Best WWII documentary?

[r2b2ct]

Hello

I have always been a fan of good war documentaries. I like to fall asleep to documentaries pretty much every night. For a while I was watching Ken Burns' Civil War documentary which I found extremely well done. Now I am looking for a good WWII documentary or a few select ones to watch next.

Do you guys have any recommendations?

[Spitfire XIV-E]

If you have Sky then there is only one Documentary that gives you the whole story - "The World at War". Made in the early 70's it for me is still the definitive account of the conflict. It's in 26 parts and narrated by the late Sir Laurence Olivier. You'll find it on UKTV History although the last run only finished a week or so ago.

[Jim]

If you have Sky then there is only one Documentary that gives you the whole story - "The World at War". Made in the early 70's it for me is still the definitive account of the conflict. It's in 26 parts and narrated by the late Sir Laurence Olivier. You'll find it on UKTV History although the last run only finished a week or so ago.

Ditto on this, the sad thing about this is that some of the people that were interviewed for the programme died before it was aired.

[Kelly]

There's also a documentarys on History, 'The Last Days Of WW2' & 'Hitlers War'. Two fabulous series.

[Echos]

Victory at Sea is a favotite of mine. It is a really good 4 -CD collection of all the battles in the pacific. Great action. Being a Navy family , we are partical to the sea action.

[Dave]

Gotta agree, the answer is "The World At War", and it's hard to see this ever being bettered.

Also a mention for this film, which I have not seen yet. It's quite hard to get hold of as you'll see...

Target For Tonight

Target For Tonight 1941 (50 mins)

During World War 2, the Ministry of Information in Britain took over the GPO Film Unit, and renamed it the Crown Film Unit. They made larger-scale documentaries and feature-length films, the latter being of the dramatised type with servicemen and women playing themselves. "Target for Tonight" (Harry Watt, 1942) was one of the first commercially-successful documentaries. It illustrated processes, in this case how an RAF night-time bombing raid over Germany was actually carried out, AND showed real people.

• Target for Tonight won a special Academy Award for best documentary
• The film featured an RAF Wellington bomber attacking an oil storage depot in Kiel, Germany
• The film was shot at RAF Mildenhall in 1941 with Wellington Mk.Ic, (possibly from 149 Squadron) and Avro Ansons, and a Wellington fuselage in the studio
• Filming also took place at High Wycombe in the real Bomber Command headquarters with the real head of Bommer Command, Sir R. Peirse
• S/L Pickard, who appears in the film, later died in the famed Mosquito attack on Amiens prison
• Director Elia Kazan listed Target for Tonight in his top ten favourite films

This is a must-see film by anyone's reckoning? Unfortunately, another film with the same name has been produced, and with similar subject matter. See HERE

The top user comment points out that this is a completely different film !

If you purchase this DVD thinking it is the great WWII documentary produced by the RAF titled "Target for Tonight", well... it's not. It is instead a recently produced color documentary about the night bombing of three major German cities, entitled "THE Target for Tonight" and is well worth purchasing in it's own right. But don't be mislead: it is not the historic film produce by Harry Watt, starring the crew of Wellington bomber " 'F' for 'Freddie'". "Target for Tonight" is of great historical importance. Produced during World War II about a night bombing raid on oil storage facilities at Freihausen, Germany and featuring real RAF personnel starring as themselves, it was widely distributed to theaters in the United States. The acting is amazingly good and special effects are remarkable considering the conditions under which the film was made. "Target for Tonight" helped sway public opinion in the U.S. about whether to enter the war and help Great Britain. Unfortunately, the videos and DVDs in America are of very poor quality, struck from a well-worn 16mm print. I would like to see this film re-released from a good quality 35mm negative, but I have no idea who owns the rights and the original source material. Ironically, the color documentary "THE Target for Tonight" has about two minutes of beautiful, clean 35mm footage of the 1941 film... so, the negative materials are out there. Somewhere.

[Dave]

Here's a good link on this film.
To get hold of it? Forget about Amazon, & Good luck !

[fpbeast]

There's also a documentarys on History, 'The Last Days Of WW2' & 'Hitlers War'. Two fabulous series.

have heard of these but not watched them

[tater03]

I have one that I can recommend. My brother got it for me but it is on the Vietnam war but it is very good. It is called the Battleground Vietnam: War in the Jungle. It is very good and interesting.

[Dave]

UK TV History Channel appears to be showing it back-to-back, and non stop at the moment.