Product Details

• Actors: Robert Klein, Daniel Schorr, Liev Schreiber, Kirk Wolfinger, Lisa Wolfinger
• Directors: David Hoffman
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: January 20, 2008
• Run Time: 240 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0018GRE8G
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,792 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With the benefit of half a century’s worth of hindsight, the events described in Sputnik Mania might seem almost quaint. But they were no laughing matter at the time. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made object capable of remaining in and sending back messages from space, in October 1957, it sent shock waves around the world. "The most important story of the century," blared one headline. "On a par with the discoveries of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus," gushed folks given to hyberbolic pronouncements. "Oh no!" cried the United States. Thanks to the Korean War, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and other factors, this country had been obsessed with Communists for a decade. Now they had beaten us into space, and our image as the world’s preeminent power took a beating, both at home and abroad. What’s more, the American government fueled a raging paranoia that suggested that Sputnik was only the beginning; if the Reds could launch a satellite, surely they could also deliver enough weapons, like Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, to wipe us off the map. Thus both the space race and the arms race began, fueled by terror, competitiveness, and a mountain of propaganda emanating from both sides. Combining interviews, photos, computer animation, and plenty of fascinating file footage (detailing everything from the dogs the Soviets sent up after Sputnik to the "rocket mania" that swept America, with plenty of face time for politicians like President Dwight Eisenhower and Premier Nikita Khrushchev as well), director/co-writer David Hoffman’s documentary tells the tale in riveting fashion. The bonus material is interesting too--and there’s a lot of it, including black & white documentaries detailing the Soviet way of life (at least as we perceived it), anti-American propaganda produced by the enemy, and various other items that seem almost risibly dated and naïve when viewed from a 21st Century perspective. --Sam Graham

Product Description

On October 4, 1957, the USSR announced to an unsuspecting world that it had launched the first man-made object ever to successfully orbit the earth. Americans were stunned, then terrified. What had happened to our vaunted academic and technological superiority? Were the Soviets going to overtake us? Worst of all, could their satellites be used as weapons of mass destruction?

The 1950s had been a heady time for Americans. Ours was the most powerful nation on earth, the leader of the free world. We were the best, the richest, the smartest and we knew it down to our very core. Then came Sputnik.

SPUTNIK MANIA, from HISTORY, vividly recalls the impact the satellite had on the American psyche, and how the shock catapulted the nation from complacency into action. Within the year, NASA was born, states instituted massive educational reforms, and a new breed of researchers rocket scientists focused on a single critical goal: winning the Space Race.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Space-Time Capsule, October 23, 2009

By	Patrick Gleeson (Limerick Ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

It's difficult today to understand how frightening a prospect an ever growing threat from the USSR provided. Everything over the iron curtain was done in the utmost secrecy, whilst to their credit the USA in the guise of NASA was a very public story. This DVD shows how paranoia filled the void left by the absence of hard facts. From the assumption that the USSR was basically a backward society, to the realisation that they has indeed launched a man in orbit - something not even attempted at the time by the US - the shock was palpable, and is illustrated excellently in this film. Liberal usage of TV and film archive from the time, along with an evocative soundtrack (including sections of El Greco by Vangelis - uncredited), and an appropriate understated narration by Liev Schreiber. A second disc of extra archive material round off the package.

Recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Doo wop, circa 1957: 'There's two moons out tonight', April 9, 2009

By	Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Russian word "sputnik" translates roughly as "traveling companion."

The USSR's successful October 1957 launch of Sputnik 1 caused some panic in the US. Potential spying capabilities and more importantly, concern that Soviet missile technology had far outpaced our own led to two hurried launchings of Vanguard rockets. Both of these attempts ended in flaming disaster.

When a month later Sputnik 2 safely carried a dog into orbit, anxieties here increased. President Eisenhower appeared on national TV to assure Americans these two satellites hurtling around the globe every hour and a half were harmless and that much had been learned about space because of them. He didn't however mention the implications of superior rocket technology on the ability to deliver nuclear weapons from Europe to North America. That was being said elsewhere, and loudly.

Released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Soviets' initial satellite missions, SPUTNIK MANIA accurately documents in 90 minutes the events, reaction and response to the first man-made objects placed in Earth orbit. Narrated by Liev Schreiber (portrayer of Orson Welles in RKO 281 - The Battle Over Citizen Kane, from 1999), additional commentary is provided by TV reporters Daniel Schorr and Jay Barbree, plus Nikita Khrushchev's son Sergei and Ike Eisenhower's granddaughter, Susan. Archive footage of many principal players is also included.


Related item:
The one-hour PBS "NOVA" documentary SPUTNIK DECLASSIFIED (2007) also explores this subject in depth.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(7.8) Sputnik Mania (2007) - Liev Schreiber/Sergei Khrushchev/Susan Eisenhower/Daniel Schorr/Jay Barbree/Paul Dickson (archive footage of: Nikita Khrushchev/Dwight D. Eisenhower/Richard Nixon/Werner Von Braun/Estelle Taylor)