Mark Bussler's Johnstown Flood is an excellent documentary about one of the worst tragedies to occur in America during the 1800s.
Comment
02/20/06
Johnstown Flood (2003)
73
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:11
Fresh:8
Rotten:3
Average Rating:6/10
Runtime: 84 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam burst, setting in motion one of the worst disasters in United States history. As a 40-foot wall of water raced down the Conemaugh Valley, the city of Johnstown,... [More]
Reviews for Johnstown Flood
1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
No review available.
09/24/05
Bussler understands the purpose of telling this story in documentary form, but it's the facts themselves that should be driving the storytelling, not the other way around.
11/05/03
Johnstown Flood has its weaknesses (the firsthand accounts weren't written to be recited like dialogue), but it still does a fine job of explaining why the impact of May 31, 1889 remains with us.
10/22/03
Story is king - if the budgetary limits are a little too obvious, we must smile and forgive, because the writing & research is excellent.
09/28/03
Feels less like a dry History lesson than like a ‘50s disaster flick.
08/11/03
Dreyfuss' voice is like a weasel rubbed against a blackboard.
08/07/03
Click to read the article
07/31/03
It brings to life the tragic event.
07/24/03
Johnstown Flood is the kind of movie I wouldn't have minded watching in school. It concurrently educates and entertains. While it's not perfect, it's still a worthy introduction to an American tragedy.
07/24/03
The gold standard for this kind of documentary is set by filmmaker Ken Burns. “Johnstown Flood” doesn't rise to that level, but it is an informative historical tale.
06/30/03
While the horrors of the tragedy automatically give it weight (after all, how can one truly rate a documentary about an event in which 2,200 people died poorly?), it did have one main flaw, which quickly got on my nerves: the re-enactments.
06/28/03
1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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