Winds of war

[Thanas]

The TV adaptation of Hermann Wouks (the guy who wrote the Caine mutiny) magnum opus is on youtube. It is great, although it misses the philosophical discussions that were prevalent in the books (although they carried inaccuracies, they showed the writer was committed to more than just telling a story).

The TV adaptation has many errors who might only be visible to an European Eye (like having the Hofburg of Vienna stand in for Berlin) but it is well watching. This is not a series for people who are looking for action or big explosions, but rather for people who want to watch a portrait of an era, at which it excells. From little touches like the Bremen being the ship of choice to carry the protagonist across the atlantic to the sheer callousness of the Nazi machine, it is well watching.



First part linked to, the others should show up on youtube as well.

If you managed to miss this classic, which was the first huge TV miniseries, I suggest you go watch it now.

EDIT: Movie buffs will appreciate the many callbacks to other classics like Judgement at Nuremberg (via the music).

[Eternal_Freedom]

This is something I'd never even heard of this before, so thanks for posting it. I'm only about 40 minutes in but I'm very impressed so far.

Incidentally, the Bremen is a gorgeous ship. I miss the days of those grand cruise ships.

[Thanas]

This is something I'd never even heard of this before, so thanks for posting it. I'm only about 40 minutes in but I'm very impressed so far.

Incidentally, the Bremen is a gorgeous ship. I miss the days of those grand cruise ships.

It actually is her sister ship, they used archive footage of the Europa, which survived the war and was taken into French service. The Bremen suffered a case of arson in 1941 and burnt out.


Best shot of the Bremen

The two sisters.

Oh and one thing: OCEAN LINER, not cruise ship.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I do beg your pardon sir

[montypython]

It's been over 20 years since I've seen Winds of War, but it and the sequel War and Remembrance were always my favorite broadcast channel miniseries in quality and scale, nowadays gotta go to cable channels to see anything similar in scope.

[Prannon]

I remember my parents introducing me to this series not long after I got into the HBO series "Band of Brothers."

Even today, I much prefer Winds of War. I love how lovingly and thoroughly it paints a picture of the world at the time, in multiple countries, with all of the conversations and tensions that folks at the time may very well have been having. The attention to detail is nothing short of incredible. The series, on the whole, is a masterpiece.

[Thanas]

It is much better than Band of Brothers, that's for sure.

If this would be literature, Bands of Brothers is a 10cent action piece you can buy at a news stand, this is a novel.


EDIT: Though the adaptation does suffer from things like using 70s ships for 40s and using things like "Command subs" for the Nazis, when Dönitz commanded all action himself.

[Thanas]

Though sadly, the sequel (adaptation of War and Remembrance) is not up to par so far. They replaced a lot of actors including the wholly unnecessary replacement of Natalie Jastrow by Jane Seymour, who sucks as an actress.

Maybe it will get better.

[Prannon]

Yeah, I kinda list interest in the sequel series. The replacement of so many actors really kinda killed it for me, particularly Natalie and Byron.

Their love story was such a large part of presenting the war, and they both filled their roles and looked the parts sooo well, that it felt really jarring to see different people playing the roles.

[Elfdart]

It is much better than Band of Brothers, that's for sure.

If this would be literature, Bands of Brothers is a 10cent action piece you can buy at a news stand, this is a novel.


EDIT: Though the adaptation does suffer from things like using 70s ships for 40s and using things like "Command subs" for the Nazis, when Dönitz commanded all action himself.

I liked Jane Seymour much better than Ali McGraw (talk about mutton dressed as lamb!), but John Houseman was much better in the role than John Gielgud.

Both series are way better than Wouk's books. Come to think of it, you could say the same about The Caine Mutiny. Wouk is a stickler for every detail except for the most important one for a novelist: Creating characters that are convincing to the reader. Luckily for him, the mini-series' producers hired actors like Robert Mitchum, John Houseman, Jeffrey Kemp, Wolfgang Priess, and Ferdy Maine who can make any scene or dialogue look convincing, no matter how stiff the source material happens to be.

[Thanas]

I think war and remembrance overall does a lot of right and good things and does not shy away from portraying negative things of the allies, which is much more honest than recent Hollywood stuff.

But Jane Seymour and the comical Nazis (especially the Theresienstadt commandant actor is just hamming it up) destroy the great important scenes. Ali McGraw had a steel to her portrayal of Natalie, Jane Seymour apparently can only act one way.