Log in
Font Size: A A A A
  

Mikhail Gorbachev, Ted Turner, Henry Kissinger Assemble to Mark Disc Release of ‘Cold War’

30 Apr, 2012 By: Anne Sherber


Ted Turner and Mikhail Gorbachev (Photo by Charles Eshelman/Getty Images)


NEW YORK — It was hard to imagine, watching Mikhail Gorbachev and Henry Kissinger arrive at the Paley Center for Media in New York April 29, that the two grandfatherly old men were once at the very epicenter of Cold War politics. Gorbachev, once head of the notorious KGB and the USSR’s final president, and Kissinger, Nixon’s Secretary of State, often credited with and blamed for U.S. involvement in Vietnam, were at the Center to support the May 8 Warner Home Video DVD release of Cold War ($68.92).

The series, which was produced by and broadcast on CNN in 1998, was the brainchild of Ted Turner. According to Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the series’ executive producer, Turner’s motivation was his concern that history would not do justice to what he saw as a seminal period of history during which the USSR and the United States both developed the ability to end life on earth. 

“Ted Turner said to me, ‘our grandchildren will not understand what the Cold War was. It will be a paragraph in a history book,’” Isaacs recalled.

According to Isaacs, who also produced The World at War, another epic documentary series that exhaustively chronicles a specific period of history, the original plan for the series was that it would be 40 episodes long, one for each year of the era. The running time was eventually halved, but Turner ultimately added four additional episodes. According to Pat Mitchell, who served as co-executive producer of the series and is now CEO of the Paley Center, a museum of broadcast media, it is already used extensively at universities and libraries as a teaching tool and is one of the most requested titles by visitors to the Paley Center.

Gorbachev, who presided over the dismantling of the Soviet Union and who was interviewed at length and figures prominently in the series’ last four episodes, said through a translator that although he occasionally had questions about the filmmakers’ perspective, he was impressed with the program’s comprehensiveness, overall.

“To some extent, one viewpoint seems to prevail,” he said. “But the series is very informative. It draws a line under all those conflicts that brought us several times to the edge of the destruction of civilization.”

Both Turner and Isaacs said that the DVD release of the documentary, which is narrated by Kenneth Branagh, is a case of a film that was waiting for a format. Isaacs noted that to prepare to answer questions about the series, he recently watched it from beginning to end and was struck by its depth.

“Some of the episodes are so packed with information that you have to concentrate to really understand,” he said.

The ability of disc viewers to maneuver through the series at their own pace makes the experience of watching much more rewarding, he said.

“DVD may be the medium for which Cold War was best made,” Isaacs noted.

Turner also was impressed when he revisited the series.

“I’m proud to have come up with the idea for the series and proud that it was executed so well,” Turner said. “Of all the documentaries that I have produced, I am proudest of this one.”

Warner Home Video plans to market Cold War to universities and museums. But, according to Rosemary Markson, SVP of TV and special interest marketing at Warner Home Video, the company also will be reaching out to mass-market outlets.

“It’s perfect for Father’s Day,” Markson said.

 


About the Author: Anne Sherber


Bookmark it:
Add Comment