Customer Reviews

Johnstown Flood narrated by Richard Dreyfuss

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I grew up in Johnstown. I have seen the films at both of the Flood Museums. The film at the downtown museum (the former Carnegie Free Library) is the Guggenheim film that won the academy award. It is an excellent film that far outstrips the one here reviewed. However, the film presented at the damsite is even superior to the Guggenheim film. Unfortunately, it can only be seen at the museum. I found the film narrated by Richard Dreyfuss to be a very "watery" story with some awful cinematography and effects. The dramatizations were terrible: actors with modern accents and mannerisms in Victorian costumes...! I thought this was a very shallow representation of a terrible disaster.

The real story of the Johnstown Flood is so dramatic and overpowering that you are tempted not to believe all of it. The event is that extraordinary. So why would a documentary try to improve the story by embellishing the facts?

Some examples: There was no "Paul Revere" horse rider warning people of the flood. The dam never resembled a "sprinkler" -- the water poured over the top which quickly undermined the entire structure. The train whistle warning in Mineral Point was not ignored. Fundamental factual errors plague this DVD from beginning to end.

Even if the staggering number of inaccuracies does not put you off, the sappy dialog, poor acting, endless stock footage of waves on the beach, and the inexplicable dearth of source materials should.

If you are interested in the story of the Johnstown Flood read David McCullough's excellent book. You will be amazed. If you buy this DVD the real tragedy will be what you missed out on -- the real story of the nearly incomprehensible human tragedy of the Johnstown Flood.

This rendition of the tragedy of the Johnstown Flood in 1889 cannot be favorably compared with the first offering from The American Experience on PBS. The 2003 Dreyfuss-narrated version does not use the quantity of archival material available; it barely hints at the social and political pressures, especially by members of the social club situated at the top of the dam, which contributed to the breaking of the dam and the tragedy that followed. Richard Dreyfuss is overly dramatic, seeming to revel in the details of the tragedy in his delivery, and is not at all equal to the terrific David McCullough as a narrator. The use of real actors to repeat quotes from survivors and act out portions of the aftermath is just ludicrous, and none of them show any talent for this portrayal at all. It was very distracting to have these people plopped into the narrative willy-nilly. I was extremely disappointed in the 2003 DVD, and cannot recommend it.

This documentary feels like it was made by an undegrad film student. Some of the recreations of the flood on what is obviously a limited budget are a noble effort. The panning and scanning over pictures is ok, but doing the same with drawings gets a little tedious and is distracting. The film misses a crucial element of the story: the culpiblility of the wealthy patrons of the hunting club that built the dam and failed to maintain it properly. Actors (acting students from a local college?) look too young for their roles and are overly dramatic. I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, went to school for a while in Johnstown. I have yet to see any actor capture the mood and tone of people of Western PA... and I wish someone would.

What bothered me most were the repeated details about the gore of the incident. The documentary takes pleasure and spends far too much time describing the carnage. For example, it devotes about 10 minutes recounting a story, most likely fictional, about a guy who gets caught robbing corpses.

Read the David McCullough book.

As an educator, I found the Johnstown Flood, narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, a bit slow and lacking of substance. The characters dressed up in Victorian attire were interesting, however they lacked believability. The short scenes of bubbling water looked like they were filmed from a kitchen sink. The few shots, of what were obviously Niagara Falls, were a poor attempt to show the magnitude of the dam's destruction/socially, politically and emotionally on the people of Johnstown. I preferred the museum's DVD on the Johnstown Flood which didn't stray from the facts. I will say, however, that when I allowed my students to choose between the two DVD's they overwhelminingly preferred the Dreyfuss-narrated version. It seems they were overtaken by the shots of Niagara Falls, and the scenes of dead corpses being robbed. (get more bang for your buck and stick with the museum version)

I wanted to let everyone know that I am from around the Johnstown, PA area and I went and actually saw this at the J-town Flood Museum. It is intense! Especially when you see it in a movie theater setting. I have relatives who experienced the other J-town floods after this one, but nothing could compare to going to the museum overlooking the dam and seeing the lifelike things there!!! I can't wait to have this for my "home" collection!!

I have to say that, after watching this video, I believe this to be one of the most biased and/or incomplete displays of research that I have seen in a while. Many main and extremely important facts to this story and absolutely missing from this "documentary." I find it all too familiar that all the facts left out or glossed over involve the possible culpability of the rich, elitist, magnates involved with the story of the Johnstown Flood.

This film successfully handles the enormous historical scope of the Johnstown flood while exquisitely capturing the humanity of the disaster, which is so often obscured by dry facts and figures in many historical documentaries. Bussler treats viewers to a straight-forward, easy-to-follow description of the causes of the flood and its effects on those in its path. However, the abundance of personal narrative, which is taken from primary sources, allows viewers glimpses into the experiences of the people who were there. Re-enactments portraying these individual experiences add color and texture to the history, keeping viewers engaged throughout the film. Richard Dreyfuss as narrator as well as the film's rich sound make a compelling documentary. The film is accurate enough for history buffs while accessible (and entertaining enough) for school-age history students.

I waited a long time to see this video. I couldn't find it anywhere and now
I know why. I paid a few bucks to watch it on google video and it just sucks. A previous viewer said it is meant to be "amateurish" and I think the film makers succeeded on that count. There were however a couple of nice shots of Niagara Falls (standing in for the flood).

What a sad pathetic attempt of a documentary! Do not wast any of your time and money on this. Such an interesting tragic story in our history deserves more respect than this wannabe horror movie delivers! Richard Dreyfuss is a great narrator but seems lost and almost silly in this.