The folks out at the History Channel landed a big treat on my lap the other day by shipping out a copy of WWII: The Essential Collection, and if you have any interest in World War II, then you absolutely need to have this.

See, WWII: The Essential Collection features three movies all in one package–The World At War, Victory At Sea and The Century of Warfare. The World At War shows the war (most of the war, anyway, this isn’t a six year old DVD) from the earliest moments of Hitler’s rise all the way to the surrender of Japan. Victory At Sea focuses more on naval affairs like the Normandy landing and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. And The Century of Warfare is a primer of a hundred years of battles, though it’s a bit of a misnomer as it  does go back a bit to around World War I (the Red Baron makes a bit of an appearance), it doesn’t go past the original Gulf War, so it’s not really a hundred years, but close does count.

It is an absolute and unshakable prerequisite: you must, must, a thousand times must have an interest in history, especially early twentieth century history, with all its wars, to get anywhere with this movie. Once you meet this prerequisite, however, you’re going to love this. You can’t not love this. For crying out loud, it’s almost fifty seven hours of World War II documentary. We’re talking about three hours shy of two and a half days. No sleep, no food, no bathroom breaks–it’s the whole two and a half day period.

And that being said, the level of detail here is just astonishing. Made out of footage taken back during the war years, occasionally subtitled in German, you’re going to hear an impressive amount of things about World War II. There will be interviews here with some of the biggest names from the war here (Alger Hiss is involved, as is Lord Mountbatten) and considering that The World At War is narrated by none other that Sir Laurence Olivier himself, well, that’s just one more reason.

Between great production values, terrific editing, and incredible detail, it’s hard not to like WWII: The Essential Collection. If you have even a vague enjoyment of history, then the History Channel’s massive box set of war is just what you need.

The Screenhead Ten Scale Gives WWII: The Essential Collection an eight out of ten: it’s a spectacular example of its genre, but unless you have an interest already in the source material, not only will you be lost, but you’ll also be bored. Incredibly bored.