IMDb RATING
8.7/10
1.1K
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Sir Kenneth Clarke walks through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilization in Western man.Sir Kenneth Clarke walks through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilization in Western man.Sir Kenneth Clarke walks through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilization in Western man.
- Won 2 BAFTA Awards
- 4 wins & 2 nominations total
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Did you know
- GoofsIn the episode titled "The Pursuit of Happiness", series writer and narrator Lord Clark introduces his theme by claiming that "the founders of the American Constitution . . . thought fit to mention the pursuit of happiness as a proper aim for mankind." This is a very common error (on both sides of the Atlantic), as the phrase "pursuit of happiness" appears in America's Declaration of Independence (1776), not in her Constitution (1788-89).
- ConnectionsEdited from Mozart's Don Giovanni (1955)
Featured review
A narrow-dated view of Civilization
With new knowledge and new insights history changes all the time. This presentation was made in 1969 so you cannot cite it for being a tad behind on knowledge and insights.
However, the history that is presented even for 1969 (13 episodes) is very narrow and biased. It is the sort of history you get in a third-grade class. For example, Rome is Civilization and everything around it is not. Barbarian is synonymous with non-Civilization. It even starts with art does not a Civilization make. Our presenter Kenneth Clark will go into depth on a handful of things that he is sure of and ignores the rest of history.
You will find many other reviews with more specifics on what Kenneth Clark missed. I will not rehash the details. Also, you might find that he comes across this sort of snot in some of his descriptions.
However, this was the first attempt at BBC make a no holds barred extremely beautiful documentary. The success of this documentary allowed them to go on to make but was a good documentary, "The Ascent of Man" (1973.)
You may glean a few really interesting pieces of information from this presentation however you have to go through a lot of chaff and not be sure of the accuracy of anything that you have not learned from somewhere else.
However, the history that is presented even for 1969 (13 episodes) is very narrow and biased. It is the sort of history you get in a third-grade class. For example, Rome is Civilization and everything around it is not. Barbarian is synonymous with non-Civilization. It even starts with art does not a Civilization make. Our presenter Kenneth Clark will go into depth on a handful of things that he is sure of and ignores the rest of history.
You will find many other reviews with more specifics on what Kenneth Clark missed. I will not rehash the details. Also, you might find that he comes across this sort of snot in some of his descriptions.
However, this was the first attempt at BBC make a no holds barred extremely beautiful documentary. The success of this documentary allowed them to go on to make but was a good documentary, "The Ascent of Man" (1973.)
You may glean a few really interesting pieces of information from this presentation however you have to go through a lot of chaff and not be sure of the accuracy of anything that you have not learned from somewhere else.
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- Oct 23, 2023
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