Longitude (2000) (TV)

Director:

Charles Sturridge

Writers:

Dava Sobel (book)
Charles Sturridge (writer)

Release Date:

2 January 2000 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.

Plot Keywords:

Clock | Sea | Navigation | Parallel Story | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

7 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jonathan Coy	...	Adm. Sir Cloudsley Shovell
Christopher Hodsol	...	Capt. Ainsley
Jeremy Irons	...	Rupert Gould
Peter Cartwright	...	Army Doctor
Gemma Jones	...	Elizabeth Harrison
John Nettleton	...	Minister for the Navy
Michael Gambon	...	John Harrison
Nigel Davenport	...	Sir Charles Pelham
Liam Jennings	...	Young William Harrison
Anna Chancellor	...	Muriel Gould
Frank Finlay	...	Adm. Wagner
Geoffrey Hutchings	...	Estate Manager
Andrew Scott	...	John Campbell
John Standing	...	Capt. Proctor
John Wood	...	Sir Edmund Halley

Runtime:

250 min (2 parts) | USA:200 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda

Company:

A&E Television Networks

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the very beginning of the series the Admiral refers repeatedly to "His Majesty's Navy" and "His Majesty's Officers". The incident takes place in 1707 when Queen Anne was on the throne.

Quotes:

George Graham: Mr. Harrison! Summer and winter... how is it done? How is it done, the compensation?
John Harrison: I use a pendulum of different metals that work against each other.
George Graham: Impossible. Doesn't work. I've tried it.
John Harrison: It is possible. It does work. I've built it.

Movie Connections:

References "The Brains Trust" (1955)

Remarkably Good

Who would of thought that a movie about Longitude could be so engaging? Great acting and a compelling story telling turn an historical footnote into a great drama.

The story flip flops back and forth between the life of a shell shocked (literally) 20th century academic and the tale of an 18th century clockmaker, John Harrison, obsessed with winning the Prize of Queen Anne for calculating longitude.

The surprising part is that the two loosely related plot lines work so well together, despite frequent and rapid cuts back and forth. This is a tribute to the great acting skills of the cast, including Jeremy Irons as the 20th century academic. At times, you have to wonder what the heck Iron's struggles with sanity have to do with the 18th century story, but it all seems to quietly tie together in the end.

Harrison knows that if he can develop an accurate watch, solving longitude was a breeze. This may seem academic, but the lives of British seamen were literally at stake. Developing an accurate timepiece was a far more difficult task than we can today imagine, and Harrison faced a skeptical board of theoreticians who preferred more complex scientific solutions than they thought could be provided by a humble clockmaker. The board utterly fails to grasp that the simple solution is the product of a profoundly complex and innovative device.

We think so highly of the great technological achievements of our times, and they are great. We need to be reminded from time to time, as this film does so well, that the breakthroughs of other generations were in there time quite profound. Moreover, we would not be where we are today without them. As the great Sir Issac Newton once said, "If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the backs of giants".