" with different narration and contradictory "facts" gleaned from a few historical writings and some Greek Pottery and then integrated with an enormous amount of hypothetical supposition and personal opinions from so-called "experts".
I quote "expert" Ann Stewart (Professor College Year in Athens) "The important thing for a man to do was marry a virgin and produce children. The only way to keep virgins was the practise of homosexuality, and so it was encouraged." That's great. It leaves us with a mental picture of young Adonis screwing his friend so that he can keep little Aphrodite for a rainy day. And of course his friend obligingly "rolls over" and lets him because "Well that's what friends do for each other. Don't they?".
I thought I must have reached the bottom of the bucket with this little spark of absurdity, however from there on in it's downhill all the way with such little gems as " Women had to be "tamed" for marriage, and the best way women could be "tamed" was to show them naked athletes". And it just goes on and on.
The actual film footage is quite good but this is not a disk to buy.

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