"Benjamin Franklin" (2002) (mini)TV mini-series

Directors:

Ellen Hovde
Muffie Meyer

Writer:

Ronald Blumer (writer)

Release Date:

19 November 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

The story of the renowned American polymath.

Plot Keywords:

Journalist | Benjamin Franklin | Publisher | Writer | Biographical

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Easton	...	Benjamin Franklin
Dylan Baker	...	Franklin as a young man
Colm Feore	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gerry Bamman	...	Paul Wentworth
Matthew Bentley	...	Benjamin as a child (1)
Michael Bentley	...	Benjamin as a child (2)
Carol Berkin	...	Herself (interviews)
Blair Brown	...	Jane Franklin Mecom
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Silence Dogood
Anthony Cochrane	...	King George III
John Curless	...	William Strahan
Peter Donaldson	...	John Adams
Jennifer Dundas	...	Catherine Ray
Peter Gerety	...	Joseph Galloway
Daniel Gerroll	...	Joseph Priestley
Ronald Guttman	...	Le Comte de Vergennes
Anthony Heald	...	Jonathan Austin
John Christopher Jones	...	Ephraim Eliot
Simon Jones	...	Thomas Penn
Eddie Korbich	...	Jared Ruggles
Roberta Maxwell	...	Deborah Read Franklin
Jefferson Mays	...	Elkanah Watson
Edmund Morgan	...	Himself (interviews)
Martin Rayner	...	Robert Whittington
Sebastian Roché	...	Vicomte
Natacha Roi	...	Mme. Brillon de Jouy
Andrew Seear	...	British Government Official
Josef Sommer	...	Cotton Mather
Jim True-Frost	...	William Franklin (as James True-Frost)
Michael Zuckerman	...	Himself (interviews)
Laurent St. Pierre	...	Count de Segur (uncredited)

Directed by
Ellen Hovde
Muffie Meyer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ronald Blumer		writer

Produced by
Catherine Allan	....	executive producer
Ronald Blumer	....	co-producer
Charles Darby	....	line producer
Ellen Hovde	....	producer
Laura Madden	....	associate producer
Muffie Meyer	....	producer
Julia Morrison	....	associate producer
Cori Paulet	....	coordinating producer
Robertas Urbonas	....	producer

Original Music by
Richard Einhorn

Cinematography by
James Brown
Robert Elfstrom
Boyd Estus
Tom Hurwitz
Joel Shapiro
Joe Vitagliano

Film Editing by
Eric Davies
Donna Marino
Sharon Sachs

Casting by
Paul Fouquet
Elissa Myers

Set Decoration by
Susie Goulder

Costume Design by
Candice Donnelly

Makeup Department
Leslie Fuller	....	key makeup artist
Wayne Herndon	....	key hair stylist

Production Management
Gerald Richman	....	executive in charge of production
Avra Scher	....	post-production supervisor
Robert Sturm	....	post-production supervisor
Marius Vilunas	....	production manager
Suhtling Wong	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jo Umans	....	assistant director

Art Department
Rimantas Gailius	....	property master
Gintas Matonis	....	construction coordinator
John Sicoransa	....	storyboard artist
Barton Tourville	....	graphic designer
Arturas Vaitulevicius	....	carpenter

Sound Department
John Cameron	....	sound recordist
Mitch Griffin	....	sound designer
Mitch Griffin	....	sound mixer
Roger Phenix	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Algis Babravicius	....	still photographer
Ned Hallick	....	gaffer
Ned Hallick	....	lighting technician
John M. Roche	....	additional gaffer
John Romeo	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Leslie Bernstein	....	assistant costume designer
Amy Bradshaw	....	assistant costume designer
Roseann Milano	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Carl Jacobs	....	assistant editor
Jerry Lakso	....	on-line editor
Susan Talbot	....	color corrector
Susan Talbot	....	on-line editor

Other crew
Ellen Cohn	....	advisor
Tom Fleming	....	advisor
Roma Gailiuviene	....	location manager
Roy Goodman	....	advisor
Jack P. Greene	....	advisor
Gabriel Hankins	....	intern
John Heilbron	....	advisor
Erika Herrmann	....	promotions
E. Philip Krider	....	advisor
Leo Lemay	....	advisor
Ralph Lerner	....	advisor
Claude-Anne Lopez	....	advisor
Pauline Maier	....	advisor
Joe Mowers	....	intern
Jennifer Quehl	....	office coordinator
Jennifer Raikes	....	director of research
Erika Stenrick	....	production assistant
Nora Stonehill	....	production accountant
David Taft Morgan	....	advisor
Lisa Tarchak	....	intern
Nina Tsai	....	intern
Nina Tsai	....	production assistant
Sharifa Williams	....	intern
Gordon Wood	....	advisor
Michael Zuckert	....	advisor

Production Companies

• Lietuvos Kinostudija
• Middlemarch Films

Distributors

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Runtime:

210 min (3 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Lietuvos Kinostudija

Clever and Entertaining

I cannot speak to the entire series, as I saw only "The Chessmaster". However, I saw enough to get a sense of what the creators were trying to do. In addition to the period images shown with 'Ken Burns effect' and commentaries by historians, there are soundbites from the historical figures (played, of course, by actors). Some of their texts these actors speak are clearly from diary entries or letters, and others are probably built from scholarship.

It is, in my opinion, a very clever way of presenting history to people who are used to modern biopics with their interviews and all those 20th Century War shoes on the History Channel which can interview survivors. Engaging, well done, although undoubtedly too sedate for many.