The title of this disc does not lie; it is a collection of war footage, all of it originally shot in color.

The main feature is a 49 minute English television show licensed from Carlton. It's about D-Day but the footage ranges from Dunkirk to the liberation of Paris. An okay but not outstanding script combines narration by John Hurt and various dramatized memoirs read by actors pretending to be soldiers going into battle, etc.

A lot of the footage is fascinating, with good-quality images presumably originally in Kodachrome of battleships firing salvos, troops waiting to disembark and even some views of the landings themselves.

Back in England we see some impressive footage of encampments and other preparations for the invasion, with streets clogged with vehicles, etc. Earlier footage contrasts nice views of Picadilly Circus (where Blood on the Sun is playing) with familiar POV shots of allied fighters strafing German targets in France.

The intent of the script seems to be to create a poetic portrait of the war in color but the text is mostly indistinguishable from other television war docus. The editing leans on dramatic effects to let us know how serious the subject is. Viewers already familiar with programs of this kind will be wondering exactly where each piece of footage came from instead of following the show's intended theme. For instance, color views of the troops entering Paris include several shots of filmmaker George Stevens, who is mentioned elsewhere. Hearing about the origins of the film we are seeing, why it was shot, etc., would have been more interesting.

The other extra items are sort of a grab-bag, reviewing some of the footage seen in the master show and retracing the same subject matter. The Overlord Experience is footage backed by real veterans describing their personal reactions. Media & War explains how the war correspondents covered the fighting; here is where George Stevens is finally mentioned. D-Day's First Battle follows the training of the guide paratroops who landed early to plot out landing fields for the air invasion behind the lines.

There are some interesting semi-interactive battle maps allowing the charting of troop movements in two different ways. Extra diaries are some more personal accounts, text pages give bios of some important allied and German generals, and a timeline of events for the war in general and D-Day preparations.

There is a disclaimer for graphic warfare and violence that is unnecessary – I saw almost nothing disturbing in the show, at least by present American standards.

Rhino's disc of D-Day in Color is a quality presentation and not one of the bargain-bin losers we have come across in the past. The main show and a couple of the extras are formatted in 16:9, which means that the original 16mm footage must have been transferred and adapted for widescreen with a wider format image scanned out of the middle. As there is considerable grain, it is easy to wonder if the show would have looked better flat. Still, the color and general impact of many of the images is impressive. This is a show for war buffs curious to see what color material exists of the European theater, and although it is not a smashing emotional or educational experience, it is not without some surprises, like those everyday shots of wartime London.