Unknown War, The

Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: 5/24/2011
Director: Isaac Kleinerman, Roman Karmen
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Adolf Hitler
Year: 1978
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The Series:

In 1978, an American/Soviet co-production went into production to document the Soviet's struggle against the Nazi's in Second World War. This all happened just a the Cold War was hitting full swing and it was then pretty much immediately pulled off the air and not really ever seen again. Narrated by Burt Lancaster and titled The Unknown War, the series ran for twenty full episodes and featured music and scripting by Rod McKuen, who frequently collaborated with different Russian musicians to give the series an authentic sound.

The series is primarily made up of archival footage, almost all of which was shot out in the field during combat and is, as such, maybe not always in the best of shape but it does a great job of putting is in the time and place where this all occurred. Then narration gives us the right context so that we are able to understand not only the military maneuvers that took place and wound up getting the Nazi's out of the Soviet Union but, also to understand the politics behind much of this. The series is surprisingly frank in its approach and it definitely favors the Soviet side of the war (which is likely why, when the Soviets went into Afghanistan in 1978 the series was buried - wouldn't want anyone sympathizing with the enemy!) and as it plays out we get a look at the various players who helped call the shots on both sides and we get a look at the major events that would eventually rewrite history as we know it.

Here we see land battles, sea battles, air battles, we see cities laid to waste and we see the German Blitzkrieg unleashed. We see Guerilla Warfare and we see the limited Allied involvement in the conflict.

The episodes that make up the complete series of The Unknown War are as follows:

Disc One:
June 22, 1941 / The Battle For Moscow / The Siege Of Leningrad / To The East

Disc Two:
The Defense Of Stalingrad / Survival At Stalingrad / The World's Greatest Tank Battle / War In The Arctic

Disc Three:
War In The Air / Partisans: The Guerilla War / The Battle Of The Seas / Battle For The Caucasus

Disc Four:
The Liberation Of The Ukraine / The Liberation Of Belorussia / From The Balkans To Vienna / The Liberation Of Poland

Disc Five:
The Allies / The Battle Of Berlin / The Last Battle Of The Unknown War / A Solider Of The Unknown War

The series more or less follows the entire conflict from start to finish and in chronological order. Watching it from a present day perspective it's interesting to see how much has changed in that part of the world and how much has stayed the same. History certainly has a way of making series' like this dated very quickly, but the value of something like The Unknown War comes not from its timeliness but from its ability to document what was. The sheer amount of archival footage seen throughout the twenty episodes, roughly twenty hours of material in total, is staggering and much of it had never been seen before this show aired.

Most of the footage was taken from Soviet film archives and so the series does tend to slant that way a little bit simply because it has to and as such it tends to overlook a lot of the rather horrible things that the Soviets did in favor of making them out to be nobler than perhaps they were. The series doesn't go into what really happened once Stalin took control and the horrors that he perpetuated on his people the way that it should have. It's also interesting to see how, when the Germans invaded Russia in 1941, they really didn't quite know what they were getting into, which contrasts with other invasions in continental Europe in which they proved to be pretty much unstoppable. While the end result is hardly unbiased, it's nevertheless a fascinating time capsule of sorts.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Each of the twenty episodes in the series is presented in its original fullframe aspect ratio. Aside from the intro footage with Burt Lancaster, the rest of the series is pretty much made up of old archival footage shot during the Second World War, so it's only going to look so good. On top of that, it doesn't appear that the elements for the series were in the best of shape and the transfers are all interlaced. Everything is watchable enough, but keep your expectations in check and don't expect anything too fancy in the video department for this release, because it isn't going to happen.

The only audio option for the series is an English language Dolby Digital Mono mix and for the most part it's fine. There's a bit of hiss here and there but aside from that there are no problems to report. The levels are well balanced and Lancaster's stoic narration is mixed in well against McKuen's music.

As far as the extras are concerned, there's a lengthy interview here with Rod McKuen in which he discusses his appreciation of what was done with this series before detailing his collaborations with various Russian musicians, why Lancaster was chosen for the part, where much of the archival footage came from and more. The amiable McKuen has a pretty sharp memory and actually has a lot more to say about this series and its legacy than you might expect. Also included in the set is an interview with Willard Sunderland, an Associate Professor of Russian History at the University of Cincinnati, in which he lends some historical insight and analysis to the series. Each of the five discs in the set sits inside its own slim case and contains menus and episode selection options.

The Final Word:

While the presentation isn't going to take home any awards, it's great to see this nearly forgotten series made available on DVD. The content is as fascinating as it is grim and it's presented in such a way that it's never dry, never dull. Shout! Factory even gathered up a few decent extras too, to add some critical insight and context to the series. World War II aficionados and history buffs know they need this.