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List Price: $24.98 | | Label: PBS (Direct)
Salesrank: 15442
Released: June 6, 2006 |
| Our Price: $13.83 |
| Used Price: $12.39 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
As the nation mobilized for war in the spring of 1918, ailing Private Albert Gitchell reported to an army hospital in Kansas. He was diagnosed with the flu, a disease about which doctors knew little. Before the year was out, America would be ravaged by a flu epidemic that killed 675,000 people--more than died in all the wars of this century combined--before disappearing as mysteriously as it began.
American Experience - Influenza 1918 Reviews:
Haunting 
2009-11-29 - This 50-minute video packs in a lot of facts about this event that keeps one wondering when another pandemic of such a caliber could strike again.
We were a developing country with a lead in science. We had discovered the cure for polio, cholera, diphtheria. We were sure we could fight any other diseases that came our way.
We were wrong.
This strain struck our soldiers at Fort Riley toward the end of WWI. Soldiers were falling ill fast from this virus and doctors had no idea what was killing off our troops. We had troops to send overseas on large, crowded troop transporters, where the air-borne virus would easily spread and infect an entire carrier in a few days. This pandemic killed more Americans than all our wars in the 20th century and over 30 million world-wide, thanks to developing aircraft transportation used for the war effort. Almost every family on the eastern seaboard, especially Philadelphia, was affected. People were literally dropping dead in the streets. Scientists didn't have powerful enough microscopes yet to detect this virus, and thus had no way to develop an anti-virus for this strain. The electron-microscope had not been invented yet.
Interviews with survivors, elderly who lost family members or childhood friends, scientists are interviewed for this poignant production. Scenes of white curtains blowing in gentle window breezes add a touch of suspense to this video; one feels how traumatic the 1918 flu strain was to everyone alive at the time. And this video haunts your brain for days later.
So why, if this was such a traumatic event, did this event fall out of our collective conscienceness? Because, as one scientist explains, this was so traumatic an event that people would prefer to forget about it, although it lingers in the back of everyone's mind.
Do NOT watch this video if you are feeling sick, especially if you have bronchial problems. It may haunt you too much.
Influenza 1918
2009-06-13 - Excellent film. Real history of those terrible days both overseas and here at home. This was personal for me because my father was in World War 1 at this time and got the flu in France. He was shipped back home and recuperated in a hospital in New York.
Wow!
2009-04-08 - I just previewed this short film and was really taken back at how fascinating the story is behind the Spanish Influenza. I was never taught about it in school or college and I'm a history major, it truly is a forgotten and often overlooked topic. This movie would be great for showing students and is in parts a tear-jerker. Powerful images, poignant music, and a great overview of this influenza. It makes you think about if we are prepared should a new strain arise. Great movie!
Great, interesting DVD--American Experience quality!
2008-06-18 - This is a great DVD for history buffs. American Experience always produces quality programs, and this is no exception. Fascinating story of the pandemic with focus on small-town USA. Good footage and interviews!
Influenza epidemic / tragedy
2008-02-28 - As a nurse, I was facinated by this incredible event that many of us have perhaps never heard about. It is interesting to me how far we have come both in medicine and nursing care, yet we still don't have all the answers. It was a well put together documentary with footage of the times as well as the interviews that gave a first hand look at how people were affected. One interviewee states, "In the middle of a crisis, you need to do something even if its wrong." This is useful for teaching both history and science and is appropriate for middle and high school students. Teachers will appreciate that it has a teacher guide in Adobe PDF format.
