Oppenheimer [videorecording] / 2 Entertain ; BBC ; by Peter Prince ; directed by Barry Davis ; executive producer, Peter Goodchild ; a BBC TV production in association with WGBH Boston.
Format:
[videorecording] /
Publisher:
British Broadcasting Corp. ;
Copyright Date:
c2008
Description:
3 videodiscs (ca. 420 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in.
Narrator, John Carson; Sam Waterston as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Originally broadcast as a seven part mini-series by BBC television on October 29, November 5, 12, 19, 26, and December 3, 1980. Special features: Edward R. Murrow's historic 1955 interview with J. Robert Oppenheimer from the CBS newsmagazine "See it now"
Summary:
This miniseries opens in Berkeley, California in 1938, where pampered, tenured professors, safe on the shores of peaceful America, dabble in radical politics as the world heads inevitably towards war. J. Robert Oppenheimer is such a one. Two events--one personal, one scientific--combine to change Oppy's life forever and catapult him from a moderately successful theoretician to a world famous figure. First, news of successful fission experiments in Europe spurs him to pursue a role in the government's efforts to develop an atomic bomb. Second, new wife Kitty is pushing him to advance his career during the coming war years. Oppenheimer wanted to be both a radical and a member of the establishment; was paradoxically both a tortured socialist and a hardened realist. He appreciated the opportunity the military gave him to develop a project he would never have realized in his university career, despite believing that scientists aren't the only ones to pass moral judgments on the results of their experiments. Moreover, although some of the more unsavory aspects of Oppenheimer's career seem to have been deliberately elided, on balance, the portrayal of Oppenheimer is dramatically inclusive, and avoids the pitfalls of portraying him as a tragically heroic figure. After being shown in Britain in 1980, Oppenheimer aired in the US on PBS's American Playhouse in 1982.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.