Brooklyn Bridge is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 1981.
The title explains the topic. This film is about the history of the bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Here is some basic information about it:
** Director: Ken Burns (born 1953)
** Writer: Amy Stechler (1955-2022)
** Based on the book The Great Bridge by David McCullough (1972)
** Narrator: David McCullough (1933-2022)
** Released on DVD in 2002 and 2003
** Run time: 58 minutes
Five persons are interviewed in this film
Here are the names of the participants
Listed in alphabetical order
** Paul Goldberger (born 1950) – an author
** Henry Jones (born 1874) - he was 106 years old in 1980 when he was interviewed – he was nine years old in 1883 when he attended the inauguration of the Brooklyn Bridge – he served as a waterboy during the final years of construction 1882-1883
** David McCullough (1933-2022) – a historian
** Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) – a historian
** John “Jack” Unterecker (1923-1989) – a poet
The primary voices
** The words of the engineer Washington Roebling (1837-1926) are spoken by Paul Roebling (1934-1994), an actor and a producer, who was the grandson of Washington Roebling. For some reason, the connection between them is not explained in the film
** The words of his wife Emily Roebling (1843-1903) are spoken by the actress Julie Harris (1925-2013)
Additional voices
The words of old documents are read by the following persons
** Arthur Miller (1915-2005)
** Richard Pini (born 1950)
** Richard Rescia (1930-2022)
** Fred Sherry (born 1948)
** Austin Stevens
** Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
The film is divided into two parts:
Part one is about the past
The title is Building the Bridge
Part two is about the present
This part has no title
The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by John A. Roebling (1806-1869), who was an experienced engineer. He made detailed plans and calculations for the bridge over two years (1867-1869).
Sadly, he did not live to see the bridge completed. In 1869, when construction was about to begin, he suffered an accident which eventually killed him.
His place as the chief engineer on the project was taken by his son Washington Roebling, who was also an engineer and who had worked as his father’s assistant on other projects.
In 1872, Washington was attacked by decompression sickness, which is also known as caisson disease or the bends.
He survived, but he could no longer visit the building site. He had to remain at home.
From 1872, he gave detailed instructions to his wife Emily Warren Roebling who visited the building site and talked to the leading engineers.
Officially, he was still the chief engineer, but in reality, his wife was in charge of the project from 1872 until the completion in 1883.
Some workers were attacked by decompression sickness. Like Washington Roebling, they survived. Other workers were not so lucky. They were killed by decompression sickness.
Some workers were injured by minor accidents, but they survived. Other workers were not so lucky. They were killed by a serious accident.
How many workers lost their lives during the construction of the bridge? A low estimate is 20, a high estimate is 30 or even 40. The exact figure is not known. According to some sources, an exact figure is 27.
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 75 percent. Six user reviews are posted on the website, which also has links to three reviews by professional critics.
These days, Ken Burns is a well-known filmmaker who has directed more than forty films over a career which has lasted more than forty years.
Most of his films have good ratings. Many have a rating of 80 percent or more. A few have a rating of 90 percent or more.
But in 1981, when his film about the Brooklyn Bridge premiered, he was not known by many. This was the first film he created for public television (PBS). It seemed he had found his niche. Since then, most of his work has been made for PBS.
His film about the Brooklyn Bridge was his first feature film and it shows. He is starting out. He has not yet found his personal style. He is still searching for the proper way to approach his topic.
This film covers the history of the Brooklyn Bridge in great detail from the beginning in 1869 until the completion in 1883.
This film also covers the life and the importance of the bridge in the twentieth century.
But it is flawed.
The flaws concern the structure of the film and the details which are provided in the film. In the following I will try to explain what I think is wrong.
# 1. The structure of the film
As stated above, it is divided into two parts. The first is about the past, while the second is about the present. This is fine. But only the first part has a title. The second part has no title. Why does the second part not have a title?
The first part is about facts and figures. It works quite well. The second part is not like that. It is about feelings and impressions. It does not work well.
The two parts are very different. The first part is much better than the second part.
# 2. The narrator and the participants
As stated above, this film is based on a book by David McCullough, which was published in 1972. David McCullough is also the narrator. So far so good.
But when you look at the list of the participants, the people who are interviewed, you can see that David McCullough appears again. And this is not right.
Ken Burns has broken the golden rule which says the narrator speaks, but he or she is never seen. The narrator is not supposed to appear in any other role in the film.
Twenty years later, when Ken Burns and his team were preparing to make a film about Mark Twain, they had to make an important choice: who was going to read the words of the famous writer? There are no recordings of his voice.
Who would be a good choice for the voice of the famous writer? Who could come close to what is assumed to be the voice of Mark Twain?
At first, they thought it could be the actor Hal Holbrook, who had impersonated the famous author many times, but they were not quite sure.
When they approached Hal Holbrook, it turned out that he felt the same way: he was not quite sure that he was the right person to do this.
In the end, they chose another person (Kevin Conway) and when this decision had been made, they realised that it was in fact a good decision, because now Hal Holbrook could be one of the participants who were interviewed.
Ken Burns could choose David McCullough to be the narrator or to be one of the participants who are interviewed. But he chose to give him both roles. This was a case of poor judgement.
# 3. The voices
As stated above, there are many voices in this film. The words of the engineer Washington Roebling are spoken by his grandson Paul Roebling, while the words of Emily Roebling are spoken by Julie Harris.
This is fine. This works quite well. But there are many other voices here.
The words of old documents are read by no less than six male persons, who sound more or less the same and who can, occasionally, be confused with the voice of the narrator.
Ken Burns and his team did not do anything to distinguish between these voices, even though there is a simple way to do this.
An on-screen message can tell us the identity of the document which is being presented at any given moment. In this way, the viewers can know the origin of the words they are hearing at any given moment.
Sometimes, it is hard to tell if I am listening to the narrator or to one of the six male persons who are reading the words of an old document.
# 4. Politics
Building a bridge is a huge project. You must secure funding and you must secure a permit from the local authorities. How were these issues handled? They are barely addressed in the film.
The borough of Brooklyn was eager to give permission, because many citizens of Brooklyn worked in Manhattan. For them, a bridge across the water would be most welcome.
The borough of Manhattan was also prepared to give permission, but only on certain conditions. The man in charge was William M. Tweed, who was known as Boss Tweed, because he was in charge of many things in New York City during the 1860s.
Boss Tweed was ready to permit almost anything, as long he was paid well to do it. This principle also applied in the case of the Brooklyn Bridge.
In 1872, he was stopped. In 1873, he was found guilty of some serious crimes. It was estimated that he had embezzled 25-45 million dollars, which was a huge amount of money at that time.
Later estimates suggest that the real figure was much higher, perhaps 200 million dollars.
The name Boss Tweed is mentioned in the film in a section about politics, but the word “corruption” is never used, even though Boss Tweed is known as one of the most corrupt politicians in the history of New York.
# 5. Cables
The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge. The roadway is carried by four huge steel ropes which are suspended from two tall towers, one close to Manhattan, the other one close to Brooklyn.
The Roebling family had a factory which could produce steel cables, but they did not want to use cables from their own factory, because this might cause people to think that they were using the project to get a huge order for their own company.
The order for steel cables was given to a company owned by a man named Joseph Lloyd Haigh.
The owner of this company presented some samples which looked very good when they were inspected. Many thin cables would be spun together to make four huge steel ropes which would carry the roadway.
The thin cables he presented were strong and expensive. But when he delivered cables to the building site, he delivered cables which were weak and cheap.
His plan was to make an extra profit, because he was paid to deliver expensive cables, but he actually delivered cheap cables.
In 1878, when this fact was discovered, many of his weak cables had already been used to create the first part of a steel rope. It was too late to get them out.
In order to deal with the problem, it was decided that extra cables would be added to make sure that the steel rope was strong enough.
From this moment, it was decided to order steel cables from the factory owned by the Roebling family. This was the only way to make sure that the cables delivered had the required high quality.
The name Joseph Lloyd Haigh is mentioned in a section named Cables, but the word “corruption” is never mentioned, even though it seems very appropriate to describe such a sinister operation.
# 6. The price of the bridge
According to the original budget, the bridge could be built for five million dollars. But the original budget was not realistic. The piece went up because of factors which were not foreseen.
One factor was corruption by Boss Tweed and by Joseph Lloyd Haigh. Another factor was a number of practical and technical problems which raised the price and which caused the project to take much longer than expected.
In 1883, when the work was finally completed, the total price of the bridge was more than fifteen million dollars, which was more than three times the original budget.
These figures - the original estimate of five million and the actual cost of more than fifteen million – are neither mentioned nor discussed in the film.
Conclusion
While this film covers the history of the bridge in great detail, it is flawed.
While some flaws might be dismissed as minor, other flaws are more serious. They cannot be ignored.
I have to remove two stars because of these flaws. This film deserves a rating of three stars (60 percent).
PS. Director Kens Burns and writer Amy Stechler were married for more than ten years (1982-1993). The couple had two children, Sarah and Lily Burns, who are both working in the film business.
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
By David McCullough
(1972)
Building the Brooklyn Bridge, 1869-1883:
An Illustrated History with Images in 3D
By Jeffrey I. Richman
(2021)
# 2. Film and video
The World’s Greatest Bridges
Season one episode four
The Brooklyn Bridge
(2017)
** Host and presenter: Rob Bell
** Run time: 45 minutes
** This film is available on YouTube
*****
The well-known engineer
John Augustus Roebling
(1806-1869)
*****
The well-known engineer
Washington Roebling
(1837-1926)
Son of John A. Roebling
*****
Emily Warren Roebling
(1843-1903)
Wife of Washington Roebling
*****
The famous American filmmaker
Ken Burns
(born 1953)
*****
