Shameless plug department: 'Victory at Sea'

A great, great series... WWII.

I've re-watched it several times. Richard Rogers soundtrack...

I can hear the theme song in my mind as I type.


Edit: you can see individual episodes on wiki.. here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_at_Sea

 

Yes, a super-primo series originally released in the early 50's when everything was still very real and fresh in the minds of those who lived it. Produced almost exclusively from official original footage shot in real time in theatre, much of it in combat. The Richard Rogers (of Rogers & Hammerstein) sound track is beyond moving.

An absolute a must-see for any serious student of WWII naval aviation and history.

 

Remember the series from when I was a kid. Great music and narration as well.

 

Nice to know that the 26 episodes are remembered after sixty years. BTW, we now know that Rodgers composed only his "twelve themes" at the piano. One was the one-minute opening credits theme; all together, they add up to only about 15 mins. of music. It was Robert R. Bennett who used those tunes again and again, transforming their mood and putting it all into the NBC Symphony to record. Some episodes have only a couple mins. of the Rodgers tunes, or even none at all---the rest is all Bennett's composing and "arranging." Millions of people probably went to their graves thinking that Rodgers wrote 13 *hours* of music, sad to say.

 

I watched this series in the 50's and could not get enough of it. Even though I wasn't able to see action overseas I went to school with, was in the service with, went to college with, and worked at Boeing with many of those who will never receive all of the thanks and appreciation that they earned. Somewhat common place to them was the attitude that their service and the terrible price that some paid was simply something they had to do and they did what was expected of them. No real big thing. Bull sessions while I was in the Air Force and the beer busts in college saw vets trading accounts as if it was something that they happened to do between 1942 and 1945. Certainly some were still hurting from it but there was no drama attached to it. Now as my clock gets closer to midnight I look back at what we kicked around as a matter of course and realize that what I was involved in is now history. I don't know how to explain it but it has taken on an entirely different look and feel to me now. It comes home with force when the reunion of the B-24 bomb group with which I'm associated could not list enough surviving members to hold a meeting. Ten years ago they joined with 200-300 members, now it is less the 40.
Even though it will be listed as hearsay , I think that I'm going to start writing down all of the personal stories of my friends as they told them to me. I have forgotten a lot of things but I remember most all of what I was party to. I have a lot of written stuff and some pictures. I'm still gathering up photos and art for my account that seems to still grow.

 

I won't call it heresay...

Thank you for working on that, Bob... will be priceless.

 

Kinda strange but i watches 3 episodes last night. I was bored at work and had the dvd with me. Great series and lots of hard to find footage.

 

I've watched all the "Victory at Sea" episodes in the last couple weeks.... one or two each evening.

As I said earlier, search it, go to Wikipedia, scroll down and you can replay every one of the half-hour episodes.

They are a great synopsis of WWII.


There are some things they don't cover, for instance they show the Pelelieu invasion; how many, many of our Marines and Soldiers were lost. What they don't say, is that there was absolutely no reason to invade that island. Would have been OK to just leave it, cut off all supplies. It was not a threat. Read The Old Breed by Sledge. Watch "The Pacific" the series (Sledge is one of the characters).

 

It's an amazing series, done mainly for the enjoyment of the war veterans of the time and as propaganda to continue the navy funding.

I very much enjoy it, and the chorus of singers which is very nostalgic.

CBS did another series around the same time called "the 20th Century" which covered other parts of the war. Worth watching also.

The BBC series "the world at war" is also an excellent journal of WW2. It was done in the 60's and told a bit more about the failures in addition to the successes. I'm sure the concentration camp movies were the first time they were shown on TV. Horrifying.

 

Yes... realized that it was produced only 6 or so years after the end of WWII.

Some people may have seen themselves in the series... almost all gone, now.