Victory at sea, NBC's dramatic film series reviewed by TV Guide Chicago, April 17-23 1953

VICTORY AT SEA, NBC's dramatic film series portraying U.S. and Allied naval operations during the Second World War, represents TV at its best. Culled from more than 60,000,000 feet of film, including much captured from the enemy, the weekly half-hour program demonstrates forcefully TV's impact as an educational and information medium.

In reprising events of the war, Victory has the scope, action and drama of history itself. NBC spent more than $500,000 on the project, commissioning top talent for the production. Richard Rodgers, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, created a special musical score, played by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Robert Russell Bennett. A special unit supervised by Henry Salomon worked two years selecting and editing the film. The commentary, by Leonard Graves, is to the point.

In its documentary form, Victory is akin to the telefilm version of President Eisenhower's Crusade in Europe, which is still being televised around the country.

Much of the show's success is due to the way Salomon and his crew have edited the film for TV, rather than using TV merely to screen it. The edition on Pearl Harbor, based mainly on captured Japanese footage, for example, is almost hypnotic in power. The episodes on Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf and others are similarly standout.

This is undoubtedly one TV program which can be repeated year after year. It should also find its niche in the schoolroom and in Navy training. NBC is reported now preparing a feature movie on Victory, which may soon be in your neighborhood theater.