Need war movies? Well, Columbia-Tristar is obliging with two boxed sets to catch you up to speed in no time. And considering the price point for each is around $40 for three movies with some bonus bits, it’s not a bad deal. And as you can very quickly ascertain, we’re talking about the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, hence the cover art you see before you there.
Each set comes with three movies each. What’s odd is that they’re both simply called “WWII 60th Anniversary Collection,” leaving you to look at colors and/or movie titles to keep the two apart. For our purposes, and because we’re lazy typists, let’s stick with colors, shall we? The “green” collection comes with The Guns of Navarone, From Here to Eternity, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. In addition to a collectible movie scrapbook, it comes with a bonus programs from the History Channel: “Weapons of War: The Fighting Leathernecks of WWII.” The three films come with their own features as well, which, from what we can gather, are the same bonuses that came with the individual releases. Guns comes with an intro/welcome from the producer, a director’s audio commentary, a retrospective docu and more. Eternity comes with a commentary–not by the director but by the director’s son and a friend of the director–along with a featurette and more. Bridge comes with talent files.
Next is the “blue” collection, sporting Das Boot, Anzio, and The Caine Mutiny. It too comes with a scrapbook and a docu on U-boats called “Dead Men’s Secrets: The Secrets of the Sea Wolves.” Das Boot is the director’s cut of the film, which comes with an extra hour of footage, plus a making-of docu. Neither Anzio nor Mutiny, however, have any features.
Like I said, if you need to play catch up on war movies, then feel free to dive in. You get four discs in the space-friendly slimline cases plus a nice smattering of bonus stuff. Boxed sets can save you when it comes to holiday gift-giving. Trust us on that.
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Buy the green collection with The Guns of Navarone, From Here to Eternity, and The Bridge on the River Kwai from Amazon.
Buy the blue collection with Das Boot, Anzio, and Caine Mutiny from Amazon.