Longitude
by Charles Sturridge
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DVD details
Actor: Christopher Hodsol, Gemma Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Coy, Peter CartwrightDirector: Charles Sturridge
Brand: A&E HOME VIDEO
Writer: Charles Sturridge
Producer: Antony Root
Producer: Delia Fine
Producer: Kris Slava
Producer: Pippa Cross
Producer: Selwyn Roberts
Writer: Dava Sobel
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: Pan & Scan, 1.33:1
Running Time: 200 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-08-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
DVD Reviews of Longitude
DVD Review: One of the best films out there
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a must-see for anyone interested in a well-done depiction of a great historical event as well as a great sea adventure. John Harrison's solving of the problem of determining longitude at sea was a major contribution to seafaring. I had not known how many ships and lives were lost using previous methods of navigation. This is a triumph of one man's tenacity in the face of bigoted opposition. The casting was superb. This is the crowning role of Michael Gambon's career. DVD Review: Turning Point
Summary: 5 Stars
A top flight cast give a fascinating portrayal of a turning point in scientific history. The invention of an accurate timepiece by Harrison transformed the world from that point onwards, and the story is told intelligently and with great craft to bring the struggle of practical science to life.DVD Review: Longitude
Summary: 5 Stars
Both the book and the DVD are outstanding. Longitude tells the story of the man who solved one of the most difficult scientific problems of his day, and tells it with great educatioonal and entertainment value. The DVd is a film that is the best kind of family watching. While being entertained you gain valuable insights into how real scientific progress happens.DVD Review: Must See for all
Summary: 5 Stars
Absolutely wonderful - first class acting and incredibly informative. My teen daughters, were as engrossed as their father and me. Top notch and recommend to all high school and up who have an interest in science, geography, history or any number of other subjects that this movie based on a book covers. Having seen the actual clock in Greenwich many times, it made the viewing even more delicious and interesting. I certainly would not rate it R, there was nothing remotely distasteful in this movie. Buy it, rent it, but don't miss it!DVD Review: Well Worth Your Time
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a visually stunning 2-disc dramatization of Dava Sobel's book about 18th century struggles to produce an accurate, seaworthy clock that would enable sailors to know their location by knowing precisely what time it was.
The acting is superb; the settings and production values are magnificent. This film does a worthy job of telling the story of John Harrison's 50-year battle to be granted the prize promised by the English Crown to the man who could produce a reliable timepiece.
However this film attempts an expansion of Sobel's book that I'm not sure was quite warranted or that works. There is no full-length Director's Commentary on these DVD's. There is only a relatively short "Making Of" bonus feature. In that extra, it's revealed that the producers/director thought that they would bore modern audiences if they stuck to Sobel's almost exclusively 18th century narrative. They thought they had to introduce a more contemporary dramatic line that modern audiences could identify with better. So they layered Harrison's story with the story of Rupert Gould, the Englishman who in the 1930's undertook the task of restoring Harrison's clocks.
The two men's stories are closely interwoven and indeed do have a lot in common. Both men became fixated on the minute workings of clocks - to the exclusion of most human relations. Both let their projects grow to engulf their whole lives. Both were continuously balked by the English Maritime bureaucracy.
The movie often cuts so quickly from one narrative to the other that it is almost like watching split-screen action. The intention is perhaps to imitate the two armatures that extend from Harrison's counterbalance mechanism as these armatures nod towards each other, then separate in courtly, symmetrical minuet - over and over. However, the effect is more often simply disruptive and distracting.
At least, it was jarring to me for the first 45 minutes or so. After that, I became a little more accustomed to the quick volley between Harrison and Gould. Still, I think Sobel's account of Harrison would have been able to stand on its own and be amply relevant to modern audiences. There were so many interesting episodes in the book that had to be omitted here in order to make room for the stereopticon duet involving Gould's life. However enough remains. There are swashbuckling sea adventures, intrigue in periwigged counsel chambers, and glowing scenes around the hearth.
The occasional jaggedness of the interjection of Gould's story is a minor flaw in what is overall a wonderful cinematic achievement. "Longitude" is a prime example of how a film can be truly educational and entertaining at the same time. It's a movie suitable for all ages - and all times.
Description of Longitude
Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons stars in this sweeping adaption of Dava Sobel's best-selling book of high seas adventure and political intrigue. Determined to stop shipping losses on the oceans of the 18th century, Britain's Parliament offers a fabulous cash award to anyone who can devise a way to determine longitute at sea. Convinced he can solve the problem that has defeated England's best minds, rural clock maker John Harrison (Michael Gambon) begins an obsessive, 40-year struggle to claim the Longitude prize with his ingenious marine clock. 200 years later, naval officer Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) stumbles across Harrison's forgotten chronometers and devotes himself to restoring these long-neglected mechanical masterpieces.Gracefully adapted from Dava Sobel's extraordinary bestseller, the four-part TV production of Longitude combines drama, history, and science into a stimulating, painstakingly authentic account of personal triumph and joyous discovery. Equally impressive is the way writer-director Charles Sturridge has crafted parallel stories that complement each other with enriching perspective. The first story involves the successful 40-year effort of 18th-century clockmaker John Harrison (Michael Gambon) to solve the elusive problem of measuring longitude at sea. In 1714 the British Parliament had offered a generous reward to anyone who solved the problem, and Harrison devoted his life to that solution. The second story, some 200 years later, involves the effort of shell-shocked British Navy veteran Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) to restore the glorious clocks that Harrison had built. Like Harrison, Gould is the most admirable type of obsessive, but, also like Harrison, he risks his marriage to accomplish his difficult task.
Thousands of sailors perished at sea before Harrison's triumph changed history, but Longitude demonstrates that Harrison's glory was slow to arrive--and his prize money even slower. A fascinating study of 18th-century British politics and clashing egos in the arena of science, the film is both epic and intimate in consequence, and Sturridge's magnificent script inspires Gambon and Irons to do some of the best work of their outstanding careers. The ever-reliable Ian Hart appears in Part 3 as Harrison's now-adult son and apprentice, and Longitude approaches its dramatic climax with the exhilarating tension of a first-rate thriller. Rallying after sickness to prove the integrity of their marvelous seafaring chronometers, the Harrisons still had to fight for official recognition, and Gould's restoration of the Harrison clockworks provides a fitting coda to this exceptional story about the thrill of discovery and the tenacity of remarkable men. --Jeff Shannon
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