"Longitude," in my view, is docco-drama at its best and could have been utterly boring, in lesser hands than Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons.
Longitude is actually two stories set about 200 years apart;
the first is set in the 18th. Century, about the carpenter, John Harrison (Michael Gambon), who believe that a clock impervious to extremes of temperature and the motion of a ship at sea will solve the problem of determining longitude.
The second, set in the early 20th century, tells of the trials and tribulations of Cdr.Rupert Gould (Jeremy Irons),"on leave" from the Royal Navy, in finding and restoring Harrisons' 4 clocks.
It was common knowledge, even in the 18th. Century, that the Earth turns through 1º every 3 minutes 56 seconds. If every 3'56" unit of time = 1º of Longitude then all mariners need is some arbitrary Prime Meridian to compare with ship's time at noon! i.e. Greenwich. Through the Act of Queen Anne, Parliament offered a prize of £20,000, to anyone who could find a practical way to find longitude at sea.
To Harrison that meant a clock that could keep time at sea and so he presented the ad hoc Board of Longitude with the world's first chronometer. He was opposed by the "lunatics" on the board, personified by the obese Dr. Bliss (Ian McNeice) and rodent like Rev. Nevil Maskelyne (Samuel West,)astromomers who insisted that "lunar observations, properly charted, would solve the problem of navigation at sea" even though the moon could not be seen for 12 days in every month.
Gould was a British Officer in "disgrace for conduct un-becoming;" a nervous breakdown no less ~ whilst on active duty at sea in World War I. In the early 20th. Century it seems, Post-traumatic Stress disorder was no excuse for a British Officer and Gentleman to "fail in setting an example to the British Other Ranks." Gould had further "blotted his copy-book" by seperation from his wife Muriel (Anna Chancellor) who found the strain from his "obsession" with restoring Harrison's clocks unbearable.
After a roller-coaster ride of triumph and setbacks, the stories come together at the Greenwich Obseratory where Harrison's four clocks, restored by Gould and his journals on their restoration, are on joint display.
Harrison was given his £20,000 at the age of 80 by special act of Parliament and had 2 years to enjoy his wealth before his death on March 24, 1776. Gould was given a gold medal in 1946 and often appeared on the "The Brain's Trust" until his death 5 October 1948.
This two disc version of "Longitude" includes a useful docco that clarifies the Board's resistance to Harrison's "machanical" solution to finding longitude at sea: the board members, university educated astronomers, were deeply incensed by the prospect of handing over the £20,000 prize to a country tool-maker and not a man of science!
For me the great irony of "Longitude" lay in the clockmaker George Graham's(Peter Vaughan) warning to Harrison, that "the Board wants a practical solution - they won't reward a theory," because in their grim determination to ignore Harrison, in favor of luna observations the likes of Bliss and Maskelyne spent 40 years trying to do JUST THAT!
A quotation from elsewhere:
"In the excellent film "Longitude" Rupert Gould is seen on the TV version of "The Brains Trust," but the show was not televised until 4 September 1955; seven years after his death. The radio version of "The Brains' Trust" had it's first transmission on 1 January 1941."
Still both Harrison and Gould stuck to their guns and won out in the end and that makes it more than just a docco to me.
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Don’t buy unless you reside in DVD REGION 2! Read my complete review for an explanation.
This disc will only play in Region 2. In my case I live in the United States. It will not play in th US or any other region other than region 2. The US is region 1. Literally, I had to use a magnifying glass to read the region code and even then it was difficult. It was printed on the bottom right of the back cover. There was no information explaining the code or appropriate countries for each region. I complained to the seller but he said as long as I opened the packaging I could not return it. He said that the region code was explained on the product page but I looked and could find it. When I complained to the seller that there was no region scope on the page they said, “Amazon” would not let them display it and removed it! They said Amazon should refund my money but Amazon did not!! Hey Amazon I am being ripped off! Refund my money!The movie is great and I had seen it on A&E years ago and the book is one of my favorites.From Amazon ...About DVD Region SpecificationsGlobal region codes identify DVDs and Blu-ray discs that are compatible with the players typically sold in that region.The following are the different regions and their corresponding numerical equivalent:Standard DVDsRegion 1: U.S., U.S. Territories, Canada, and BermudaRegion 2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East, including EgyptRegion 3: Southeast Asia, East Asia, including Hong KongRegion 4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, South America, and the CaribbeanRegion 5: Eastern Europe, Baltic States, Russia, Central and South Asia, Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and MongoliaRegion 6: ChinaBlu-ray DiscsRegion A/1: North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast AsiaRegion B/2: Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New ZealandRegion C/3: India, Nepal, Mainland China, Russia, Central and South AsiaNote: Most of the DVDs and Blu-ray discs sold by Amazon.com are only encoded for Region 1 or Region A. These titles only play in one region unless noted otherwise.
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