Eric Sevareid Movies

This episode of WGBH Boston's globally-acclaimed American Experience series for PBS, entitled The Great War of 1918, uses archival footage and candid interviews with survivors of WWI to detail - in great horror - how the automatization of warfare virtually destroyed every romantic and poetic notion the United States held of "going off to fight." With the advent of poison gas, tanks, the machine gun, long-range explosives, and trench warfare, World War I blindly destroyed millions of American lives, and - almost a century later - remains the most tragic conflict that the United States has yet entered, its casualties towering high above WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. This fascinating and disturbing program gingerly explores that conflict and serves as a reminder and a warning, cautioning us against similar calamities that threaten to arise in the future. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This documentary depicts the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, "the push on Japan," and the prominent personalities involved in the campaign. Original newsreel stories are used to show the events in these two decisive battles in the Pacific theater that resulted in the unconditional surrender of Japan in 1945. The American Navy sent the largest fleet in history to do battle in Okinawa, where 16,000 Americans died. Japanese fatalities were ten times that number. Iwo Jima, which means "Sulfur Island," was strategically important as an air base for fighter escorts supporting long-range bombing missions against mainland Japan. The U.S. Marines, by their individual and collective courage, won a strategic victory, and the Japanese suffered a fatal setback in trying to stave off loss. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

This documentary looks at November of 1938 when Jewish Synagogues and businesses were vandalized. Interview with witnesses are included. ~ All Movie Guide

This spy film purports to be inspired by the true story of Kim Philby (1912-1988), a British intelligence officer and Soviet spy during the 1940s and '50s who gained international notoriety when he blew his cover and defected to the USSR in 1963. But this fictional, unsophisticated, if not naive docudrama portrays a world of espionage in a cross between Nancy Drew and Sam Spade, and Philby's real story is buried in the process. The film opens with British double agent Philip Kimberly (Michael Caine) undergoing complete plastic surgery by order of his Soviet bosses, while his death is announced in the world press. With a different name and face, Kimberly -- now Kuzminsky -- is sent back to England in the guise of a Soviet citizen to retrieve a secret list of names he supposedly hid several years ago. Kusminsky/Kimberly defects at the British passport control, and later escapes his British guards -- leading to a manhunt by both British and Soviet agents. His chief nemesis is Admiral Scaith (Laurence Olivier) and the man he assigns to the case, Jaime Fraser (Robert Powell) -- who just happens to be living with Kimberly's daughter. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Covering some 15 years, The Right Stuff recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepard, the first American in space; Fred Ward is Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and Ed Harris is John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are Deke Slayton (Scott Paulin), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank), Wally Schirra (Lance Henriksen) and Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid). Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vietnam: Chronicle of a War is a documentary which maps the stages of the United States' military involvement in the Vietnam War. Produced by CBS News, the program features historic wartime footage and interviews with key political players. Walter Cronkite narrates. News legends Charles Collingwood, Charles Kuralt, Dan Rather, Morley Safer, Eric Sevareid, and others contribute reports. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide