Search - The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings on DVD

New Kennedys DVD Based on Newly-Reissued Book of Same Name

Thomas Maier | 10/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm looking forward to watching this new two-hour documentary based on my book, "The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings," which is being re-issued with a new preface about the Kennedys' impact on the 2008 election as well as Sen. Ted Kennedy's bout with cancer. Producer Robert Kline was kind enough to let me see an early draft of this film and I was surprised by how much new material he found working with the JFK Library. This film will be debuted at Boston College and Fordham University on Nov. 10 and Nov. 12, respectively. The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings: A Five-Generation History of the Ultimate Irish-Catholic Family"

JFK Library highlights rather than 'documentary'

a | 06/28/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Since this two-hour documentary was released by Warner Brothers, I expected a pretty sleek production, filled with historic footage, professional narration, and assorted talking-head historians and insiders. I was very surprised to instead watch a rushed, choppy, amateur production that looks like it was produced on someone's home computer. Unlike traditional historical documentaries, this one offers no on-camera interviews at all, and even the narration is fairly sparse. Instead, a generous amount of photographs, video, and film footage is strung together--almost entirely from the archives of the JFK Library. Therein lies this presentation's greatest strength and greatest weakness. Outside of a research visit to the JFK Library, you will probably never see a more comprehensive collection of archival footage of the Kennedys. Rather than mere soundbytes, lengthy speech excerpts are included, entire newsreels, and a surprising amount of color film. Sadly, however, it is rather poorly edited and produced. This will likely only appeal to serious JFK fans and collectors, while more casual viewers would prefer more polished productions from PBS and A&E Biography.



Note: This documentary is available separately or, as a much better value, as a "bonus" on the 2008 Ultimate Collector's Edition release of Oliver Stone's JFK."