- Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, Dolby, NTSC
- Language: English, Spanish
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 7
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Shout Factory / Vivendi V
- Release Date: Dec 17 2007
- Run Time: 914 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0000C238U
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#3,392 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
- #1 in DVD > Special Interests > Sports > Soccer
- #4 in DVD > Special Interests > Sports > Boxed Sets
- #8 in DVD > Special Interests > Sports > Documentary
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Product Description
Amazon.com Essential Video
The entire history of the world's favorite game? It's an extraordinary challenge that could go have gone horribly wrong, but History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game is a class act. It boasts top-drawer production values, including narration by Terence Stamp, access to everybody who has really mattered in the game, ever, plus loads of famous, rare, and never-seen-before footage, each volume offering a blend of narrative, action, and illuminating interviews. This is a polished product: part celebration, part commemoration, but always with a sharp investigative sense, digging around the misty-eyed, good ol' days tradition, to explore in the company of those interviewed the reality behind some of soccer's myths and legends.
The breadth of enquiry is naturally impressive, as is the narrative structure, but it's the deft handling of the subplots that really sets this apart, including: analysis of the dominant club sides such as Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Milan (volume 2); the evolution of Brazil (volume 3); the superstar casualties, like Maradona and Garrincha (volume 5); football as an agent of social control in Victorian England (volume 1); the revolution in French football that created the 1998 World Champions (volume 4); and the failure, so far, of Africa to fulfil Pele's famous World Cup prediction (volume 6). There's so little material here that isn't memorable that it's difficult to pick highlights, but action aside (and it's hard to think of an historically important game that isn't featured), an emotional Maradona exposing the "conspiracy" that fixed the 1990 World Cup final (volume 2) is an unforgettable slice of soccer culture.
History of Soccer on DVD comes complete with a heap of extras (between 33 and 54 minutes' worth per volume) including, across the set, every single goal from every World Cup Final game; extended interviews with the likes of Pele, Maradona, Zidane, and Bobby Charlton; loads of "first-ever-recorded-on-film" material including the 1907 England-Scotland game; text-only biographies of the major interviewees; extended tournament highlights of past European Championships, African Nations Cups, World Club Championships, Asian Cups, and, of course, World Cup Finals. The picture itself is presented in widescreen, and there's a Spanish-language track plus an Easter egg of additional hidden material in every volume. --Alex Hankin
Video Details
With the U.S. making an unbelievable showing in last years World Cup and Beckham controlling the mass media, soccer, more than ever has been dominating the sporting news. Millions of people in the U.S., from soccer families to International transplants are obsessed with soccer - the most popular participation sport in the U.S. and the most popular sport to watch and play worldwide.
Through exclusive interviews and unparalleled footage, this fantastic new seven DVD series provides both an in depth study for avid soccer fans and an enjoyable overview for new converts. It's exhilarating, passionate, glorious, inspiring, fantastic... it's frustrating, demanding, painful, violent, even tragic. A win can produce a mood of near-religious euphoria. A loss can plunge an entire nation into mourning.
Every society is affected by soccer and History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game provides an unrivalled insight into why soccer is so important to so many people across the world. Fans throughout the country can celebrate the international story of the game with this ground-breaking new documentary History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game, the definitive story of the world's greatest sport.
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Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lopsided,
By Django "mbigggggzzz" (Garland, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: History Of Soccer: The Beautiful Game: Vol. 1-7 (DVD)
Less a history of soccer than the title would suggest, this documentary on DVD is more a chronologically-minded discussion of football topics and polemics rather than pure history, and one that manages to say very little over the course of seven discs. Jarringly repetitive, it will, for instance mention a topic or event on several episodes, each time going a different level of depth into the topic, leading to a feeling of deja-vu for the viewer. I kept wishing this were done by Ken Burns. Then we'd get a feel for the personalities of the sport, something which this cold, distant HOS series fails to do, as well as good highlights, another thing HOS gives in surprisingly little amounts.Along with an annoyingly Anglo-centric view of the game (Britain seems to be brought up one way or another in every episode, even for the most tangential of references), there is also a strange preoccupation with Indian football. India gets two whole segments in this series, over twenty minutes of airtime for a nation that isn't anywhere close to challenging anyone for anything in world football. The extras amount to nothing but unnarrated, oftentimes confusing footage collected under a specific heading, but otherwise viewable elsewhere in the series. Also, if a team didn't reach a major final, they aren't talked about. There is no mention of the Bulgarians at USA 94. No mention of Steaua Bucharest's unlikely penalty shootout win over Barcelona in 86. Many other quality events like this are missing. Instead the series focuses on topics that are often boring, such as devoting an entire hour to the bureaucratic history of FIFA. Yawn. Overall, somewhat of a disappointment. Not worth the price.
3.0 out of 5 stars
inconsistent,
By
This review is from: History Of Soccer: The Beautiful Game: Vol. 1-7 (DVD)
First saw this on TV and thought it amazing. Watched it on DVD and not so much. The extras are not superb. Some are great but why the clips of European Championship Finals end at 1976 is beyond me.The focus in some episodes on minor areas like soccer in India is bizarre. Overall, it is great to watch but given the YouTube era where so many better clips are available, you're really just buying something for the neophyte who needs an overview of how soccer became huge. Enough with the interview clips and more game action, please.
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE BEST EVER-------ALTHOUGH SOMEWHAT BIASED,
This review is from: History Of Soccer: The Beautiful Game: Vol. 1-7 (DVD)
This is an excellent box set to have in any genre. The documentary format has it's limits but the access and footage shown is something the vast majority of us will never be able to see anywhere else. To hear the inside stories and political inflections done by the game's greatest players is heartwarming and at the same time endearing; this underlies our commanility as humans. a 7- disc box set - this feels almost as though it's for the novice fan, but if you're like me, you simply want to have a digital copy of the greatest moments to happen in the greatest sport. the only bad thing i can say about this is that there is not nearly enough focus on the truly great football nations in the world---instead focusing too much on the American, african and british perspective(not to mention India?!?!?!?) the price was right - but if you want to see real football JUST WATCH SOME SOUTH AMERICAN SOCCER TERENCE STAMP DOES A GREAT JOB IN NARRATION - CAN'T ASK FOR BETTER ONE DAY I'M GONNA SHARE THIS WITH MY GRANDCHILDREN
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