Influenza 1918 (1998)

Influenza 1918 is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 1998. It is an episode in the long-running series American Experience. Here is some basic information about it:

** Produced and directed by Robert Kenner

** Written by Ken Chowder

** Narrated by Linda Hunt

** Released on DVD in 2005

There are three consultants:

** Dr Alfred Crosby, University of Texas (now retired)

** Dr Carolyn Bridges, CDC

** Dr Jeffrey Taufenberger, AFIP

This film is the story of the influenza of 1918, also known as the Spanish Flu. It was the worst epidemic in the history of the US. In less than one year, it killed more than 600,000 Americans.

THE WITNESSES

Several witnesses were interviewed for the film. Here are the names in the order of appearance:

** William Sardo, survivor

** Lee Reay, survivor, lived in Utah at the time

** William Maxwell, survivor, lived in Illinois at the time

** Daniel Tonkel, survivor

** Dr Shirley Fannin, epidemiologist

** Anna Milani, survivor

** Cathryn Guyler, survivor, lived in Georgia

** Catherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), journalist, (her testimony is read by an actor)

** Victor Vaughan (1851-1929), surgeon general of the army (his testimony is read by an actor)

** Dr Alfred Crosby, professor of history, University of Texas (now retired)

** Harriet Ferrell, survivor, lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the time

** Carla Morrissey, survivor

** John De Lano, survivor

A DEADLY DISEASE

The deadly disease spread all over the US. No one was safe. It hit the big cities as well as the small towns. It would hit the young as well as the old. At the time the US was at war. Soldiers were infected as well. When the soldiers were transported across the Atlantic Ocean, the disease spread all over Europe as well.

Death became a common occurrence, something that happened every day. There was even a children’s rhyme about it, as the film explains:

*** I had a little bird

*** Its name was Enza

*** I opened up the window

*** And in flew Enza

Many were infected, but the disease did not kill all that were infected. Some of them survived. They lived to tell their story. Some of the survivors appear as witnesses in this film.

The authorities did not know what to do. Scientists did not know what to do. They had no remedy. They could not cure the sick. Nor could they stop the disease. It was caused by a virus. As Dr Crosby explains:

“Science knew next to nothing about viruses at this time. The optical microscopes they had couldn’t show you a virus, virus is much too small for them. Nobody would ever see virus until the electron microscope came along and that was decades after that.

“These poor scientists were looking for a needle in a haystack, when they didn’t know it was a needle they were looking for and the needle was too small for them to see. No wonder they didn’t find it.”

ONE FLAW

This is an interesting film. The producers have done a good job. They show us the tragic consequences of the disease. In addition, the witnesses are well chosen and the film is easy to understand. It is never too technical. But in my opinion, there is one flaw: the perspective of the film.

The Spanish flu was a global disease, but this film has a limited perspective: it covers only the consequences in the US.

I know this film is an episode in the series called American Experience, so perhaps it is not surprising that it focuses on the US; perhaps it is unfair to complain about the limited perspective. But I still think that the producers could and should have included the situation in the rest of the world.

There are only three moments in the film where the rest of the world is mentioned.

The first moment is when the narrator talks about the US soldiers:

“That summer and fall, over 1.5 million Americans crossed the Atlantic for war. But some of those doughboys came from Kansas. And they’d brought something with them: a tiny, silent companion. Almost immediately, the Kansas sickness resurfaced in Europe.

“American soldiers got sick. English soldiers. French. German. As it spread, the microbe mutated — day by day becoming more and more deadly. By the time the silent traveler came back to America, it had become a relentless killer.”

The second moment is when Dr Crosby talks about the number of victims:

“The epidemic killed, at a very, very conservative estimate, 550,000 Americans in 10 months, that’s more Americans than died in combat in all the wars of this [the twentieth] century, and the epidemic killed at least 30 million in the world and infected the majority of the human species.”

The third moment is when the narrator talks about the war in Europe:

“In Europe, the flu was devastating both sides. 70,000 American soldiers were sick; in some units, the flu killed 80 per cent of the men. General John Pershing made a desperate plea for reinforcements. But that would mean sending soldiers across the Atlantic on troop ships.”

Apart from these three moments, the rest of the world is never mentioned. It is almost as if it does not exist. But it does, and even though the loss of more than 600,000 American lives is a terrible toll, it is only a fraction of the global toll, which Dr Crosby estimates at 30 million. Some observers offer higher figures, such as 50 or even 100 million.

CONCLUSION

This film is good but not great. It covers an important topic and does so quite well. While there are many positive elements, I cannot ignore the flaw mentioned above, and therefore I cannot give it five stars. I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. The following books have received many positive reviews:

** America’s Forgotten Pandemic by Alfred Crosby (1990, new edition 2003)

** A Cruel Wind by Dorothy A. Pettit & Janice Bailie (2008)

** The Great Influenza by John M. Barry (2005, 2009)

PS # 2. The following books have received many negative reviews:

** American Pandemic by Nancy K. Bristow (2012)

** Flu by Gina Kolata (2001)

** Influenza 1918 by Lynette Iezzoni (1999) (this book is the official companion to the PBS film)

PS # 3. Why is it called the Spanish Flu? Did it come from Spain? No, it did not. As stated in the film, it (probably) came from Kansas in the US. But the press in the US, the UK and France was censored because of the war. The story could not be reported in these countries. Spain was neutral. In this country the story could be reported. And it was. News about the flu came first from Spain. This is the origin of the name.

PS # 4. American Experience is a television is a television program produced by PBS. The first episode was aired in 1988. The number of episodes differs from one season to the next, but the program is still running today. The story under review here (influenza 1918) is season 10 episode 17 from 1998.

PS # 5. Killer Flu is a documentary film which premiered in 2003. It is an episode in the series called Secrets of the Dead (season 4 episode 2).

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