On Tue, 05 Jun 2018 07:03:03 -0400, John H.
wrote:

I'm up to the eighth episode of about 26. Have to admit the Netflix "World War II in Color" is much
better. "Victory at Sea" seems to have been produced to build morale, not be a documentary of the
war. Much time spent on ships going across the water and main guns firing. Actually just a lot of
wasted time where the narrator says nothing.

That's not to say it isn't enjoyable. It is. But I found the Netflix version much more so.

Victory at Sea is mostly a showcase for Richard Rodgers' music. At the
time it was seen as a real masterpiece tho. My dad had access to it on
16MM film, borrowed from the navy and we sat around a neighbor's house
and watched the whole thing, one reel a night. (all he could bring
home at one time). That was before TV was a thing and it was really
cool for 7-10 year old boys. We usually watched each reel several
times. They were probably only 15 minutes long but it seemed like it
was a lot.
It is interesting how much of that video footage shows up as B roll in
other productions tho. That shot of the destroyer vectoring across a
periscope shot has shown up in everything from 50s and 60s sub movies
to McHale's Navy.
The same is true of most of that old WWII footage.
They really love that shot of the German soldier walking down the road
carrying the STG44 and they use it a lot, even in scenes depicting
time before the gun was designed.