Search - American Experience - Influenza 1918 on DVD


American Experience - Influenza 1918
American Experience - Influenza 1918
Actors: David McCullough, David Ogden Stiers, Joe Morton, Liev Schreiber, Linda Hunt
Genres: Television, Documentary, Mystery & Suspense, Military & War
NR     2006     1hr 0min

As the nation mobilized for war in the spring of 1918, ailing Private Albert Gitchell reported to an army hospital in Kansas. He was diagnosed with the flu, a disease about which doctors knew little. Before the year was ou...  more »

     
4

Larger Image

Movie Details

Actors: David McCullough, David Ogden Stiers, Joe Morton, Liev Schreiber, Linda Hunt
Creators: Katy Mostoller, Michael Rossi, Rocky Collins, Tracy Heather Strain, Henry Hampton
Genres: Television, Documentary, Mystery & Suspense, Military & War
Sub-Genres: Television, Documentary, Mystery & Suspense, Military & War
Studio: Pbs (Direct)
Format: DVD - Color
DVD Release Date: 06/06/2006
Original Release Date: 04/18/2005
Theatrical Release Date: 04/18/2005
Release Year: 2006
Run Time: 1hr 0min
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 16
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English

Similar Movies

The Plague
History Channel
2
   NR   2006   1hr 40min
NOVA Ebola - The Plague Fighters
Director: Nova
3
   NR   2007   0hr 54min

Similarly Requested DVDs

Firefly - The Complete Series
Directors: Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, Vern Gillum
   NR   2003   11hr 15min
   
Jesse Stone Death In Paradise
Director: Robert Harmon
   UR   2007   1hr 27min
   
The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring
Widescreen Edition
Director: Peter Jackson
   PG-13   2002   2hr 58min
   
Food Inc
Director: Robert Kenner
   PG   2009   1hr 31min
   
Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey Season 2 DVD
Original U.K. Unedited Edition
Director: Julian Fellowes
   2012   8hr 0min
   
Shrek 2
Widescreen Edition
Director: Andrew Adamson
   PG   2004   1hr 33min
   
Pocahontas
10th Anniversary Edition
Directors: Eric Goldberg, Mike Gabriel
   G   2005   1hr 21min
   
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Director: Joel Zwick
   PG   2003   1hr 35min
   
Jesse Stone Thin Ice
Director: Robert Harmon
   UR   2009   1hr 28min
   
The Greatest Game Ever Played
Director: Bill Paxton
   PG   2006   2hr 0min
   
 

Movie Reviews

A forgotten tragedy
Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 06/15/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I did relatively well in high school American history and yet I never heard of this national crisis. I guess World War I wasn't the only big deal of the 1910s. I am glad to see that the American Experience series not only covers great names, wars, and transportational feats, but also health concerns.

I recall that Charlie Chaplin's sweetheart died in a flu epidemic in Britain, but I didn't know the problem started in the United States. (If our revolution and our stock market crash can have global effects, I guess I should not be surprised.) It's easy to think of the bubonic plague as the world's only human international die-off. However, this film shows that it happened in the recent past too. This shows that savage diseases can be spread widely, unlike the localization of Ebola or SARS. I learned that the Titanic's sinking humbled early 20th-century modernists, but this flu outbreak must have been the same way. Nowadays, incurable diseases are usually associated with stigmatized groups. In contrast, this work clearly points to American soldiers, a well-respected group, as the cause of the spread.

This work proved the problem was cross-regional. This is not example of something on the East Coast being equated with all of America. The epidemic hit Philadelphia, but San Francisco, Nebraska, and the Dakotas as well. This work starts with interviewees waxing nostalgic about the pre-flu period. I thought it was offensive to think of a Jim Crow time as wonderful. However, this work compensates by interviewing an African-American witness to the crisis and a person recalling how a Native American group was affected.

In "Memoirs of a Geisha," one character says, "The interesting thing about wars is that you never know who will survive and who will not." This work revealed the same is true in epidemics. It was a bit anti-climactic how this crisis was resolved, but history doesn't usually have spectacular conclusions. After the bubonic plague, Europeans stopped killing cats and started killing mice. Because of AIDS, many are now practicing safer sex and cleaning drug needles. This documentary doesn't suggest that public health changed at all due to the flu. I'm surprised by that.

I usually don't care for scientific matters, but this work was informative and really has my wheels spinning."
Started my interest in pandemic influenza
A. Stagg | Virginia, USA | 07/05/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)

"When this film was originally broadcast on PBS in 1998, I had not heard of the 1918 Spanish Influenza. I was shocked that I had never heard of the 1918 pandemic, given the impact it had on the 20th century. I've now read every book I coould find that chronicles the outbreak. Some of the historical facts in the film may be disputed in other histories, but it's a solid documentary and I highly recommend it. It is a rivoting film."
My Favorite PBS Documentary
Wendy | 02/13/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was my favorite American Experience documentary. I saw it years ago and never forgot it, so I bought it recently from Amazon to see if it still had the same effect on me. It did. A haunting and poignantportrait of our innocence in that era. The filmmakers paid great attention to detail and successfully captured the mood.This is such an engrossing film I had to give it five stars."
Influenza epidemic / tragedy
Busy mom | Knoxville, TN | 02/28/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a nurse, I was facinated by this incredible event that many of us have perhaps never heard about. It is interesting to me how far we have come both in medicine and nursing care, yet we still don't have all the answers. It was a well put together documentary with footage of the times as well as the interviews that gave a first hand look at how people were affected. One interviewee states, "In the middle of a crisis, you need to do something even if its wrong." This is useful for teaching both history and science and is appropriate for middle and high school students. Teachers will appreciate that it has a teacher guide in Adobe PDF format."