From
best-selling author Herman Wouk comes the TV miniseries of his
novel “The Winds of War,” a broad, sweeping story that follows the
historical events leading to the declaration of war by America on
Japan in World War II through the experiences of one American
family.
The story centers
on the patriarch of this family, U.S. Navy Commander Victor "Pug"
Henry (Mitchum), who travels around the world to the various nations
involved in this brewing war through his naval posts and his advisory
role with the President, Franklin D Roosevelt. At one point, he is the
Naval attaché in Berlin
just before the German occupation of Poland
and he has private conversations with Hitler and his various
commanders, and at another point in the story he is the president’s
advisor in England and works closely with Winston Churchill as Britain
declares war on Germany.
The story revolves
around all these nations in conflict and it also delves into the lives
of Pug’s family (his wife and his three grown children) and how the
war and this tumultuous time is affecting and shaping their lives.
This an epic, globe spanning film that goes into great detail on the
events that lead up to World War II and the effects it had on one
American naval family.
CRITIQUE
Herman Wouk’s
The Winds of War is a classic, entertaining and engaging
miniseries with strong performances, brilliant dialogue, and a
unique, broad story. The genius of this film is that it manages to
seamlessly mix the detailed historical events leading to war and
motivations of the leaders of all these nations with an engaging
family drama following the lives of each member of this family,
giving a taste of what it was like during these times.
The film flows back
and forth between narrations of all the important events leading to
World War II to all the experiences of all the main characters. And
centering the film around Pug Henry is a brilliant strategy. Pug,
being the confidant of the president, is involved in one way or
another in all the important events of this time and has a backstage
pass to learn the personality and motivations of all these famous
leaders.
Mitchum is just an
absolute perfect choice for Pug; his presence, strength and classic
acting ability bring an added level to all of the historical
proceedings and adds an even stronger level of emotion when he shows
his humanity and warmth with his family and friends. And when he’s
having a close, personal conversation with one of our nation’s
greatest presidents or is face to face with Hitler himself, you can’t
help but be absolutely riveted. These scenes carry so much weight that
is a welcome diversion when the story flows back to the developing
family drama. It is a delicate balance to maintain, but the film works
it perfectly.
The acting is (for
the most part) top notch, Mitchum is as good as it gets in the role of
Pug and the supporting cast of historical figures (the actors who
portray Hitler, FDR, Mussolini, Churchill, etc.) are just terrific and
spot on. The rest of the cast that rounds out the family ranges from
average to very average. Polly Bergen as Pug’s wife is at first a bit
grating and over the top, but she begins to settle down half way
through the film and she just gets stronger as the film winds down.
This is almost the
exact same way I would describe Jan-Michael Vincent as Pug’s son
Byron. In the first few parts of the film, he is trying too hard to be
the bad son that it’s almost laughable and awkward; but once the hard
truths of war affect his character he also settles nicely into the
character. One of the other main characters is Ali MacGraw’s Natalie,
Byron’s love interest through the film. MacGraw is the main problem I
had with the film. Her acting style just does not jive with the rest
of the cast. Her scenes are range from truly awful to barely
passable. She is terribly miscast and it hurts the film as a whole, as
her character is an important one and she has a lot of screen
time. Overall, the cast is great (especially the cast in the
historical scenes) with just one glaring exception.
For history buffs
and fans of strong, old-fashioned family drama, The Winds of War
will not disappoint. It is one of the best TV mini-series I’ve seen,
it keeps you riveted and coming back for more (be aware that the film
runs over fourteen hours). I’m a big fan of war films and I was
pleased with the level of detail and time spent on the historical
events and motivations of these brilliant and flawed leaders that lead
to the out break of World War II. And the successful mix of history
and family drama, make this a unique and brilliant film. It really is
too bad that some of the casting choices were so poor.
THE VIDEO
Unfortunately,
there is absolutely no doubt that this is an old TV mini-series
and that Paramount Home Video did not spend a great deal of time
and money on the edition, the transfer is not very pretty. It is
extremely grainy at times. It also has major lighting balance
problems (there are times you can’t even see the actors in the
scene because of the glare from the daylight in a window), and it
has spots and lines every so often. It really is a testimony to
the film that it remains as engaging and watchable as it is with
so many visual clarity problems. It’s a shame these problems
couldn’t be worked out with the transfer to DVD, Paramount didn’t
give this film the attention it deserved.
THE AUDIO
Paramount
presents the film in Dolby Digital sound, but you’d never know
it. The sound is quite poor. The dialogue is unclear at times and
the background noise is sometimes so unbalanced you can’t make out
a word the actors are saying.
THE EXTRAS
The extras
are a bit of a disappointment, almost all of them (Making
The Winds of War, A Novel for Television) involve
the director endlessly boasting about how hard the shoot was and
how many locations they used. What I would have liked to see was
some historical extras on this amazing point in history and also
some more discussion with the actors (especially those who
portrayed these famous historical figures). Instead, it is just
endless talk about the difficult and broad shoot from director
Dan Curtis.
The only somewhat
interesting extra is On Location, which is basically a home
video of Ali MacGraw at the various locations around the world where
they were filming meeting the people and so forth. It has some
interesting moments. And I truly wished they had an extra on Robert
Mitchum, who is just so tremendous in the role as Pug. It is his
acting that keeps you riveted through the massive running time.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Herman Wouk’s
The Winds of War is a brilliantly conceived, sweeping epic with
engaging performances (Robert Mitchum in one of his best roles) and an
entertaining and unique story filled with history and family drama. If
you are a fan of old-fashioned wartime drama and find this time in
history interesting, this is one to watch. Although, be prepared for
the over fourteen hours of film. But it’s worth it.
