Not So Long Ago (Project Twenty/TV)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Episode: C+
In the continued rollout of installments of NBC-TV’s
Emmy-winning series Project Twenty, guest narrator Bob Hope looks at
World War II and how it affected the United States in Not So Long Ago
(1960), a show that might be playing just too loose with some very serious
history.
Though not intended, the series was still following some
of the formula that made movie studio-produced newsreels and that means rushing
through important things. TV is
supposed to have the luxury of time, but items like the Holocaust and the
Communist Witch-hunt Blacklisting in Hollywood (almost portraying “The
Hollywood Ten” as wrong) is very problematic now. What saves the show are a few moments of irony and the richness
of the stock footage. Some of it needs
no introduction.
The full
frame image, all in black and white, is not as clear as some other
installments. There are specks of dust
and some print damage, but this has survived surprisingly well for its
age. The audio is somewhat small
sounding, even for Dolby Digital 2.0 and the age of the program and Hope’s
voice-over is the culprit in this case.
There are no extras. Not So
Long Ago is now much longer ago at about 45 years additional, but
it is worth a look, as long as you expect what we would now thing of as
insensitivity.
- Nicholas Sheffo
