Monumental ‘War’ Breaks Out on ABC

It took the Allies less time to win World War II than it took ABC to conceive and mount “War and Remembrance.” But this monumental slab of TV was worth the wait.

The five-year intermission separating the 1983 miniseries “Winds of War” from its even longer sequel, “War and Remembrance,” vanishes almost immediately Sunday upon first sight of this sprawling whopper of a story that has become the 800-pound gorilla of contemporary miniseries.

“Winds of War” was itself a fat 18 hours. But “War and Remembrance” is something else again, a maximiniseries in an era of miniminiseries, a $104-million investment in 32 hours, with 18 coming this month and the remainder reserved for May. Yes, blockbusters live.

The times for this one are 8-11 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday, 8:30-11 p.m. Wednesday, 9-11 p.m. Thursday, then 9-11:05 p.m. Nov. 20, 9-11:20 p.m. Nov. 22, and 8:30-11 p.m. Nov. 23, on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42. Viewers, start your VCRs.

The sequel and its predecessor are serializations of thick Herman Wouk novels that vividly capture the sweep and the romance and the macabre of an epic time in modern history.

In “Winds of War,” an eclectic American military family is buffeted by events leading to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “War and Remembrance” resumes with the war going badly and the family members separated and facing various personal crises that are narrower, yet just as intense as the global conflict now shaping their lives.

Capt. Victor (Pug) Henry (Robert Mitchum) is commanding the cruiser Northampton; his aviator son Warren (Michael Woods) is on the aircraft carrier Enterprise, and his son Bryon (Hart Bochner) is an officer aboard the submarine Devilfish.

On the crumbling home front, Pug’s free-spirited wife Rhoda (Polly Bergen) is again carrying on with scientist Palmer Kirby (Peter Graves), and the Henrys’ daughter, Madeline (Leslie Hope), has popped in for Christmas.

Nearer the war front, Pug’s British love Pamela Tudsbury (Victoria Tennant) is in Japanese-threatened Singapore with her BBC-journalist father Alistair Tudsbury (Robert Morley). Byron’s Jewish wife Natalie (Jane Seymour) is trapped in Italy with their small son and her uncle, famed scholar Aaron Jastrow (John Gielgud), deciding whether to take her chances there or try fleeing to Palestine. And Aaron’s brother Berel (Topol) is in Auschwitz.

Grandly and impeccably staged, this first section of “War and Remembrance” is captivating, scintillating TV, its relatively minor flaws eclipsed by its enormous merit and panoramic size. Executive producer/director Dan Curtis (who co-wrote the script with Wouk and Earl W. Wallace) transfers Wouk’s storytelling mastery to the small screen in admirable ways that combine showmanship and sensitivity while meeting the dual agendas of entertainment and reverence for the war’s casualties.

Curtis is assisted by nice performances and key recastings from “Winds of War.” Bochner is a more believable Byron than was Jan-Michael Vincent, who was too old for the role, as was Ali MacGraw for Natalie. Seymour (in a flawless American accent) is far more credible, as is Gielgud as Aaron, a role originated by the late John Houseman.

The exotic pairing of Tennant and the 71-year-old Mitchum is an unresolved problem, but one that will not confront viewers until hours seven and eight in Part 3, as the first six hours of plot are directed elsewhere.

Sunday’s premiere initially focuses on suspenseful combat involving the Devilfish, whose commanding officer, Carter Aster (Barry Bostwick), is Byron’s friend and mentor. It’s not “Das Boot,” but the sweaty, red-lit, claustrophobic texture of this submariner’s-eye view of battle produces a frightening reality.

Tuesday’s Part 2 is where “War and Remembrance” really takes hold, however, with its grim triad on the emerging Holocaust. As Natalie and Aaron squirm under Nazi pressure, Natalie’s diplomat friend, Leslie Slote (David Dukes), uncovers evidence of Hitler’s “final solution to the Jewish question” and Heinrich Himmler visits Auschwitz to assess the efficiency of mass murder.

The doomed arrive at the camp in cattle cars, then are separated by SS men (males right, females left) for “disinfection.” Then, nude, they are herded to their deaths. There’s a problem with “disposal,” but otherwise a job well done.

Actually filmed in Auschwitz, these gruesome scenes of Nazi atrocities are about as chillingly real as TV gets, with the gassing of Jews becoming a sort of post-lunch entertainment for the steely Himmler, their wailing and death cries resonating from behind closed doors. “It sounds like a synagogue,” the commandant says.

Except for softened close-ups of the victims and a lapse into cheap symbolism (the commandant’s little daughter carries flowers identical to those carried by a gassed Jewish girl), these Holocaust scenes are as profoundly moving and achingly honest as any available in TV drama.

The writers do deploy some false script conveniences. As in “Winds of War,” moreover, the theme music (for Nazis, Americans and so on) and depictions of some of the historical characters are vastly overcooked.

Otherwise, this is big television, not only in size, but in achievement.