War and Remembrance: The Complete Epic Mini-Series

An Epic
To those who stumble upon War and Remembrance, watching this series is somewhat difficult if you haven't seen Winds of War, the first part of the story. It too is available on DVD and I highly recommend getting it. Otherwise there are just enough in-jokes and previous references that you'll get confused. So if you go on, I'll assume that you've either seen or read Winds of War and will know what I'm talking about.

War and Remembrance is essentially a history lesson that's told dramatically. The lesson, of course, is about the second part of World War II, the part that the United States was most actively involved in. That's the strength of the series, how well it deals with the history, and of showing the viewpoints of American, Russian, and German officers, and American, British, and German politicians. You saw all the sides in this, and the lesson was much the better for it. Were the points a bit obvious at times? Of course, but when you spend the kind of money...

Good Sequel, not Great
After 18 hours of "Winds of War (WW)," it's hard to be brief about the 30-hour sequel, "War and Remembrance (W & R)." Both works were written by Herman Wouk and directed by Dan Curtis. Other reviewers have been so critical of the sequel, mainly with cast changes, that you find yourself dwelling on faults. But the fact is WW was finished in 1983; W & R was produced 5 years later. So the two works couldn't really use the same cast.

To begin with, criticism of "W & R" seems out of proportion. No, "W & R" is not better than "WW." But we wonder what else people could have expected. Nazi brutality and glimpses of the holocaust may have been overdone, but that's how the author and the director wanted them. Moreover, we believe fault-finding about some performers, notably Jane Seymour and Robert Mitchum is just not fair. In our view, Jane does a marvelous job playing Natalie Jastrow Henry--probably better than Alie MacGraw had she reprised the role. (By the time of this...

Superb Mini Series
"War and Remembrance" is the sequel to the mini-series, "The Winds of War". Both mini-series were based on the novels of the same name by Herman Wouk. "War and Remembrance" follows the stories of the extended Henry family. Robert Mitchum stars as Pug Henry in both programs, but he was 71 years old when he made "War and Remembrance" and was too old to be believable as a Navy Captain. However, the producers and director wanted to keep him in the series, not only because he is a fine actor, but also because he was from that WWII generation and brought gravitas to the role and to the series. Ali Macgraw from "The Winds of War" was replaced in the role as Brian Henry's wife by Jane Seymour in "War and Remembrance". A fortuitous replacement. The role of Brian Henry is played by Hart Bochner, who replaced Jan Michel Vincent. Both Seymour and Bochner bring much finer acting skills to the screen than the two previous actors. The viewer will need to have watched "The Winds of War"...

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