THE MOVIE

Anzacs is an epic five-part mini series. The story centres around a group of young blokes, who were part of the Australian Imperial Force (more specifically the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) sent to Gallipoli in World War I. This mini series deals with more than just Gallipoli though, it looks at Australia’s continuing involvement in the war up until the armistice in 1918. Each episode in this series runs for approximately 100 minutes.

DISC 1
Episode 1 - The Great Adventure
The mini series starts in Victoria Australia, July 1914. Martin Barrington (Andrew Clarke) is working on the farm with his good mate Dick Baker (Mark Hembrow). Both of them soon volunteer for the Australian Imperial Force where they make friends with Pat Cleary (Paul Hogan) and Roly Collins (Christopher Cummins). They all undergo training before heading off to Gallipoli. Along with numerous other Australian and New Zealand troops, they’d come to be known as the ANZACS. They fought valiantly in Gallipoli between April 25, 1915 and December 20, 1915, when the campaign ended.

Episode 2 - The Big Push
Only six out of the forty original men from 8th Battalion remain, and they are joined by new reinforcements, including Private Flanagan (Jon Blake). They head to France, where they receive more training from the British army, this time in regard to the use of machine guns. Then it’s back into the thick of things in a place affectionately known as the Nursery Sector on the Western Front. They carry out the often pointless trench raids and are then told that they’ll be going to join the battle at Pozieres, which could potentially win the war. Thankfully the lads get some time off and have some fun with the local French lasses.

DISC 2
Episode 3 - The Devil’s Arithmetic
The European winter has fallen upon the battlefield. It is the winter of 1916-1917 and the war has entered a paralysing stalemate. Martin has been promoted to Lieutenant. Meanwhile, back in Australia, Rev. George Lonsdale (Robert Coleby) is speaking out about conscription. The lads get leave in London, and Martin takes the opportunity to spend time with his love interest, a nurse called Kate Baker (Megan Williams). With their morale boosted, the 8th join the big push that takes place near Ypres in July 1917. However, they soon lose their Captain, Harold Armstrong (Tony Bonner), because he is deemed medically unfit. Then in October 1917, they fight at Broodseinde Ridge, while Martin lies injured in a hospital.

Episode 4 - Fields of Fire
The rains have set in and the Australians are battling it out in the Ypres bogs. Flanagan soon becomes an officer and Bill Harris (Jonathan Sweet) is also promoted. Martin has fully recovered but he doesn’t want to go home, he’d rather to take on a position as a staff officer, anything to help out in the war effort. Kate isn’t very happy about this though. Then in March 1918, the German offensive Breaks through on two fronts and it looks as though Amiens could be overrun anytime. The 8th set up a new hide in Nieppe Forest and wage one of their most successful battles to date.

DISC 3
Episode 5 - Now, there was a Day
In the final episode, Lieutenant General Monash (Bill Kerr) is appointed commander of five Australian divisions. They will be grouped into one army corps, with an Australian commander. It has taken four years to achieve, but now the Aussies will fight side by side. The last big push took place on August 9, 1918. It would take place out in open country, not in the trenches, which suited the Aussies just fine. With armoured tank support they continued to gain ground and drive the Germans out. Finally on November 11, 1918, an armistice was called and the war ended. The remainder of this episode shows the remaining troops returning to Australia and remembering those who fought valiantly and died for their country.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Anzacs is presented in 1.33:1 (4:3) full frame. This is a rather ordinary transfer. While the level of detail is quite good for this 1985 mini series, all five episodes are plagued by vast amounts of background noise, which appear not only in the darker interiors and night time scenes, but also during many brightly lit scenes. Film grain is another problem, and is especially noticeable against dark backgrounds. Colours were somewhat muted, and the limited colour palette in this film (primarily green and brown) doesn’t help at all. The red and blue of the Australian and British flags looked quite good, however. All discs in this box set are dual layer (RSDL) discs, although I was unable to find the layer change on any of them.

Audio:

This DVD has just one soundtrack, that being an English Dolby 2.0 channel soundtrack. It is satisfactory. Dialogue is clearly audible for the most part, with the exception of a few scenes where the gunfire is quite loud, and I couldn’t find any audio synch problems. This DVD also comes with English subtitles. The music composed by Bruce Rowland isn’t exactly what I’d call inspirational. At times the score has an almost comical feel about it, which I think actually helps a lot as it provides a welcome break from the dramatic (and somewhat depressing) war scenes and the eerie music that goes along with it.

THE EXTRAS

The Anzacs comes with a 45 minute documentary (which is located on Disc 3) entitled ‘History In The Making - The Making of Anzacs’. It takes a behind the scenes look at the making of this mini series, which cost around $ 8.5 million and took nearly three years to produce. The documentary looks at casting, set design, music, weapons, special effects and stunts. There are also interviews with producer Geoff Burrowes, writer/director John Dixon, directors George Miller and Pino Amenta, composer Bruce Rowland, armourer Mike Warrick, special effects supervisor Conrad Rothman and stunt co-ordinator Bill Stacey as well as several of the lead actors from the mini series. The documentary is cut together with excerpts from the mini series. It is presented in 1.33:1 full frame.

SUMMARY

Anzacs is a five-part mini series that apparently took Australia by storm back in 1985. The mini series revolves around Australia’s involvement in the first World War and it stars Paul Hogan (appearing here in his first dramatic role), Jon Blake, Andrew Clarke and Megan Williams. The visual and audio transfer are satisfactory, but there isn’t a whole lot of extra features to be found. The menus are also quite bland. Anzacs wasn’t really my cup of tea but it may appeal to those of you who are into films about war.