powysa
Seek information on this 1971 big-budget 6-part series, and you'll seek in vain. No Wikipedia page, hardly any online presence at all. And yet at the time, it was fulsomely praised, received awards, was an internationally popular success. So why the present obscurity?Look no further than the content, which is obviously not what the BBC and Time-Life their American co-financer, in whatever form they now exist, have at least until very recently wanted to even take credit for, let alone promote.In contrast to modern portayals of past ages, which are usually peopled by 21st century ciphers in fancy dress, this feels like the real thing brought to life. And with no health warnings, signposting, PC tinkering etc. So you'll see evidence of slavery (by Arabs btw, not Europeans), black people behaving tribally, white people behaving like they were more socially advanced than others (which they were), men behaving like real men and women tagging along (and liking it!), all unchallenged, with the viewer left to make up his/her own mind about what's good/bad, right/wrong. Left to make an unprotected adult value judgement. Shocking.The production values are high, with true-to-reality location shooting. Gorgeous cinematography abounds, with no loathsome caught-in-the-middle-of-a-video-game HD in sight, just warm immersive 35mm film. The characters are an amazing range of larger-than-life oneoffs. There are dramatic situations and intelligent dialogue throughout.The production is not flawless; the team evidently had their agenda. Speke's motives are relentlessly darkened, perhaps to augment his great conflict with Burton: unnecessary, the reality was quite dramatic enough. Baker's 'wife' (they weren't - shock, horror - actually married at the time) is reduced to an eye-candy cipher. Livingstone has a halo practically grafted onto him in every scene. Time-Life's fingerprints are evident in Stanley's portrayal as an all-American hero, despite being barely American, right down to having a full American accent (living there only 8 years of his life, unlikely) and carrying - or rather having his slaves/workers carry - a US flag all through Africa (highly unlikely). Plus semi-whitewashing of his murderous tendencies.But these character simplifications are the only relatively minor caveat. Every other aspect is top notch. Best of all, as a result of watching it I was encouraged to dig deeper into the 'real' story. How many modern productions would have a similar effect? If you prefer your historic portrayals full of anachronisms, PC constructs and romantic cliches, with intrusive background music and post-production trickery, 'Downton Abbey' and 'Poldark' beckon. For the rest of us, 'The Source Of The Nile' is stirring, intelligent, educational entertainment with a total sense of immersion, from an age where British-derived productions had these values at their core, rather than debased ratings-driven criteria. And when British programme-makers were not so ashamed as is the case today of portraying their own, frequently glorious, history as it actually happened. So there's really nothing like it now. It's a genuine outrage that it's been buried for so long, and it's still 'censored' inasmuch as not being re-broadcast anywhere, but at least it's now available in DVD form.Highly recommended.
edgenrlo
When is the search for the Nile going to become available for purchase? I have been searching for years to buy it, but nothing.I have heard that the movie, the mountains on the moon is similar. I will try to buy that movie.I have gone to many sites wanting to buy it, but nothing. Does anybody know where I can buy it? Does masterpiece theater have any for sale? Why don't they repeat programs like this one? The Search For The Nile is a must to see. Please see that it can be sold soon.Who narrated this program? was it James Mason? What was the year it was film?
scrbblr
I too have been wishing for years that this excellent series were available on DVD or video. It featured vivid, memorable performances that, to this day, color my impressions of Burton, Speke, and Livingston, and I still remember the mounting suspense as the first two of these explorers prepare to debate their theories of the source of the Nile before (if memory serves) the Royal Geographical Society. Maybe we're all getting spoiled, because it sometimes seems as if virtually everything is accessible today via Netflix or the Net... but here's a series that, it seems, has a built-in audience, a superb reputation, and some genuine educational value, yet all of its fans are forced to rely on decades-old memories of it. Making it available would be a true public service!
