This is one of a handful of outstanding television documentaries.
I'd place it on a par with Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man, Kenneth Clark's Civilisation and Simon Schama's A History of Britain.
These all share the same characteristic -- they are intensely personal histories/documentaries. Each is deeply imbued with the character of their writer/presenter. And each of those writer/presenters are urbane, civilised people who wear their erudition lightly enough to be constantly entertaining as well as informative.
Alastair Cooke died in March 2004, aged 95, so he was around 62 when he made this 13-part history of America in 1971-72.
By this time he was already a legendary broadcaster. Cooke had first visited America in the very early 1930s, on a scholarship to Yale University. America at the time was in the grips of the Great Depression - but Cooke still managed to fall irremediably in love with that country.
He returned to Britain in 1935, to become the BBC's radio film-critic. And at the same time he began making weekly broadcasts to America under the title 'Letter from London'.
He returned to America for good in 1937. And immediately after the close of the Second World War he began his now legendary series of weekly broadcasts, 'Letter from America'. Amazingly, he ceased making these wonderful radio-essays only a matter of weeks before he died.
This documentary shows that radio's great gain was television's loss, for Alastair Cooke on television is exactly as we would wish. Debonair, beautifully dressed in an appealingly old-fashioned manner, he is the epitome of well-mannered grace and charm. The perfect presenter.
The grace and charm doesn't however stop Cooke going for the jugular in this series, which, though dwelling with love on the finer points of American society and history, is scathing in its discussion of racism (the murderous dealings with the native Americans, the treatment of the Blacks) and of what he sees as a sign of the early decadence of his beloved American nation -- its quest for conquest through military might.
The 13 episodes take us through from the earliest explorations and discovery of the New World, right up to its production date. A brave historian indeed, to discuss the present, before he has the advantage of hindsight.
Cooke appears briefly before the final episode, in a short prologue filmed some years later. He points out that some of his thoughts back in 1972 were already out of date ... but says he would not retract a word of his final summary of the State of the Union. I won't sum up his final summary; it must be heard. Enough to say that much of what he says in this final instalment is chillingly valid today, as we continue our insane Iraq adventure.
Though intensely personal, this television series manages to give a thoroughly coherent overview of American history and society, and I cannot imagine any documentary maker making a better fist of this complex, rich subject-matter.
Where Alastair Cooke scores over other documentary makers such as Ken Burns is that he is simultaneously an insider and outsider. He writes and presents his subject as an American citizen still in love with his adopted country. But he is able to step back and observe his subject with the detachment that springs from his English birth and upbringing.
By the time we leave this series, we have learnt much we had never really known about its subject. We also learn much about Alastair Cooke, a true American gentleman who is deeply missed.
The opening credits in each episode exhibit quite a bit of grain, which could be due to over-compression or else to the original method used to process the titles. The picture quality does improve as each episode progresses.
The overall picture quality is only moderate, with quite a bit of variation between episodes and between individual scenes of episodes, due to the various sources used for historical footage.
But although image quality is not outstanding, it's certainly never poor enough to distract or to interfere with enjoyment of the series.
The two-channel mono presentation is rich and clear. However, the PAL 4 per cent speed-up factor is very evident here. Any viewer used to Alastair Cooke's voice from his 'Letter from America' series will be surprised to hear his voice pitched so high.
I ended up playing this DVD on my second DVD player, a venerable Panasonic 330 with Karaoke features which let me drop pitch by approximately 4 per cent, and hear the Alastair Cooke I remembered.
This PAL pitch problem bedevils many Region 4 (and Region 2) DVDs and I can't understand why DVD player manufacturers can't come up with a technical solution.
