It’s eerie how the simple addition of color can utterly transform our notions of the past. The restoration of color to World War II takes it from a remote, starkly defined monument into an immediate, vibrant, contemporary experience. It’s at once more shocking and more beautiful. Enough experimental color footage (digitally restored) was filmed by US, German, and Japanese photographers to provide this amazing three-hour account of the war from all sides. This is how the participants of Europe and the Pacific saw it. Their words and letters form the narration for this British product. Disturbing though it is, this is the version that one wants to remember of the last world war.

— KK

World War II - The Lost Color Archives
Produced by The History Channel
1999, 165 minutes
$15, DVD

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