Eric Paddon
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2001
- Messages
- 1,166
Back in the 1980s, CBS News used to offer through mail order only two lengthy documentary series, "World War II With Walter Cronkite" and "The Vietnam War With Walter Cronkite". The former was re-edited episodes of the 50s CBS series "The 20th Century" dealing with WWII with new intros by Cronkite, while the Vietnam series had Cronkite introducing vintage CBS News feature stories dealing with the Vietnam war. Each series was an expensive investment for history buffs at the time with 14 tapes for WWII and 11 tapes (later 14) for the Vietnam War series.
Marathon Music And Video is now offering these vintage VHS history series on DVD. I picked up the Vietnam War series, and it is nice to be able to dispose of 11 of the tapes in my VHS set and have these 11 episodes on three DVDs, with none of the original program content edited (such as host Cronkite's reference to this being part of a series of videocassettes). The three installments that were added after the original release of the series, "A Nation Divided", "Morley Safer's Vietnam" and "The Wall Within" are not included in this DVD package but the latter two were the worst installments of the series and are no great loss.
The "World War II With Walter Cronkite" series is in two separate boxed sets, one dealing with European war episodes, the other with the Pacific war. Each of these sets are $35 and IMO are an absolute bargain for history buffs and for those of us who remember well how expensive it was to assemble these series through the mail over a two year period (in the tradition of a Time-Life book series).
MMV has also released another vintage CBS News home video documentary, "Desert Triumph" which CBS released on VHS in 1991 just after the first Gulf War offering an overview of that conflict with CBS News coverage. The four hour program that was on three VHS tapes is now on a single DVD for just $20 and is also worth having.
I'm glad to see that CBS has remembered those of us who purchased these series way back when and are making them avaialable again in a more convenient home video format.
Marathon Music And Video is now offering these vintage VHS history series on DVD. I picked up the Vietnam War series, and it is nice to be able to dispose of 11 of the tapes in my VHS set and have these 11 episodes on three DVDs, with none of the original program content edited (such as host Cronkite's reference to this being part of a series of videocassettes). The three installments that were added after the original release of the series, "A Nation Divided", "Morley Safer's Vietnam" and "The Wall Within" are not included in this DVD package but the latter two were the worst installments of the series and are no great loss.
The "World War II With Walter Cronkite" series is in two separate boxed sets, one dealing with European war episodes, the other with the Pacific war. Each of these sets are $35 and IMO are an absolute bargain for history buffs and for those of us who remember well how expensive it was to assemble these series through the mail over a two year period (in the tradition of a Time-Life book series).
MMV has also released another vintage CBS News home video documentary, "Desert Triumph" which CBS released on VHS in 1991 just after the first Gulf War offering an overview of that conflict with CBS News coverage. The four hour program that was on three VHS tapes is now on a single DVD for just $20 and is also worth having.
I'm glad to see that CBS has remembered those of us who purchased these series way back when and are making them avaialable again in a more convenient home video format.
