Band Of Brothers/The Pacific (2001 – 2010/HBO Blu-ray Box Set)/WWII In HD: Collector’s Edition
(A&E/History Channel Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: B/B- Main Programs: B
In time
for holiday shopping, we have some previously released WWII titles previously
issued on Blu-ray with new extras and packaging.
HBO is
boldly offering a Band Of Brothers/The
Pacific Blu-ray Box Set in a nice boxed case and adding a never-before-seen
documentary that further expand on both dramatic mini-series. We have reviewed both in their original
Blu-ray release versions and you can read about both at the following links:
Band Of Brothers (2001)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8236/Band+Of+Brothers+(HBO+Blu-ray)
The Pacific (2010)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10602/The+Pacific+(2010/HBO+Blu-ray+Tin
Though
they are good mini-series, I am not as big a fan as my fellow writer is
thinking that these are more straight-forward narratives with unquestioning
writing than I would have liked, the kind that has placated lesser works (war
porn at worst) and a disturbing sense of conformity in the least. No doubt the shooting (stylized as it can be)
is good and sound mixes top rate, but technical proficiency is not enough and
despite the melodrama of Winds Of War and
War & Remembrance (both reviewed
elsewhere on this site), I find those series to have an edge in palpable
realism and a better sense of the time period they come from.
Though we
missed the original release, we now have WWII
In HD: Collector’s Edition, a four Blu-ray set that offers all 10 episodes
of the series on the first two discs and bonus program on the latter two discs:
The
Battle For Iwo Jima and WWII In HD: The Air War. As engrossing and interesting as any
mini-series on the subject, the makers (instead of colorizing black and white
footage, which always looks phony) found all the film, footage in authentic
color formats they could and managed to come up with all these shows. Some of the footage has never been seen
before and it is a one-of-a-kind program that works very well and is one of the
best such programs of so many we have seen to date. Gary Sinise narrates and it is definitely
worth your time to see.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image makes all the footage, no matter its
condition, look as good as it is ever going to.
The film formats here (there was no video format yet) range from 8mm and
9mm to 16mm, 35mm and possibly some other oddities. Also the color formats vary, especially since
Kodak and Agfa (for instance) had such different looks when they first
introduced color stocks, but even the way they were developed (among many
stocks) and the labs, kinds of labs, various lighting situations from country
to country and changes in stocks give you a wide range of color
throughout. There are still instances of
damaged footage and image issues in some cases, but these have been fixed up as
much as possible without spending millions of dollars so we have good copies of
all of these rare clips for good. DVD
could not deliver all that color range as well.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is a little better and richer than
the DTS-MA 2.0 Stereo version, but this is often silent or monophonic footage
with new stereo music and Sinise’s narration so do not expect Band Of Brothers or Pacific sound. They have done the best they could and this
does sound better overall versus the vast majority of such productions which
are sophisticated compilations.
Additional
extras in this great hardcase packaging include a foldout DigiPak holding the
discs include Character Profiles and two Behind-The-Scenes featurettes: Finding The Footage and Preserving The Footage.
- Nicholas Sheffo
