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DVD The Winds of War
An engrossing, 1983 television miniseries based on a bestselling work of historical fiction by Herman Wouk, The Winds of War is an admirable production reminiscent of the era of Hollywood's epic features. At the center of the globe-trotting story is the Henry family, whose laconic but straight-shooting patriarch is United States Navy Commander Victor "Pug" Henry (Robert Mitchum), sent to Hitler's Berlin in the spring of 1939 as a naval attaché to the then-neutral American embassy. A keen observer, Pug deduces that Germany is not preparing for war on two fronts (western Europe on one side, Russia on the other) despite what the Nazis want the world to believe, meaning that Hitler must be working out a secret peace deal with Stalin. Pug's prescience makes him a favorite eyewitness in Berlin for Franklin D. Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy); the irony is that Pug is far less sagacious when it comes to the realities of his family.
Polly Bergen plays unhappy wife Rhoda, who turns to A-bomb developer Palmer Kirby (Peter Graves) for comfort. Pug's 19-year-old daughter, Madeline (Lisa Eilbacher), defies her iron-willed dad's decision that she stay in school by taking a job for CBS radio in New York. Compliant son Warren (Ben Murphy) can't seem to get Pug's attention despite doing everything right (including becoming a Navy pilot, eventually present at the bombing of Pearl Harbor). By contrast, Pug spends more time fuming over black sheep son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent), who is working in increasingly Fascist Italy as an assistant to an art historian (John Houseman) while trying hard to woo the latter's exasperating niece, Natalie (Ali MacGraw). The story of Byron and Natalie takes up much of The Winds of War as the pair traverse Poland during the shock of Hitler's 1939 assault, and Jewish Natalie later finds herself trapped inside Italy facing the threat of concentration camps. Before The Winds of War ends, each of these characters will end up in places and situations, and with historical figures (Churchill, Mussolini) as well as ordinary people, they would not have anticipated outside the pressures of war. The program's length and smart script allow for a lot of ideas and background detail that pull a viewer in--happily. --Tom Keogh
Mesmerizing soap opera style story following the many paths of the Henry Family leading up to America's involvement in WWII.
Huge cast of known names, especially if you know some of the older names who were big a couple of decades back. We go from America to Germany to Hitler's strategies, and, of course, the beginning of the Holocaust.
Grand historical drama
Herman Wouk's Winds of War represents some of television's finest not only in the era of the mini-series but programming in general. This film offers viewers a glimpse of what life, and in particular political views and realities, were like in America in the years leading up to W.W.II. The acting is outstanding, the story fascinating (though as another reviewer has pointed out the soap opera parts can grow wearisome). This film rates along with the likes of Tora, Tora, Tora; HBO's Conspiracy; Schindler's List; and the documentary series The World at War and Nazis: A Warning From History as worthy of being required viewing for all high school students as they study US history.
Our All Time Favorite
We taped "The Winds of War" when it was first shown and now own the DVDs.
Worth a watch every year. I know of no better film than it and "War & Remembrance"
(we have those DVDs too).
Wonderful books also. Masterpieces!
The ambitious TV event War and Remembrance was the final opus in the golden age of the maxi-miniseries. This six-disc set offers the first half (seven episodes) of ABC's mammoth 30-hour production of Herman Wouk's bestseller--itself a sequel to the landmark Winds of War--mixing fictional and real characters around the events of World War II. It starts a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor and abruptly stops in July 1943 with the fall of Mussolini. Only half of the first series' lead actors return, including Robert Mitchum as the patriarch Captain "Pug" Henry. Although Mitchum is too old and less dashing than he should be, his presence is exactly what the series needs as it wavers between pop entertainment and a graphic look at the atrocities of war. The series' multiple... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 31 August 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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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... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 31 August 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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As a history major, I pruned and picked away at North and South looking for historical inaccuracies, and found little if any. This was a great series, with enough humor, drama, and juicy affairs to keep everyone interested. When it first aired, I was only interested in the Orrie - Madaline drama, as it was the stuff trashy books are based on. Of course, put any trashy drama in the middle of a bigger conflict (in this case, The Civil War) and you have a recipe for a great story that wrote itself.
The crux of the story is the relationship between Orrie and George, two who meet as young men at West Pointe to become lifelong friends and enemies as they will serve on the Northern and Southern sides of the Civil War. The mini series does a fantastic job combing the historical... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Richard T. Heffron - Kevin Connor - Larry Peerce DVD Release Date: Released the 05 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The second most-watched miniseries (after Roots) of all time, The Thorn Birds was originally broadcast in 1983 and captivated viewers with its story of a lifelong conflict between the spirit and the flesh. Adapted from the bestselling novel by Colleen McCullough, the production stars Richard Chamberlain as a Catholic priest named Ralph de Bricassart, whose life in Australia between 1920 and 1962 is one long torment as he pines for his lover, Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward), while seeking advancement in his clergyman career. The passion and the guilt make for compelling drama, but a stellar cast of supporting players adds muscle to the proceedings: Barbara Stanwyck (who won an Emmy for her work as Meggie's tough aunt), Jean Simmons, Richard Kiley, Christopher Plummer, Bryan... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Daryl Duke DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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What better way to escape from the onslaught of so-called reality television than to sail away with Richard Chamberlain to "the Japans" for a little samurai action and some discreet "pillowing"? From the golden age of the miniseries comes this television benchmark, the 10-hour, Golden Globe-winning saga based on James Clavell's bestselling epic. In his award-winning performance, Chamberlain stars as John Blackthorne, the 17th-century English navigator on a Dutch trading ship. A storm runs the ship aground off the coast of Japan, a "torn and cruelly divided country" locked in a power struggle between Toranaga (the venerable Toshiro Mifune) and Ishido, two warlords who would be Shogun. Blackthorne gets over his initial culture shock ("I piss on you and your country," he defiantly proclaims... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jerry London DVD Release Date: Released the 23 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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