Cold War (TV series)
- ️Sun Sep 27 1998
Cold War is a twenty-four episode television documentary series about the Cold War that first aired in 1998.[1] It features interviews and footage of the events that shaped the tense relationships between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The series was produced by Pat Mitchell and Jeremy Isaacs, who had earlier in 1973 produced the World War II documentary series The World at War in a similar style. Ted Turner funded the series as a joint production between the Turner Broadcasting System and the BBC. It was first broadcast on CNN in the United States between September 27, 1998, and April 4, 1999,[2] and BBC Two in the United Kingdom. Writers included Hella Pick, Jeremy Isaacs, Lawrence Freedman, Neal Ascherson, Hugh O'Shaughnessy and Germaine Greer. Kenneth Branagh was the narrator, and Carl Davis (who also collaborated with Isaacs with The World at War) composed the theme music. Each episode would feature historical footage and interviews from both significant figures and others who had witnessed particular events.
After the series was broadcast it was released as a set of twelve (NTSC) or eight (PAL) VHS cassettes.[1]
The series was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on May 8, 2012, in North America.[3] The archival footage has been cropped for widescreen presentation instead of being left in the original format [4]
Each episode lasts approximately 46 minutes.
The VHS version is formatted with 4:3 aspect ratio, common for CRT television sets. The interviews are cropped on the sides to fit television screen.
The DVD version is formatted with 16:9 aspect ratio, suitable for widescreen television sets. The archival film is cropped on top and bottom to achieve wider aspect ratio.
- Lowinsky, Benjamin D. "The CNN Series on the Cold War: History as Narrative and Entertainment" (Review). Left History, Vol. 6, No. 1, March 1998, pp. 101–107. doi:10.25071/1913-9632.5364.
- Beichman, Arnold, ed. CNN's Cold War Documentary: Issues and Controversy. Hoover Institution, 2000.
- ^ a b "Episode 1: Comrades, 1917-1945". CNN: Cold War. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008.
- ^ "Cold War". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 October 2000. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "Warner Home Video Press Release: Cold War". hometheaterforum.com, May 8, 2012. Archived from the original.
- ^ "DVD Review: Cold War - The Complete Series". moviefreak.com, May 15, 2012. Archived from the original.
- CNN official website for the series (2014 version)
- CNN official website for the series (original 1998 version, archived by the Wayback Machine)
- The Cold War over CNN's Cold War, Richard Pipes, Robert Conquest and John Lewis Gaddis debate the accuracy of the series in this Hoover Institute publication.
- Cold War at IMDb
- All episodes at the Internet Archive
- Extended interviews at the National Security Archive.