World War II - When Lions Roared | 
| Director: Joseph Sargent
Actors: Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, John Lithgow, Ed Begley Jr., Jan Triska
Studio: Koch Vision
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $13.69
You Save: $16.29 (54%)
New (42) Used (14) from $10.50
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 35714
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 194 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6
MPN: KCHDKOC6427D
UPC: 741952642794
EAN: 0741952642794
ASIN: B000KJTG0G
Theatrical Release Date: April 19, 1994
Release Date: February 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: E1 Entertainment Release Date: 02/13/2007 Run time: 186 minutes
Amazon.com
It's hard to imagine more compelling material than the backroom machinations between FDR, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin that led to the precarious alliance of these three leaders against Hitler. World War II--When Lions Roared is an unusual mixture of scenes dramatized from speeches and diplomatic correspondence and archival newsreel footage. The three main actors--John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun, Kinsey) as Roosevelt, Bob Hoskins (Mrs. Henderson Presents, Mona Lisa) as Churchill, and Michael Caine (Alfie, The Quiet American) as Stalin--all deliver strong performances. Hoskins, even under heavy make-up, doesn't look much like Churchill, but he's got the man's gruff, stern cadences nailed. Caine's make-up is more effective, but the key to Caine's performance is in his mysterious, gimlet eyes. The script is oddly cobbled together from speeches and diplomatic correspondence and so thick with high-flown rhetoric and pontification, which certainly fits the mini-series' romantic view of WWII but can be a bit much to stomach after an hour or two of stirring declamation. When Lions Roared, as you might guess from the title, suffers from unapologetic hero worship of FDR and Churchill, presenting them as wise and resolute throughout, wily codgers the likes of which we shall not see again, etc.. Also strange are split-screen scenes of the leaders in their various lairs, from which they speak to each other as if in mid-conversation--obviously intended to depict the decision-making process economically, but the effect is uncomfortably chummy and glib. Nonetheless, history buffs will enjoy the wary regard in which these world leaders held each other as they negotiated the fate of the world. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 WWII History in 3 Hours + April 13, 2009
RW (Arizona)
I like this movie, but was surprised to find out it was a video production not tape.
A little short on detail it still entertained me.
 Dave April 10, 2009
David D. Brezinski (Streamwood, Illinois USA)
An excellent reflection of just how sensetive and fragile political allies of different countris can be. It also depicts what the world could over come if we truly learned how to all work together as a world for good instead of evil.
History in the Making October 18, 2008
Gerardine O'Hare (Arroyo Grandek, CA.)
From a historial point of view this DVD is interesting. From an artistic video point of view it is disppointing. There is too much confusion with the dual portrayal of World Leaders. It takes time to understand what is going on. This story is pure history and would be useful for students, history teachers and writers. Michal Caine was excellet playing the part of Stalin.
Enjoyable historical movie. June 27, 2008
Malli22 (Texas)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This mini-series was very enjoyable. Not really traditional Hollywood style though. Several of the shot compositions were a bit cheesy. Also, the main characters did a strange soap-operaesque pause while another character (in another location) was talking. The splicing didn't make sense to me.
The acting was fine and Michael Caine's accent was believable. I think he humanized the Stalin character enormously.
One character that I did miss was Truman. The movie basically stops with the death of FDR. While I understand that Truman was "out-of-the-loop" while VP, he was nevertheless a wartime president.
Overall, I would recommend this movie. Although, I would only purchase it on sale or rent it.
 Far better than the Amazon review would have you believe April 29, 2008
arucuan (east of the sun, west of the moon)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is perhaps the nature of the medium that on the internet we continually get reviews which complain that the product would be much better if only it were something completely different than it was intended to be. It is somehow more disappointing in an Amazon-sanctioned review which one hopes is based upon some sense of the purpose of the thing.
In this case, it ought to be understood that the whole raison d'etre of the film is to use only the actual words of the historical figures portrayed as dialogue for the film. Therefore, the "oddly cobbled-together" script to which the Amazon reviewer refers is not cobbled-together at all, but rather an adaptation of written correspondence into monologue or dialogue. It is a brilliant device and admirably executed. The "strange" split-screen scenes of which the reviewer complains are some of the cleverest in the film, turning correspondence that would have taken weeks of transport to travel back and forth in wartime into contemporaneous conversation.
All this with actual footage of the war, the results of the decisions of these men, played out behind them. It is unusual, perhaps, for television, but it is eminently theatrical and hardly "chummy" or "glib." The overall effect of the film is not the sort of jingoism implied by the Amazon reviewer, but a sense of the true complexity and difficulty of the dilemmas these men faced--and the different means each of them utilized in handling them. FDR, for example, hardly comes off well in his acquiescence to Stalin without consultation of Churchill.
Caine is good. Lithgow is not very good. Hoskins is pitch-perfect! The film is highly recommended for its originality, its historicity, and its thoughtful approach to a difficult subject.
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