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It has the usual format for these types of documentaries
- good narration, excellent experts, film footage and re-enactments
- but Napoleon: the Man, the Myth, the Legend offers the viewer
something most do not, and that is time.
Napoleon: the Man, the Myth, the Legend has the length to
be able to fill in many details on important matters and not
just say the bare facts, but has the experts go into little
anecdotes about incidents and give a broader insight into
what was going on in the period.
We should mention the experts include Professor Tim Blanning,
Professor Jeremy Black, J David Markham, Alan Rooney and Digby
Smith. These guys know their stuff and it is quite nice to
watch the different personal views of Bonaparte coming through.
The series has been broken up into six broad themes - The
Early Years, The Early Campaigns, Imperial Zenith, The Spanish
Ulcer, Disaster in Russia and Waterloo - The Final Curtain
- and this allows for a lot of connected information to be
easily absorbed. Click
here for series details.
Each episode features large-scale authentic battle reconstructions,
extracts from diaries, letters and memoirs, easy-to-follow
maps and graphics, as well as rare images.
If there is a slight moan to be made about Napoleon: the
Man, the Myth, the Legend it is the overuse of film footage
from Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace.
Just about every incident is backed up by scenes from that
great movie and, if everything were to do with Austerlitz
or the 1812 Invasion of Russia that would be fine. But to
have the narrator talk about executing plotters while showing
the scene where Moscow's incendiaries are being shot is stretching
it a little.
Even for people, like myself, who know a little bit about
the era the Napoleon: the Man, the Myth, the Legend series
offers many new things of interest. Little reminders of things
you might have read and had forgotten, or reminders to go
and investigate the issues a bit more deeply.
One would suggest this is a must-have for history teachers
and Napoleonic buffs alike. Just perfect for the home library
- when all that is on offer on the Idiot Box is dross.
This six-DVD boxset boasts an excellent transfer.
Conclusion: Movie 90% Extras 60%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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