The War ends on TV, opens on disc

Barnes & Noble supports a DVD-CD bundle

By Ned Randolph -- Video Business, 10/5/2007

A 15-hour documentary, The War explores the second World War from an American perspective through personal stories of a handful of men and women from four American towns—Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif; and Luverne, Minn.

With readings from letters home and narrative stories by survivors and their family members, the filmmakers were able to intimately portray the incomprehensible sizes and horrors of the global campaign.

The film, which was six years in the making, was produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and distributed by PBS Home Video and Paramount Home Entertainment.

The DVD is priced at $129.99.

PBS was offering the box set at a 20% reduction for customers who also bought the companion CD The War: The Soundtrack from Sony BMG and the 480-page book The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945, published by Knopf.

Online retailers like Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart priced the box set without the companion materials at $79. Costco offered it for $74.99. Borders was selling it for $103.99, and Barnes & Noble was bundling it with the CD for $97.99.

"We worked with PBS and Paramount to create this exclusive package,” said Chuck Gorman, VP of music and video for Barnes & Noble. “We felt the bundle gave us an opportunity to offer a great value to our customers who were interested in the documentary but may not have been aware of the soundtrack as well."

The War is the latest of several titles whose release was timed to dovetail with the PBS broadcast premiere. Others were Alexander Hamilton and Jonestown.

“Our strategy of releasing titles day-and-date with their premiere airings on PBS has proven successful in the past, and based on initial sales, we feel that it is benefiting our campaign for The War,” said Mike Taylor, director of marketing for PBS. “By coordinating the DVD debut with the initial airing, we’re able to piggyback on the marketing for the program’s broadcast and release the DVD into the market when consumer awareness is at its peak.”

The documentary is narrated by Keith David and includes voiceovers from Tom Hanks, Josh Lucas, Bobby Cannavale, Samuel L. Jackson and Eli Wallach. It also features new musical recordings by Norah Jones and Wynton Marsalis, as well as war-era favorites from Benny Goodman and Nat 'King' Cole.

Bonus materials in the box set include a behind-the-scenes look with filmmaker Burns on the making of the film; commentary; deleted scenes on themes such as war correspondents, the holocaust, Japanese internment, Operation Cobra and returning home after the war; as well as additional interviews and more stories.

PBS also has plenty of extra materials featured on its Web site: www.pbs.org/war.

The companion CD and book were released on Sept. 11. The DVD release was timed with the premiere airing on PBS Sept. 23-26 and Sept. 30-Oct. 2.