Holocaust ✡ (Miniseries) Opening and Closing Theme 1978 (With Snippets)
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Holocaust is an American television miniseries broadcast in four parts in 1978 on the NBC television network. The series tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the (fictional) Weiss family of German Jews and that of a rising member of the SS, who gradually becomes a merciless war criminal.
Holocaust highlighted numerous important events which occurred up to and during World War II, such as Kristallnacht, the creation of Jewish ghettos and later, the use of gas chambers. The series was presented in four parts: Part 1: The Gathering Darkness (original airdate: April 16, 1978) Part 2: The Road to Babi Yar (original airdate: April 17, 1978) Part 3: The Final Solution (original airdate: April 18, 1978) Part 4: The Saving Remnant (original airdate: April 19, 1978) A German Jewish family, the Weisses, consists of Dr. Josef Weiss (Fritz Weaver), the father; Berta Weiss (Rosemary Harris), the mother and talented pianist; Karl Weiss (James Woods), an artist who is married to a Christian woman named Inga Helms-Weiss (Meryl Streep); Rudi Weiss (Joseph Bottoms), an independent, rebellious soccer player; Anna Weiss (Blanche Baker), the young daughter; and Moses Weiss (Sam Wanamaker), Josef's brother and a chemist from Warsaw.
Throughout the series, each member of the Weiss family experiences hardships and are ultimately led to a terrible fate, with the exception of Rudi and Inga. Some critics accused the miniseries of trivializing the Holocaust. The television format meant the realism of the situation was muted, while the fact that NBC made a financial gain from advertising led to accusations that the tragedy was being commercialized.
Holocaust's creators defended it by arguing that it was an important factor in developing and maintaining awareness of the Holocaust. With the exception of such movies as The Diary of Anne Frank, Judgment at Nuremberg, and The Hiding Place, this was the first time many Americans had seen any lengthy dramatization of the Holocaust which introduced character portrayals of victims and their personal stories. The television critic Clive James commended the production. Holocaust won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series. The series also won Emmys for Meryl Streep, Moriarty and Blanche Baker. Morton Gould's music was nominated, but did not win.
Gould's music score was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score for a Movie or Television Program. Co-stars David Warner, Sam Wanamaker, Tovah Feldshuh, Fritz Weaver and Rosemary Harris were all nominated for, but did not win, Emmys. However, Harris won a Golden Globe Award (for Best TV Actress - Drama) for her performance, as did Moriarty (for Best TV Actor - Drama). Holocaust was released in the U.S.A. as a Region 1 DVD by Paramount Pictures and CBS Home Entertainment on May 27, 2008.
The Region 2 DVD followed on 15 August 2010. A disclaimer on the DVD packaging states that it may be edited from the original network broadcast version and is shorter at 446 mins. The Region 4 DVD is unusually in native NTSC format having not been converted to PAL. No information is currently available to explain the reason for the half hour of missing footage. However, it seems to be clear that the time difference is not simply due to the NTSC/PAL conversion 4 percent speed-up effect.