During the 1964 to 1965 season, there was only one show that was more acclaimed than Slattery's People or Profiles in Courage. Not surprisingly, it was also the only show, other than news specials, to be a bigger flop than either. Weirdly, unlike James Moser's and Richard Crenna's masterpiece or the superb Profiles in Courage, it is not hard to find on DVD. It was World War One, a documentary produced by CBS News, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the onset of the War That Was Supposed To End All Wars. I have seen individual episodes on The Battle Of Jutland and The little-known Italian campaign- a campaign which featured Hemingway, Wittgenstein, Rommel, Edward the Seventh, Mussolini Pope John The 23rd, and even Fiorello LaGuardia among its participants- and they are nothing short of brilliant. Using superbly edited contemporary footage and a remarkably literate narration by Robert Ryan, as well as featuring magnificent music by Morton Gould, this puts most modern war documentaries to shame. It belongs on The History Channel, or better, The War Channel.
Review of World War One
