Early fall, 1944. This episode continues the march of Patton across France, and exhibits all the virtues and irritations of the series.
It's well-researched and factual. And the proportion given to talking experts, combat footage, CGIs, and still photos is just about perfect. Yet I could hardly concentrate on them because of the glitzy and distracting special visual effects. I have no idea why the director decided that a talking head should be enshrouded in what looks like a moving series of spider webs with occasional firecrackers to enliven the display. There are pointless splotches and scratch marks added to the combat footage. It's as if they were afraid that without some sort of elaborate froufraws on the screen our attention might drift, as if we were ten years old. It doesn't PRESENT ITSELF as the serious study of Patton that, in fact, it is.
One of the series' admirable traits is that it presents a reasonably balanced view of the action and of the leaders responsible. Both the narration and the historians give the German generals credit where credit is due. By this point, Hitler was ordering impossible attacks and when they inevitably failed, he fired the generals he thought were responsible.
The smarmy narration does lean a little in Patton's favor. Patton's fans should enjoy the bias. Eisenhower deprived Patton of fuel and "gave priority to Patton's rival Montgomery." And that's it. As if Eisenhower was a bedmate of Montgomery (whom he almost fired) in a conspiracy to deprive Patton of glory. The semi-official Australian, Chester Wilmot, who described the situation observed that Patton rerouted what fuel he could, not thinking that it might be needed somewhere else.
Sometimes Patton disappears from the story altogether and the program turns into something resembling "Greatest Tank Battles." In particular, this episode describes Patton's attempts to cross the Rhine River in eastern France.
It's well-researched and factual. And the proportion given to talking experts, combat footage, CGIs, and still photos is just about perfect. Yet I could hardly concentrate on them because of the glitzy and distracting special visual effects. I have no idea why the director decided that a talking head should be enshrouded in what looks like a moving series of spider webs with occasional firecrackers to enliven the display. There are pointless splotches and scratch marks added to the combat footage. It's as if they were afraid that without some sort of elaborate froufraws on the screen our attention might drift, as if we were ten years old. It doesn't PRESENT ITSELF as the serious study of Patton that, in fact, it is.
One of the series' admirable traits is that it presents a reasonably balanced view of the action and of the leaders responsible. Both the narration and the historians give the German generals credit where credit is due. By this point, Hitler was ordering impossible attacks and when they inevitably failed, he fired the generals he thought were responsible.
The smarmy narration does lean a little in Patton's favor. Patton's fans should enjoy the bias. Eisenhower deprived Patton of fuel and "gave priority to Patton's rival Montgomery." And that's it. As if Eisenhower was a bedmate of Montgomery (whom he almost fired) in a conspiracy to deprive Patton of glory. The semi-official Australian, Chester Wilmot, who described the situation observed that Patton rerouted what fuel he could, not thinking that it might be needed somewhere else.
Sometimes Patton disappears from the story altogether and the program turns into something resembling "Greatest Tank Battles." In particular, this episode describes Patton's attempts to cross the Rhine River in eastern France.
