AllMovie

This four-part World War II overview consists entirely of color footage, supplemented by readings from letters, speeches and news dispatches. Part 1: "Infamy" (1919-42) opens with rare (and muddy) color clips of a World War I victory parade in Paris. It's the only celebrating seen in the hour, which turns quickly to the rise of the Nazis and the threat from Japan in the Pacific. In California, U.S. cavalry forces are seen in training in 1938. And in New Jersey, children at a German Bund camp "breathe the spirit of the new Germany." No color footage of Pearl Harbor is said to exist, but there are scenes of its aftermath, filmed by a crew working for director John Ford. Martin Sheen narrates.