Written by Musgo Del Jefe
The title of this DVD, like the collection itself, is long and tells many stories - The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones - The Complete Volume Three: The Years Of Change. The first volume, The Early Years told the stories of a younger, innocent teenaged Indy. The stories highlighted his innocence. The second volume, The War Years played off the innocence of Indy and his generation with the cold realities of World War I. Story after story focused on the humanity inside the inhumanity of the war. Our character, Indy, survives relatively intact despite the brutality surrounding him. This last volume completes the series with seven "episodes" on nine discs and a tenth bonus disc. But how do you focus a series dealing with the post-WWI Jazz Age when we viewers know what Nazi-based adventures are yet to come in the feature films?
You can't talk about this ten-disc set without talking about the extras. In fact, with over 15 hours of special features, they dominate this collection. There are 30 different documentaries to accompany the different episodes. I'm reinforcing my opinion from Volume Two that the documentaries should be watched before each episode. Knowing the context of the times and the people that Indy comes in contact with, helps give depth to most of the superficial scripts. These documentaries are not the typical "Behind The Scenes" documentaries seen on most discs. Many of these included in this collection are ripe for the High School or College classroom. I find the biographical documentaries to be the most rewarding. This collection's best being on Ernest Hemingway, Erich von Stroheim, Louis Armstrong, and Edith Wharton.
The First World War is essentially over and continues for only the first two episodes. The intrigue of that war and what destruction it wrought on a whole generation still make it the most interesting backdrop for these Indiana Jones stories. The first one, "Tales Of Innocence" is a simple tale and maybe my favorite in this collection. The two stories - Indy and Ernest Hemingway falling in love with the same woman and Indy and Edith Wharton developing a forbidden attraction to each other while Indy searches for a traitor - are light on the surface but that belies a hidden depth. These unrequited loves hint at what will become the post-war "Lost Generation." After what Indy has seen in the War, what meaning will there be in life? And how does he truly give his heart when he's seen so much death and destruction?
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