World War II - The Lost Color Archives
In the 1980s determined researchers began scouring the world for color  film shot during World War II, and the result of their quest is spectacular.  Seeing the war through the ubiquitous black-and-white footage has always made  the experience somewhat distant, but in clear, crisp color, the enormity of the  war and its horrors is startling and dramatic. Films of Nazi rallies are all the  more disturbing; a viewer seeing the scene in color realizes the massive crowds  saluting Hitler are no longer gray and faceless masses, but gatherings of well- dressed civilians. Color combat footage, from across Europe and the Pacific, is  frighteningly immediate, and some of it, showing the wounded, the dead, and even  prisoners being executed, will no doubt be disturbing for many viewers. Violence  and destruction on an unimaginable scale is vividly put on display, as are  smaller moments of soldiers smiling for the camera or liberated prisoners from  the concentration camps staring in pained bewilderment. The episodes, produced  by the History Channel, are introduced by veteran journalist Roger Mudd, and the  narration for each individual segment typically contains excerpts from letters  and diaries describing events close to those depicted in the film footage. The  footage used is of a surprisingly high quality (much of it was shot and stored  away, virtually unseen for decades), and it provides a stunning look at how the  war appeared to those fighting it.--Robert J. McNamara