Don't Let the Cheesy Packaging Fool You!
"Silent Victory" is terrific! It is a well-produced, professional effort, a great documentary betrayed by terrible packaging! I'm guessing this twin-pack (also featuring another winner, "Devil Boat, the Saga of PT 658") is available at "Big Box" electronics stores with other "shut-up" or "impulse-buy" DVDs and had I encountered it there my response would likely have been "nah!" and walk away, the previous and enthusiastic review had me ordering this right away. As I said, this is a remarkably professional effort, the writing, direction, and editing are all top notch and the original film employed is fantastic! There is much use of really well-preserved color as well as clean black & white footage. The music is complementary and unobtrusive, the scripting accurate and concise and the animated graphics are also well done! Interspersed within the film are "on-camera" anecdotes by many veteran submariners, including USS TANG survivor Jesse DaSilva and even some pilots, including Alex M...
I was hoping for a little more, but.......
The DVD about submarines lasted for 94 minutes - the DVD about the PT boat lasted 66 minutes. While the story of the PT boat was fairly interesting, I could have done without it - if that meant more time had been devoted just to subs. Like another reviewer, I would have liked more coverage of sub construction and layout. I learned some things, but I had been expecting more. I don't regret buying it, though.
Update: I just lent the discs to a sub vet from WWII (Pacific theater). He was most appreciative, and said it was the best documentary about subs that he had ever seen. He even recognized some of the people who were in the interviews. So I just changed my rating from four stars to five.
Fantastic viewing for sub nuts
If you are interested in American submarine warfare in the Pacific during WWII don't hesitate to buy this DVD. I was a little put off by the cover art, the low price, and the fact it was bundled with a DVD about PT Boats. Now that I have watched the video I can't believe I waited so long to order. There is a significant amount of color footage of the fleet boats in action, outstanding commentary by WWII sub vets (including Ron "Warshot" Smith, Jesse DaSilva, Ken Ruiz, among many others), and the maps and graphics are as good as anything on The History Channel. More than anything else, however, I appreciate the fact that it describes the evolution of both operations and doctrine over the course of the war - a really comprehensive overview of the service history, warts and all (the "skipper problem", the torpedo scandal, materiel limitations, etc). You can probably tell from my glowing review that I give this DVD an enthusiastic "thumbs up"!
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