Empire of the Air
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Actor: Garrison Keillor, Guglielmo Marconi, Jason Robards, Ken Bilby, Norman CorwinDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Pbs Paramount
DVD Reviews of Empire of the Air
DVD Review: Lukewarm air
Summary: 3 Stars
A précis: De Forrest - Bad; Armstrong - Good; Sarnoff - Wicked.
This documentary tells the story of radio through the interlinked biographies of Lee de Forrest, inventor and self-promoter; Howard Armstrong, the engineer's engineer; and David Sarnoff, the immigrant boy who made good. It culminates in the story of Armstrong's suicide, and the ascendancy of television.
The film takes a parochial view of its subject: the lives and times of three Americans. Its agenda, beyond telling the story of radio in a romanticized way, is to do a hatchet job on De Forrest and provide a hagiography of Armstrong, with Sarnoff in a supporting role as The Ruthless Tycoon. The talking heads that leaven the portentous narration are writers and engineers. The writers provide a personal commentary, but the larger social impact of radio is barely addressed. A more gaping hole is the absence of the business story of radio; none of those interviewed provide a commercial perspective.
The most memorable part of the documentary is the collection of vintage photographs. The camera lingers on sepia prints of the twenties and thirties, and the main characters are evoked through many good stills.
An irritating editing conceit is frequent and abrupt cuts to black over vintage radio recordings. The rationale is painfully obvious - "Listen, Dummy, we're talking about an aural medium here" - and the arrhythmic execution simply disrupts the story.
I guess I'll have to go read the book.
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