Amazon.co.uk Review
Gracefully adapted from Dava Sobel's extraordinary bestseller, the four-part TV production of Longitude combines drama, history and science into a stimulating, painstakingly authentic account of personal triumph and joyous discovery. Equally impressive is the way writer-director Charles Sturridge has crafted parallel stories that complement each other with enriching perspective. The first story involves the successful 40-year effort of 18th-century clockmaker John Harrison (Michael Gambon) to solve the elusive problem of measuring longitude at sea. In 1714 the British Parliament had offered a generous reward to anyone who solved the problem, and Harrison devoted his life to that solution. The second story, some 200 years later, involves the effort of shell-shocked British Navy veteran Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) to restore the glorious clocks that Harrison had built. Like Harrison, Gould is the most admirable type of obsessive, but, also like Harrison, he risks his marriage to accomplish his difficult task. Thousands of sailors perished at sea before Harrison's triumph changed history, but Longitude demonstrates that Harrison's glory was slow to arrive--and his prize money even slower. A fascinating study of 18th-century British politics and clashing egos in the arena of science, the film is both epic and intimate in consequence , and Sturridge's magnificent script inspires Gambon and Irons to do some of the best work of their outstanding careers . The ever-reliable Ian Hart appears in Part 3 as Harrison's now-adult son and apprentice, and Longitude approaches its dramatic climax with the exhilarating tension of a first-rate thriller. Rallying after sickness to prove the integrity of their marvellous seafaring chronometers, the Harrisons still had to fight for official recognition, and Gould's restoration of the Harrison clockworks provides a fitting coda to this exceptional story about the thrill of discovery and the tenacity of remarkable men. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
DVD Description
DVD Features:
Video Aspect Ratio: 16:9 letterbox
Soundtrack: English Dolby 3.0 Surround
Subtitles: None
Synopsis
In Longitude, an 18th-century clock-maker named Jon Harrison (Michael Gambon) begins what is to become a 40-year task to invent a system for determining longitude at sea with a nautical timepiece. Meanwhile, 200 years in the future, naval officer Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons) discovers Harrison's neglected chronometers and sets out to restore them. Directed by Charles Sturridge, Longitude is a high seas saga of passion, determination and discovery.
From the Back Cover
Once out of sight of land, mariners had no reliable way of telling their exact position in the world's seemingly endless oceans, so on 1714 Parliament offered a 20,000 prize to anyone who could accurately measure longitude at sea.
This is the true story of one man's forty-year struggle to win the prize money by proving that his mechanical clock was the answer, not the stars as most people in the scientific establishment believed.
It also tells the story of Rupert Gould, who two centuries later tracked down the four machines Harrison had built and took on the task of restoring both the reputation and the physical condition of the clocks, enabling future generations to realise the significance of Harrison's vision.
