Product Description
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PROHIBITION, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick,
tells the story of the rise, rule and fall of the 18th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution. The film starts with the early history
of alcohol in America and examines the 19th-century temperance
and progressive movements through the repeal of the 18th
Amendment in 1933. This 6-hour, three part documentary also
includes over 2 hours of bonus content.
.com
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It's hard to comprehend now, but nearly a century ago,
Americans were denied both the pleasures and evils of alcohol for
a period of almost 14 years--a strange and tumultuous time
chronicled in edifying detail in Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's
Prohibition, a three-part (and three-disc) documentary first
broadcast by PBS. Part One, "A Nation of Drunkards," contemplates
the lead-up to Prohibition. And a long lead-up it was, as
preachers, women alarmed by their husbands' debilitating
drunkenness, and others were railing against the evils of
drinking nearly 100 years before the 18th Amendment, which banned
"the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating
liquors," went into effect in January 1920. Calls for temperance
in the mid-19th century soon gave way to strident demands for
total abstinence, influenced by groups like the Women's Christian
Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, along with
self-righteous crusaders like Carrie Nation (who wielded a
hatchet as she decimated drinking establishments in her home
state of Kansas). Once the federal income tax was introduced,
thus eliminating government dependence on liquor taxes--which at
one point accounted for 70 percent of all US revenue!--the path
to passage of the amendment was cleared. But in their zeal to
impose their morals on the rest of the country, the "Drys," as
they were called, failed to foresee that of the
amendment and its harsh enabling legislation, the Volstead Act,
would be nearly impossible. That issue is examined in Part Two,
"A Nation of Scofflaws," which describes the deluge of bribery,
corruption, defiance of the law by ordinary citizens (the
"Wets"), and, perhaps most notably, the enormous as of money
to be made from the distribution of illegal liquor (which in turn
led to the rise of Al Capone and many, many other powerful
gangsters) that came in the law's wake. In Part Three, "A Nation
of Hypocrites," we witness the ultimate failure of Prohibition,
culminating in the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933. In the
end, we're told, the rigid religious fundamentalism of the Drys,
who refused to consider even the slightest modification of the
law, was the principal cause of its downfall--accompanied, of
course, by the simple fact that people love to drink.
This is a fascinating subject, and Burns, Novick, and their
collaborators present it with the precision and flair seen in
other Burns documentaries, combining comments from historians and
other experts, evocative music, a wealth of photos and film
footage, and wonderfully rich personal stories (with period
reminiscences read by actors like Sam Waterston, John Lithgow,
Philip Bosco, Samuel L. Jackson, Patricia Clarkson, Tom Hanks,
and Blythe Danner) in a rich tapestry of information and
entertainment. Prohibition is not to be missed. --Sam Graham