Victory at Sea – Nostalgia Central

1 9 5 2 – 1 9 5 3 (USA)
26 x 30 minute episodes

Produced only seven years after the end of World War II, this groundbreaking NBC documentary series presented spectacular historical footage of naval combat from that conflict.

The ambitious series was conceived by former naval officer Henry Salomon, who travelled around the world for two years researching it, resulting in over 60 million feet of 16mm and 35mm film from the files of 10 governments and 26 newsreel agencies.

A considerable amount of the film had been captured by the Allied nations (including footage from the German and Japanese navies).

Salomon and his team used an index system of 60,000 cards to sort and categorise the footage. The episode on D-Day, for example, contains 600 cuttings.

Made with assistance from the US Navy, the series was narrated by Leonard Graves and accompanied by a dramatic original musical score from Richard Rodgers, who wrote 13 hours of music for the series (the longest symphonic score ever written), which was orchestrated and conducted by Robert Russell Bennett and performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Surprisingly few actual sounds were used in the series. Most of them are suggested by Rodgers’ score – an outstanding example being the Pearl Harbor bombing in Episode 2 – ‘The Pacific Boils Over’ – which is backed by seven consecutive minutes of music without any narration.

The narration in the series was intended only as an unobtrusive guide to events on-screen, not as a running commentary.

Because music was so often substituted for actual battle noises, the Victory at Sea crew had the job of classification down to a fine art. For example, aircraft never flew in anything but F minor.

The British Newsreel Association insisted on charging NBC their regular rates (which NBC declined). By the time the BNA agreed to contribute its footage for free, the project was already underway, and it was too late.

Sadly, this meant there was a scarcity of material showing the British to best advantage in the early episodes.

The series was directed by M. Clay Adams and edited by Isaac Kleinerman.

Narrator
Leonard Graves

Video