Crusade in Europe 

Based on the title of General Eisenhower's book, combat film from from World War II. This was the first documentary series produced for television.

Stars:

Maurice Joyce, Westbrook Van Voorhis, Hugh James

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Maurice Joyce	...	Dwight D. Eisenhower 25 episodes, 1949
Westbrook Van Voorhis	...	Narrator 18 episodes, 1949
Hugh James	...	Narrator 8 episodes, 1949
Dwight D. Eisenhower	...	Himself 25 episodes, 1949
Winston Churchill	...	Himself 11 episodes, 1949
Omar N. Bradley	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
Kai-Shek Chiang	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
Mark W. Clark	...	Himself (during Italian campaign) (archive footage) 5 episodes, 1949
J. Lawton Collins	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
Charles de Gaulle	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 1949
Anthony Eden	...	Himself (archive footage) 3 episodes, 1949
Albert Einstein	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
Joseph Goebbels	...	Himself (archive footage) 3 episodes, 1949
Charles E. Hart	...	Himself (archive footage) unknown episodes
Alfred Jodl	...	Himself (archive footage) 4 episodes, 1949
Albert Kesselring	...	Himself (archive footage) 3 episodes, 1949
Hans Kinzel	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 1949
Jacques Leclerc	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
George C. Marshall	...	Himself (archive footage) 8 episodes, 1949
Vyacheslav Molotov	...	Himself (archive footage) 4 episodes, 1949
Bernard L. Montgomery	...	Himself (archive footage) 13 episodes, 1949
J. Robert Oppenheimer	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
George S. Patton	...	Himself (archive footage) 9 episodes, 1949
Bertram Ramsay	...	Himself (with Eisenhower) (archive footage) 5 episodes, 1949
Erwin Rommel	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 1949
Franklin D. Roosevelt	...	Himself (archive footage) 8 episodes, 1949
Walter Bedell Smith	...	Himself (archive footage) 3 episodes, 1949
Jan Smuts	...	Himself (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
Dietrich von Choltitz	...	Himself (surrenders to Leclerc) (archive footage) 1 episode, 1949
Hans Georg von Friedeburg	...	Himself (archive footage) 2 episodes, 1949
Georgi Zhukov	...	Himself (archive footage) 6 episodes, 1949

Storyline

Based on the title of General Eisenhower's book, combat film from from World War II. This was the first documentary series produced for television.

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Plot Keywords:

battle | armed forces | nazi occupation | warfare | allies | 

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Genres:

Documentary | News | War

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 1949 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The March of Time

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (26 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Ike's Personal Memoirs Of World War II

ALTHOUGH WE ARE vaguely familiar with this title, we can't truly say that we had an independent recollection of viewing it. This may well be true for this writer (born 1946) and the Ryan family of 4402 S. Shields Avenue, Chicago, Illinois did not get our television set until late in 1950. The series, which we now know to be the first made for television documentary series, ran 1st time in 1949-50 and saw very little subsequent showings. This is a sharp contrast to NBC's VICTORY AT SEA; which seems to have been rerun for years.

THIS SERIES OWES its origin and title to the biographical memoirs collected and published by Doubleday in 1948. Using General Eisenhower's book as a guide, the series used graphics of page and individual weekly installments made it a habit to use imagery of the book as beginning and ending visuals. WE FOUND THAT our viewing of this television series was a production of MARCH OF TIME productions; which was a visual and theatrical counterpart of Time Magazine. The television production had many of the same elements as the theatrical news shorts; including narrator, Westbrook Van Voorhis and writers.

ALTHOUGH THIS WAS a seemingly "lost" and little seen series, it is a "missing in action" item no longer. Now through the magic of our computerized world and Al Gore's internet*, one can order a order up a comlpete series set in glorious DVD without even leaving the comfort of home! And it won't cost you as much as dining at your neighborhood hash house.

WOW, CLEVER THESE Americans !

NOTE * We're only kidding about who invented the Internet; but you knew that all along !