Another reliably well-crafted, generally engrossing documentary from Ken Burns, Lewis & Clark employs the director's now-familiar approach to his subjects, from its elegant juxtaposition of period illustrations and portraits against newly filmed footage of historic sites to Burns's repertory of accomplished actors to provide gravitas for quotes from the key figures. Granted the formula has ...
Manufacturer: Pbs Home VideoStarring: Hal Holbrook, Adam Arkin, Murphy Guyer, Sam Waterston, Matthew BroderickDirected By: Ken Burns
Since its premiere on PBS in September 1996, The West has rightfully assumed its place as a milestone event in television history, and remains the single most ambitious and authoritative audio-visual history of the American West. Spanning centuries but focusing primarily on the period of 1800 to 1915, when America was virtually redefined by westward expansion, this outstanding 12.5-hour ...
Manufacturer: PBS Home Video & Time-Life VideoDirected By: Stephen Ives, Ken Burns
Revered as the author of the Declaration of Independence yet condemned as a slave owner, Thomas Jefferson has entered a new era of controversy. This penetrating biography first portrays the young Jefferson from the Virginia wilderness, transformed by the philosophic fire of the American Revolution. Torn between his career and family life at Monticello, he suffers heartrending personal loss even as ...
Manufacturer: Pbs Home VideoStarring: Blythe Danner, Ossie Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Potts, Sam WaterstonDirected By: Ken Burns
Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest of all American architects. He was an authentic American genius, a man who believed he was destined to redesign the world, creating everything anew. Over the course of his long career, Wright designed over eight hundred buildings, including such revolutionary structures as the Guggenheim Museum, the Johnson Wax Building, Fallingwater, Unity Temple and Taliesin. ...
Manufacturer: Turner Home Entertainment CoStarring: Edward Herrmann, Philip Bosco, Julie Harris, Sab ShimonoDirected By: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick
Two women. One allegiance. Together they fought for women everywhere, and their strong willpower and sheer determination still ripples through contemporary society. Here lies the story of two of our century's most celebrated pioneers - Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Recount the trials, tribulations and triumphs of these two women as they strive to give birth to the women's movement. ...
Manufacturer: Pbs Home VideoStarring: Sally Kellerman, Ronnie Gilbert, Julie Harris, Amy Madigan, Keith DavidDirected By: Ken Burns
These seven brilliant programs by America's foremost documentary filmmaker comprise a glorious anthem to a great nation and its people. "Brooklyn Bridge" and "Statue of Liberty" chronicle the conception and building of these magnificent structures that grace New York Harbor. "Empire of the Air" is an absorbing history of radio and the men who created it, while "The Congress" is a fascinating ...
Manufacturer: Pbs Home VideoStarring: Jason Robards, Red Barber, Erik Barnouw, Ken Bilby, Norman CorwinDirected By: Amy Stechler, Ken Burns
He was considered, in his time, to be the funniest man on Earth. Mark Twain is the fifth film in Ken Burns's popular American Lives series and features interviews with Hal Holbrook, Arthur Miller and leading Twain scholars. A popular humorist, philosopher and social satirist, Mark Twain was the well-known nom-de-plume of writer Samuel Clemens, the nation's first literary celebrity. ...
Manufacturer: Pbs Home VideoStarring: Keith David, Kevin Conway, Philip Bosco, Blythe Danner, Tim ClarkDirected By: Ken Burns
Like a juicy page-turner, Ken Burns's two-hour documentary on the history of radio is packed with tantalizing ingredients: power, greed, broken friendships, narcissistic heroes, and tragic players. Adapted from Tom Lewis's absorbing book, Empire follows three Americans who crafted Guglielmo Marconi's discovery of radio waves into a powerful component of the 20th century: foppish inventor ...
Manufacturer: PBS Home VideoStarring: Jason Robards, Red Barber, Erik Barnouw, Ken Bilby, Norman CorwinDirected By: Ken Burns
The story of Huey Long is the quintessential drama of power and ethics. To his constituents, he was a populist hero. To his critics, he was the unscrupulous "dictator of Louisiana" who didn't break the law, but used the law to achieve his own ends. A towering figure on the political landscape, Louisiana's infamous governor and United States senator may well have wound up in the White House, had he ...
Manufacturer: PBS Home VideoStarring: Huey Long, Russell Long, David McCullough, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I.F. StoneDirected By: Ken Burns
This hard-drinking "bantam rooster" of a painter was arguably as famous for his art-world politics as he was for his remarkable body of work, according to Ken Burns's dynamic documentary. Using the usual interviews with friends, family, critics, and historians combined with old newsreels, television interviews, and myriad paintings as backdrops, Burns has produced an unusually entertaining work. ...
Manufacturer: Pbs Home VideoStarring: Thomas Hart Benton, Jason RobardsDirected By: Ken Burns
