4.0 out of 5 stars
A heavier-than-air flight, plus a flight from justice, December 24, 2009
This review is from: You Are There: Two Dramatic Flights (DVD)
The 16mm broadcast films used for this edition of Walter Cronkite's YOU ARE THERE are well-preserved, with no evidence of edit breaks or bad scratches. Note that this DVD would not load in my DVD writer-installed notebook PC (kept getting a "no disc" error message), but it worked just fine at home on a standard player-only machine.
"You Are There" was a 1950s documentary series done in the style of a news broadcast that used a number of unshown "on-the-scene" reporters. Hosted by a most-serious Cronkite, these episodes were targeted for both children and adults. As an example, during the Wright Brothers chapter kids are directly advised that perseverence pays off in the end.
CONTENTS:
Both shows depict events that occurred a few decades apart on December 17th.
THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS (12/17/03) - James Gregory, William Prince (Airdate: 1/16/55)
"Interviews" with the brothers, their sister and minister dad, plus the opinion that Orville and Wilbur would never succeed from Prof. Langley, who some weeks before had crashed his Smithsonian-financed aircraft. We're also treated to the famous comment, "If man were meant to fly he'd have wings" just before actual footage of the first motor-powered heavier-than-air flight is presented. A well-done, interesting 25 minute program.
THE SCUTTLING OF THE GRAF SPEE (12/17/39) - (Airdate: 9/30/56)
This German pocket battleship was used exclusively in 1939 as a South Atlantic commerce raider. When badly damaged by three British cruisers the Spee docked at Montevideo, Uruguay for repairs. Forced to disembark after 72 hours, Spee's captain removed his crew and rather than face overwhelming enemy forces, had her sunk in the outer reaches of Montevideo's harbor. Excellent newsreel footage is intercut with simulated interviews to tell the story of this notorious vessel's final hours.
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