James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck [Import]

I had seen this show on Discovery Chsnnel and enjoyed it so much that I just had to have the DVD. And it won't dissapoint the amatuer historian in all of us. This DVD deliversore that what was expected. A must have in anyones collection. History brought to life like no other way before.

for the most pat,this documentary is pretty decent viewing.it's mainly
about the German juggernaut war ship Bismark and it's sinking.it gives
a bit of a brief history of the ship.the some battle scenes are
shown,many computer animated.the ship is shown as it sinks int the
water under a barrage of British fire from most of the British
fleet.meanwhile James Cameron and his crew prepare to explore the
wreckage of the ship on the sea floor,using two submersibles.the
footage of the ship 61 years almost to the day that it was sunk is
pretty impressive.you get a real idea of how massive and well built the
ship was.Cameron's crew were also able to enter the ship through many
different holes,some caused by enemy artillery.you get an idea of what
the inside of the was like.along with Cameron and company are two
survivors of the sinking.there are a few things I didn't like here.one
is that they never really had the two survivors relate much of their
story,which would have been nice.another thing is i felt it took too
long to get to the point where they were exploring the wreckage.also
instead of letting the viewing just enjoy what they are
seeing,sometimes Cameron and crew throw in some "ooh" and "ahh"
comments.the documentary focuses a bit too much on the scientists and
the technicians,which is not really interesting.there are a few scenes
i thought they could have left out,which had very little to do with
anything.other than that,though,it wasn't too bad.the computer
animation was outstanding.i should qualify this by saying that this
version is a two disc set,which contains special features.one of the
feature is called Behind the Scenes,which has a featurette entitled
Survivors.i haven't watched any of the features,but this one presumably
focuses on the two survivors who are with the expedition.how in depth,i
don't know.either way,though that footage should have been included in
the actual feature.for me Expedition Bismark is a 3/5

Being a history buff and interested in sunken ships, I had missed the television showing of this film on the Discovery Channel due to other commitments. So I ordered the DVD and anxiously awaited its release to that format. Rewatching it recently, I have to say it is mildly disappointing. The underwater footage is excellent, but there isn't enough of it. The history of the ship and sinking is decent, but not extensive. The recreations are well made, but at times out of place. The interviews with survivors pretty moving and helpful, but don't add as much as pure narration could have. Some of the questions about the sinking and final fate of the ship are brought up ambiguously and, apparently resolved, yet not convincingly and in an anti-climatic fashion. Overall, I didn't get the amount of pure footage of the sunken ship that I expected. The bonus materials on the second disc are essentially worthless. The main complaint? More underwater footage was needed to make this worthwhile.