Product Details

• Actors: Edward R. Murrow, David Halberstam, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Charles Kuralt
• Directors: Don Hewitt, Fred W. Friendly, Susan Steinberg
• Writers: Edward R. Murrow, Fred W. Friendly, David Lowe, Ed Apfel
• Producers: David Lowe
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: CBS Television
• DVD Release Date: May 31, 2005
• Run Time: 393 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007WFURE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,406 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #19 in	Movies & TV > Documentary > Series & Studios > Docurama > Politics
  #21 in	Movies & TV > Documentary > Series & Studios > Docurama > History

• For more information about "The Edward R. Murrow Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A towering figure in radio and television, Edward R. Murrow is a name still whispered in reverent tones. He established the standards for broadcast journalists, and, when television was in its infancy, brought hard-hitting investigating reporting to prime time. In his inaugural broadcast of the seminal news magazine series, See It Now, a television version of his radio series Hear It Now, Murrow spoke of the new medium's potential to "illuminate and explain." He recognized the importance of television, and shared his hopes "to use it, and not abuse it." The Edward R. Murrow Collection is eloquent testimony to Murrow's impeccable legacy. The first disc, This Reporter, is Murrow 101, with highlights from his legendary career and praise from the likes of Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters and a pre-Memogate Dan Rather. The Best of "See It Now" offers a representative sampling of some of this series' finest hours. The technology may be primitive (that inaugural broadcast featured the then-unprecedented miracle of a live coast-to-coast transmission, with twin images of New York's Brooklyn Bridge and San Francisco's Golden Gate), but the stories remain compelling. Among them: race relations from the perspective two southern small towns; a Christmas visit with American soldiers in Korea; profiles of Louis Armstrong and artist Grandma Moses; and flying into the eye of a hurricane.

The McCarthy Years chronicles the fall of a demagogue. In these dramatic and controversial broadcasts, Murrow used McCarthy's own words to expose his reckless abuse of power, and, in the story of disgraced Air Force lieutenant Milo Radulovich, put a human face on the "epidemic of fear" that was McCarthyism. The final disc contains Harvest of Shame, a television benchmark. Broadcast the day after Thanksgiving, this "1960 Grapes of Wrath" exposed the agonizing plight of migrant farm workers. "We used to own our slaves," one farmer is quoted. "Now we just rent them." This indispensable set will hopefully serve as inspiration for budding journalists, and a reality check for network news executives. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That Silky Voice of His..., December 23, 2005

By	K. Oleszczyk "gkchest" (Tarnowskie Gory, Poland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One fact that this DVD collection helps to realise beyond any doubt, is that Murrow had an unique TV-screen presence. I'm 23 years old Polish man, so naturally I hadn't anything to do with Murrow till now (I'm to write an essay on him--hance my watching of the collection). And so I wasn't biased in any way in my first contact with the material. Murrow's silky voice is not so much seductive, as it's reassuring--the listener cannot doubt that this man here really knows what he's talking about and is NOT constatntly thinking about his looks or presence.

Murrow's broadcasting and his performances are totally free of celebrity-bias that is common among our contemporary anchormen. There's wonderful line in James L. Brooks' BROADCAST NEWS (1987-and still not dated). Albert Brooks is introducing William Hurt to the subtle art of reading the news correctly. One of his tips is: 'stress one word in each sentence - it will give an impression that you know what you're talking about' (I may have misquoted this one, since I saw the film in 1998). And William Hurt's 'Tom' does exactly that: without, of course, knowing what he's really talkin' about--but making TV-viewers BELIEVE that he does know.

Murrow didn't need this kind of tricks. His calmness, his constant pauses, his left hand holding a ciggaret, and his absolutely disarming (if rare) smiles and (even rarer) bursts of laughter, make one feel that here is the man truly concerned with what he has to say.

My favourite bit in the whole collection is one short dialogue between Murrow and Grandma Moses. He asks her about death, she remarks that she's not affraid of it, and Murrow begins a sentence, which - we cen sense that perfecly - was to be something like: "Is then death something you long for?". But as he speaks he realises that it would be impolite, so he begins to stammer (he of all people!) and changes it to some other question. At this very moment he seems wonderfully vulnerable -- that one-of-a-kind man of a steady voice, which is so soothing to hear.

Micha³ Oleszczyk, Tarnowskie Góry, Poland

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS., January 31, 2006

By	Alan W. Petrucelli (THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI)) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If Good Night, and Good Luck makes you yearn to dig further into the Murrow mania, then this box set fits the bill. Murrow was often creidted with inventing broadcast journalism, and it's easy to understand. The four-disc set includes live broadcasts from the London Blitz and shocking reports from Buchenwald, the best of See It Now (including Grandma Moses and Louis Armstrong), his bold challenge of Joseph McCarthy and his "Red Scare" and the landmark 1960 special documenting the plight of migrant workers. See it now. And forever.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must have for broadcast buffs - and all broadcasters, August 5, 2005

By	A. Anderfuren "journalist turned stay at home... (The Mountains) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

i bought this dvd collection to use in a presentation i made for a graduate school class to complement a book review of murrow. this collection is facinating for people who love murrow and those who've never seen his work. i will use this collection in future presentations that i'll make to my students as a professor.
EVERY PERSON IN BROADCASTING SHOULD BUY THIS COLLECTION AND WATCH IT to get a great look at the man who innovated our business!