The Great San Francisco Earthquake (WGBH/PBS)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episode: B
The American Experience continues to offer some
of the best hours on television and The Great San Francisco Earthquake
(2005) is another excellent installment, telling the story of how a huge
earthquake eventually led to a massive fire that wiped out the city in
1906. Before the city could be rebuilt
into what we recognize it as today, including its Chinatown section that this
documentary covers very well, the mostly wood-built area went up instantly
after a stove fire from someone just trying to cook a daytime meal cooked one
of the most famous cities in the United States.
F. Murray Abraham narrates this powerful look at the
events that reshaped the history of the city and remarkably tracks down several
survivors who are actually still alive as of the recent time of this
production. Like so many important
historical events that people used to talk about more often even ten years ago,
faster times, mass media and short memories are causing interesting and
important events like this (all the way up to pre-WWII!!!) to get lost unless a
giant feature film is made of them.
This runs nearly an hour and could have gone on for four.
The 1.33 X 1 image is good with a mix of old stills,
documents, very old silent film footage throughout and new interviews
throughout. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is
simple stereo and well recorded, making for a passably solid combination. There are no extras, though there is a
weblink and captions, but that is trite.
Fortunately, WGBH Boston Video’s The Great San Francisco Earthquake
is not and we strongly recommend you catch it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
