Cheap Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941 (Commemorative Edition 5-Pack) (DVD) (Joris Ivens, Frank Capra) Price

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Customer Reviews of Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941 (Commemorative Edition 5-Pack)

Another fine mess by Madacy
Typical Madacy mish-mash, made up of old documentaries thrown together to make a multi-DVD set, complete with a colorful, attrative box to appeal to the average consumer who wouldn't know otherwise. If you occassionally like watching old documentaries/propaganda films, fine....but the outside of the contents (the box) need to state honestly what's inside, and not hype it up to appear like it's a big-budget production (like a History Channel or National Geographic product - now THOSE are worth buying). Madacy has a problem with that, because they know most people won't buy it....or at least pay the asking price. This stuff needs to be on the bargain rack ($10 max).

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Thorough but unsatisfying
Tons of footage from the attack and propaganda from the period but ultimately unfulfilling. Felt like a very long slide strip from elementary school.

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An important addition to your WWII library.
With the 60'Th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in sight, It was inevitable that a special DVD edition regarding that event would be published. This "commemorative edition" DVD is an adequate addition to any WWII personal library. The 5 DVD's included on this set, feature 12 documentaries with a total running time of 7 hours. It seems the producers insisted on this set being unforgetable, for after 7 hours of footage one will find it hard to shake visions of Zero's flying outside his/hers living room window. The mass of the film can be exhausting at times, as you happen to watch the same scenes over and over again in different documentaries. However, this is only a minor fault, for you will find here several documentaries that are exceptionally good films: The 1961 "KAMIKAZE" - Is a retrospective on the pacific war. The 1945 "KNOW YOUR ENEMY", directed by FRANK CAPRA - Is a masterpiece of a propaganda film. "IWO JIMA", "OKINAWA" - are first rate war films. It is obvious that this compilation of 12 documentaries could not have been edited into a consistent, chronologically ordered set of films, keeping in mind that these films are of different kinds and sources. However, one gets a complete picture of the Pacific scene before during and after world war II. As for the quality of the DVD itself, I did not find any added value in the special features: the trivia quiz, slideshow, biography and newspaper excerpts. No sound remastering work was done in the making of the set, thus for 7 hours we get an authentic 1940's sound quality. Although some might claim it to be a virtue, I found it disturbing, especially as no English caption is available. Overall, though not a brilliant, History Channel like DVD set, It is a must be for all those WWII buffs like myself.