Reply #20: As usual, I have a contrary view:

[stopbush]

1. The pan-n-scan, zoom in, zoom out on a bunch of still photos is absolute cliche at this point, especially as literally miles of film footage exist of WWII. I could see using this technique to provide a sense of motion in the Baseball (which I own on VHS tape) & Civil War series where video footage doesn't exist, but WWII? I think the answer is that it's become a K Burns trademark, just like Speilberg loves zoom-n-elevate camera shots in his films.

2. Within the first episode, Burns was already using some footage/photos two and three times. Why? There's enough WWII footage available to fill 100 such documentaries. Why the repetition? Also, I noticed at least one very famous clip (the back of a jeep catching fire while the driver is still driving) that is available in full color that Burns showed in B&W. I wonder why that decision was made?

3. Perhaps later episodes will fill in the blanks, but this initial episode provided an extremely myopic view of THE war. Nothing about the lead-up to the war. If the entire series is as USA-centered as the first episode, then this documentary will be, at best, a very limited view of the conflict.

4. The music sort of sucked. "The Death of Falstaff" from Walton's Henry V film music was a bit over used for my taste. I liked the jazz excerpts, but the use of Homedown Hootenany pieces whenever a farm or rural scene popped up were predictable and ho-hum.

5. I'll keep my hopes up, but I can't see how this particular series will trump old The World at War narrated by Olivier. This first episode added nothing to the record or our understanding of WWII (again, I hope further episodes remedy this situation).

6. I've enjoyed Burns other series, but he's up against heavy competition here which - IMHO - includes the HBO series Band of Brothers and docudrama war films like SPR and The Great Raid. These films all draw us into the war on a very human level while staying true to actual events. And because they are films that spend time building specific characters, the emotional involvement is - again, IMHO - greater than even that provided by the interviewees in the Burns production.

7. I agree with Pscot above that the presentation was incoherent. I guess that's a built-in problem with the "4 cities" overview of the film, but it was too much jumping around for my taste.

That said, I'm looking forward to further episodes.