Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #545 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-22
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 598 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A genuinely epic achievement, the 10-part World War II drama Band of Brothers is a television series that makes big-screen Hollywood war movies look small in comparison. Based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, the series follows the US 101st Airborne Division's "Easy" E-Company from initial training through D-Day and across Holland, Belgium, Germany and Austria until the end of the war. Coproduced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series take its initial inspiration from Saving Private Ryan and borrows that film's visceral visual approach to combat scenes using hand-held camerawork and de-saturated photography. But where Band of Brothers excels is in its scrupulous attention to the realities of military life (retired US Marine Captain Dale Dye, who also co-stars, is the man to credit). After the high drama of the parachute drop on D-Day, Easy's greatest trial comes during the Battle of the Bulge, when they are besieged at Bastogne in the depths of winter. In one of the most harrowing and credible depictions of war ever committed to film we see the men enduring the repeated artillery attacks of the German forces and experience, if only vicariously, some of the sheer terror of the assault, while being humbled by the soldiers' courage and determination. Such feelings are enhanced by the series' masterstroke--bookend interviews with the surviving members of Easy Company, who talk with barely suppressed emotion of the experiences we see recreated. The endorsement of these veterans elevates Band of Brothers beyond any mere "war film"--its extraordinary achievement is that it shows the horror and savagery of war without gloss or jingoism, and yet celebrates the fraternal bonds and dogged heroism of the men who fought.

On the DVD: Band of Brothers arrives handsomely packaged in a six-disc commemorative tin, with disc 6 containing all the extras, the meatiest of which is the marvellous 80-minute documentary "We Stand Alone Together" about the real men of Easy Company. There's also a first-rate, genuinely interesting 30-minute "making of" feature about actor boot camp, visual effects and blowing up fake trees among many other things. This is complemented by actor Ron Livingston's revealing Video Diaries of boot camp. Additionally there's a "Who's Who" section and footage of the HBO premiere at Utah Beach, plus a TV spot for car company Jeep. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews

Band of Brilliance
This is an absolutely superb series. Delivered brilliantly, its very difficult to know where to start. The visuals are awesome, the writing is outstanding, acting is superb and the entire series is gripping. Set in WW2 following easy company through various scenarios/missions and settings. Its clear that massive effort has gone into this series producing a truly world class end product. There is a range of scenery, each shot brilliantly. There is not, in my opinion, an over reliance on CGI and it feels unbelievably real. This box set is a snip at £35 and would make anyone interested in this type of genre a very happy individual. I would imagine that most dads in particular would find this a welcome addition to the DVD rack. Buy it as it is money well spent.

The greatest tv series of all time
I really cant stress quite how amazing this series is... Its completely and utterly flawless; Everything from the casting, down to the post production. Hanks and Spielberg truly out do themselves, making every single episode appear like a high budget film, sucking you in and making you endure every single ricochet bullet and exploding artillery shell.
Im personally sick of seeing films and programs consistently portraying World War II being won by the Yanks, but this is one exception. Not only does it feel uniquely like the story its coming straight from veteran's mouths, but a large amount of the cast are British!

Lovely jubbley

Utter brilliance
This is one of the top 10 war movie productions ever made.
Follow the lives of Easy company from the training grounds in USA , England , France , Holland and Germany.

Filmed with great realism ( second to saving private Ryan ) and with an outstanding direction each episode could have been a war movie on its own , so what you get in this boxset is 6 great war movies.

The extras and production notes are worth watching but the best part are the interviews to the living soldiers.

This guys deserve a lot of respect and I was very much impressed with the quality of picture and sound in this epic war collection.

More please