![Prohibition [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/1/16/50x50px-ZC-16a5912b_B0052YDO3O-51XmUsbsAAL.jpg)
George Remus is hardly a household name. In fact, it is safe to say that most Americans have never heard of him. He was a criminal defense attorney who, after the passage of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, found himself defending bootleggers in court. Remus noticed that when his bootlegger clients were convicted, they were let off with fines which they casually paid with wads of cash that they carried around with them. Remus decided that he was in the wrong business. A shrewd and ambitious man, he quickly became the biggest and most successful bootlegger in the United States. Prohibition, the latest documentary production from Ken Burns' Florentine Films, is an engaging and informative miniseries which deftly demonstrates how the best of intentions can lead to a host of unintended consequences.
Prohibition
Studio: PBS/Paramount Home Entertainment
Year: 2011
Rated: Not Rated
Program Length:
Part One: 94 minutes
Part Two: 110 minutes
Part Three: 105 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p
Languages: English 5.1 Surround, Spanish Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish SDH
The Program
Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil.
George Remus is hardly a household name. In fact, it is safe to say that most Americans have never heard of him. He was a criminal defense attorney who, after the passage of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, found himself defending bootleggers in court. Remus noticed that when his bootlegger clients were convicted, they were let off with fines which they casually paid with wads of cash that they carried around with them. Remus decided that he was in the wrong business. A shrewd and ambitious man, he quickly became the biggest and most successful bootlegger in the United States. Prohibition, the latest documentary production from Ken Burns' Florentine Films, is an engaging and informative miniseries which deftly demonstrates how the best of intentions can lead to a host of unintended consequences.
For every George Remus, and for every Al Capone, there were thousands of ordinary Americans who became criminals during the Prohibition era. They were working men who operated stills in their basements, they were men who sold flasks of bootlegged whiskey on street corners, and they were men who operated speakeasies. By and large, they had been law-abiding citizens before Prohibition became the law of the land. Ken Burns, along with Lynn Novick, has done an admirable job of showing how Prohibition came to be, what affect it had upon America, and how this "Noble Experiment" finally came to an ignominious end after 13 years.
The program is divided into three parts, which this week are airing on PBS. Part One, entitled "A Nation of Drunkards," describes the conditions which provided the impetus for Prohibition. By the late 19th Century the consumption of beer, wine and liquor by American men had become a serious problem. It is estimated that the average man drank the equivalent of a fifth of whiskey every other day. Married men were known to squander their entire paychecks at all-male saloons, leaving their families with no money for food and rent. Many women suffered severe beatings and other abuses by their inebriated husbands. Organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union were formed to try to deal with the problem. They picketed saloons, they convinced public schools to teach children about the purported evils of alcohol, they pressured politicians, and the activist Carrie Nation trashed saloons with near impunity. The temperance movement had some temporary successes, but ultimately it was a combination of very strange political bedfellows which led to the 18th Amendment. Progressives and conservatives, labor and management, religious leaders and Ku Klux Klansmen all had their own disparate reasons for wanting to outlaw alcoholic beverages.
Part Two, "A Nation of Scofflaws," recounts what the consequences were when the Federal government decided to legislate morality. Once the Constitutional amendment was ratified, Congress implemented it through the passage of the Volstead Act. Many of the Americans who supported Prohibition mistakenly assumed that beverages such as beer and wine would still be available. However, the Volstead Act outlawed virtually all alcohol. As one of the commentators notes, technically even German chocolate cake became illegal. While there is evidence that alcohol consumption initially dipped after Prohibition went into effect, demand for it never really slackened. Suppliers, in the form of bootleggers, sprang into action to meet the demand. A Seattle police officer named Roy Olmstead began smuggling liquor in from Canada. When he was caught he lost his job, so he turned to bootlegging full time and became fabulously wealthy. Enterprising boat owners brought liquor to Florida from Jamaica. Corruption was rampant. Local police and Federal Prohibition officers alike took bribes to look the other way. Men such as George Remus exploited loopholes in the Volstead Act which allowed them to accumulate wealth beyond their wildest dreams. More ominous was the rise of organized crime, as hoodlums from New York to Chicago engaged in bloodbaths to determine who would control the distribution of illegal beverages.
The third and final segment, "A Nation of Hypocrites," chronicles the decline and fall of Prohibition. To say that enforcing the Volstead Act was problematic is a serious understatement. Local governments oftentimes were indifferent at best, and in some cases they were openly hostile to Prohibition agents. Politicians were split into two camps, the "drys" who tended to be Republicans and the "wets" who for the most part were Democrats, but it was common knowledge that "drys" were as likely to be imbibing as "wets." In spite of widespread disenchantment with Prohibition, the Republicans managed to stay in power thanks to the unprecedented economic prosperity of the Twenties. When Herbert Hoover crushed Al Smith in the 1928 Presidential election, it appeared that Prohibition was going to remain the law of the land. However, the stock market crashed during Hoover's first year in office and the Great Depression ensued. Many Americans began to question why the government was spending enormous sums in a futile effort to enforce an unpopular law while countless people were out of work and losing their homes.
I thought that I knew a lot about Prohibition, but this documentary only served to show me how little I knew. Those who are familiar with Ken Burns know what to expect - vintage photographs and film combined with superb narration by Peter Coyote and excellent commentary by historians, journalists and legal experts. Original music by Wynton Marsalis is interspersed with period jazz and other popular music of the era. Voiceovers are provided by the likes of Patricia Clarkson, Paul Giamatti, Tom Hanks, Jeremy Irons, Samuel L. Jackson, John Lithgow, Amy Madigan, Sam Waterston and others. Prohibition is a significant achievement which has some important historical lessons which are applicable to some of the pressing issues facing our country today.
The Video
The 1.85:1 1080p image is mostly excellent, with the obvious caveat that some of the vintage material is far from optimal. The still photographs are generally very sharp and clean, while some of the newsreel footage is damaged but always watchable. The various commentators are shown in color, with accurate flesh tones and very good detail. The Blu-ray discs do a fine job of displaying the typically high production values of a Ken Burns documentary.
The Audio
The audio is unspectacular but certainly more than adequate. Peter Coyote's narration is confined to the center channel and is crystal-clear. The same can be said of the various commentators. Ambient sound effects have been added and they are realistically reproduced through the surround channels. Music always plays an important part in Ken Burns' projects, and the many tunes used here are flawlessly rendered. The vintage radio broadcast and newsreel audio is mostly free of noise, which indicates that great care was given to cleaning it up.
The Supplements
This Blu-ray disc includes a limited but worthwhile array of extras, all of which can be found on Disc One.
"In the Studio with Florentine Films" is an interesting look at the recording of voiceovers and the music of Wynton Marsalis. It has a running time of just under eight minutes.
Nine bonus scenes include deleted scenes and a fascinating 14-minute silent film, Ten Nights in a Bar Room. The silent picture, a precursor of such films as Reefer Madness, depicts how visiting a saloon after work invariably leads to ruin. All of the bonus scenes are letterboxed in standard definition.
Finally, there are standard-definition outtakes from fourteen of the interviews which were conducted with the various commentators.
The Packaging
The three Blu-ray discs are packaged in a standard Blu-ray keep case with a flipper insert. It should be noted that the labeling of the running time is inconsistent and incorrect. The package says that the running time is six hours. The individual discs list the correct running times for Part One and Part Two, but the disc for Part Three says that the running time is 114 minutes when in fact it is approximately 105 minutes.
The Final Analysis
History classes would have been much more interesting if Ken Burns films had been around when I was in school. Prohibition explores a fascinating piece of American history and it will not disappoint his many fans. It is appearing on PBS this week, so you have the opportunity to watch it on your local PBS station before deciding whether to buy the Blu-ray.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player
Panasonic Viera TC-P46G15 Plasma display, calibrated to THX specification by Gregg Loewen
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable
Release Date: October 4, 2011
