Customer Reviews

American Experience: The Great Transatlantic Cable

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This documentary is an eye-opening story of laying a cable across the Atlantic in the 1850s...a process that was successfully completed 13 years later. Little did I know that a penny was soldered to the cable in the middle of the Atlantic for good luck! This story is from a time when the lightbulb had yet to arrive in homes and a paper (yes, paper!) merchant was crazy enough, motivated enough, and hopeful enough that he could do it. He went broke in the process, lost all his friends, but finally got the cable to work 13 years later. When it did work, he and his disillusioned backers made more money in the venture that anyone could have guessed. This was also the first steps of the company we today know as AT&T. Sadly enough, this guy (Mr. Fields) lost most of his personal fortune on Wall Street a few years later. In my books, this is a classic story of what makes us a nation of risk takers, adventurers, and disbelievers in impossibilities. While there might be little reason to own this exceptionally-well made documentary, it is surely worth borrowing from your neighborhood store and watching.

This was a wonderful story of human perseverence and innovation, well told, with more than its share of twists and turns, but...

I wanted more. I wanted a feel for the science. I filled it in myself, but what a wonderful, and lost, opportunity to explain why the signal was so weak when the cable was submerged, under great pressure, and chilled to sea-bottom temperatures. When the story reached the inquiry, the invention of new science was touched... and left unexplored.

The challenges described in this story were matched, maybe even exceeded, by the challenges glossed over. The heroes on the the Great Eastern who diagnosed the problem, retrieved miles of cable, evaluated the options, looked for the information they needed, and decided what to do. Oh, how I wanted more...

Even so, watch this. Think for yourself what the people that worked for Cyrus Field on this great adventure had to accomplish, and enjoy the sense of real work, with many unknowns, well accomplished.

It was Cyrus' story, and the story of unsung others...

The video provides a good history of the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. It covers the technical and financial problems of the project and how they were solved.

"Riveting" Toronto Star

"An engaging look at the monumental project...The physical, moral and technological adventure plays out in "The Great Transatlantic Cable," an "American Experience" episode written and produced by David Axelrod and directed by Peter Jones". The Portland Oregonian

"The story of how [global communication] changed the world" Louisville Courier-Journal

"An engrossing tale full of surprises" The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

"fascinating tale of American ingenuity... a smooth story that moves at a quick pace" Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"A fascinating story well told" Gannett News Service

This was such an amazing story. I have watched it twice now, and it is so facinating.