| Description |
3 videodiscs (approximately 420 min.) : sound, color with black and white sequences ; 4 3/4 in. |
| System Details |
DVD; Region 1, NTSC; Dolby Digital mono.; full screen presentation, aspect ratio 4:3. |
| Cast |
Narrator, John Carson; Episode 1: Sam Waterston (Robert Oppenheimer), Anthony Forrest (Rossi Lomanitz), John Morton (Robert Wilson), Peter Whitman (Robert Serber), Daniel Foley (Joseph Weinberg), Kate Harper (Jean Tatlock), Peter Marinker (Haakon Chevalier), Garrick Hagon (Frank Oppenheimer), Liza Ross (Jacky Oppenheimer), Bob Sherman (Ernest Lawrence), Christopher Malcolm (Steve Nelson), Jana Sheldon (Kitty Harrison-Oppenheimer), James Smith (Dr. Harrison), Erica Stevens (Charlotte Serber); Episode 2: Manning Redwood (General Leslie Groves), Ed Devereaux (General Wilhelm Styer), Edward Hardwicke (Enrico Fermi), Matthew Guinness (Hans Bethe), David Oliver (Emil Konopinski), David Suchet (Edward Teller), Christopher Muncke (Colonel Kenneth Nichols), Alex Davion (Arthur Compton), Gabor Vernon (Leo Szilard), Colette Hiller (Barbara Chevalier); Episode 3: David Baxt (Colonel John Lansdale), Ron Berglas (John Manley), Barry Dennen (Isidor Rabi), Shane Rimmer (Ed Condon), Rosemary Faith (Mitzi Teller), Pat Starr (Alice Smith), Sarah Brackett (Priscilla Duffield), Billy J. Mitchell (Captain "Deke" Parsons), Colin Bennett (Seth Neddermeyer), Marc Smith (Lt. Colonel Boris Pash); Episode 4: Blain Fairman (Robert Bacher), Dave Hill (James Tuck), Milton Johns (George Kistiakowsky), Albert Welling (Klaus Fuchs), Douglas Lambert (Kenneth Bainbridge); Episode 5: Alexander Knox (Henry Stimson), Ed Bishop (General Tom Farrell), Michael John Paliotti (Sam Allison); Episode 6: Peter Banks (Joseph Volpe), Phil Brown (Lewis Strauss), Bob Sessions (Thomas Finletter), Robert Robinson (Senator Knowland), Stephen Turner (David Griggs), Ray Charleson (William Borden), Raymond Thompson (Francis Colter), James Waterston (Peter Oppenheimer), Elizabeth Giles (Toni Oppenheimer), Audrey Hamilton (Carol Chevalier); Episode 7: George Gabriel (Harold Green), Stuart Milligan (Herbert Marks), James Maxwell (Lloyd Garrison), Philip O'Brien (Roger Robb), Seymour Green (Gordon Gray), Robert Arden (John McCloy). |
| Credits |
Technical advisors, John Charap, R.G. Hewlett, J. Rotblat, W.G. Marley, Ernest Titterton ; cameramen, Rodney Taylor, Peter Hall ; editors, Ron Bowman, Tariq Anwar ; costume designer, Caroline Maxwell ; music composed by Carl Davis ; research, Katharine Everett, Angela Clarke, Caroline Davidson ; production designers, Ray London, Austen Spriggs, Carol Golder. |
| Event |
Originally broadcast as a seven part mini-series by BBC television on October 29, November 5, 12, 19, 26, and December 3, 1980. |
| Audience |
MPAA Rating: Not rated. |
| 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. |
| Contents |
Disc one. Episode 1: Class is over? -- Parties, meetings, rallies -- Forgive me? -- Chain reaction -- Power and pressure -- You cheat! -- Its good to talk -- Unexpected guest -- We're going to be married (1980) (58 min.); Episode 2: Manhattan Project -- How's your wife? -- Army brass -- Too many problems -- Electro-magnetic separation -- Plenty to know -- Security -- American century -- No more problems (1980) (57 min.); Episode 3: Associations -- Confusion to our enemies -- Los Alamos -- So far, so good -- Clever guy -- Whose side are you on? -- Don't let me down -- It's my duty -- Big fish (1980) (60 min.). |
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Disc two. Episode 4: Implosion -- Expediency -- First class chemist -- Let me do my work -- Good luck -- Action -- God damn this place -- Sugar coated -- President has died (1980) (60 min.); Episode 5: Summer, 1945 -- Without prior warning -- Implosion blues -- Like a glove -- Scapegoat -- One last look -- It's go! -- I am become death -- August 6th (1980) (61 min.). |
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Disc three. Episode 6: Un-American activities -- Suffer fools gladly -- Frank the red -- Response -- Question of morality -- We who are about to die... -- Life and death of nations -- Throwing punches -- Winter, 1953 (1980) (60 min.); Episode 7: Voracity -- It's a sick world -- Blank pad rule -- Hearing -- Secrets -- Yes or no -- Witnesses -- Manifestation of hysteria -- Moral support -- Exiled (1980) (68 min.); Special features: See it now: Dr. Robert Oppenheimer / [interviewed by Edward R. Murrow] (1955) (26 min.). |
| Language |
In English with optional subtitles in English for the deaf and hard of hearing. |
| Note |
GMD: videorecording. |
| Subject |
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967 -- Drama.
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Manhattan Project (U.S.)
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Atomic bomb -- United States -- History -- Drama.
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Physicists -- United States -- Drama.
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Science -- Experiments -- Drama.
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Los Alamos (N.M.)
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| Genre/Form |
Biographical television programs.
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Historical television programs.
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Television mini-series.
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Television mini-series -- Great Britain.
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Video recordings for the hearing impaired.
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| Added Author |
Prince, Peter, 1942- Screenwriter.
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Davis, Barry, 1936-1990. Director.
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Goodchild, Peter, 1947- Producer.
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Carson, John, 1927-2016. Narrator.
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Waterston, Sam. Actor.
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Muncke, Christopher. Actor.
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Suchet, David. Actor.
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Hardwicke, Edward. Actor.
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Shelden, Jana. Actor.
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Redwood, Manning, 1929-2006. Actor.
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Guinness, Matthew. Actor.
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Whitman, Peter. Actor.
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Dennen, Barry. Actor.
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Sherman, Bob, 1940-2004. Actor.
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Hagon, Garrick. Actor.
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Morton, John. Actor.
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Fairman, Blain. Actor.
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Harper, Kate. Actor.
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Ross, Liza. Actor.
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Marinker, Peter. Actor.
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2 Entertain (Firm)
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British Broadcasting Corporation.
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British Broadcasting Corporation. Television Service.
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WGBH (Television station : Boston, Mass.)
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BBC Video (Firm)
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Warner Home Video (Firm)
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| Note |
Title on container: Oppenheimer : the father of the atomic bomb |
| ISBN |
1419867563 |
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9781419867569 |
| Standard No. |
883929017904 |
| Music No. |
1000038455 BBC Video (set) |
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2000003271 BBC Video (disc 1) |
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2000003272 BBC Video (disc 2) |
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2000003273 BBC Video (disc 3) |
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