The Donner Party (documentary)
Encyclopedia
The Donner Party is a 1992 documentary film traces the history of the Donner Party
, an ill-fated pioneer group from Springfield, Illinois
to Sutter's Fort, California - a disastrous journey of 2500 miles made famous by the tales of cannibalism the survivors told upon reaching their destination. The film is narrated by David McCullough
and premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 1992 and aired on PBS
as part of the American Experience
program in October, 1992.
The film was produced using a combination of archival materials, including letters, photograph, paintings and diaries from members of the Donner Party. New footage was shot of the trail the Party journeyed along in Oregon and California. Animated maps are used to show the route the Donner Party took. On-camera experts include Harold Schindler
, Joseph King, Donald Buck and Wallace Stegner
. Timothy Hutton
, Amy Madigan
, Frances Sternhagen
, George Plimpton
, Lois Smith
, and Eli Wallach
perform the letters and diaries written by the Donner Party before, during and after their journey.
, Illinois
for California
. In July of that year, following the advice of "The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California" written by a pro-emigration promoter named Lansford Hastings
, the Donner party left the main body of emigrants to take a never before tried “shortcut” across the Great Basin.
The Donner Party arrived at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the last mountain pass before California weeks behind schedule and short of food. The first blizzard of the season started only one day before they planned to head up and over the Sierra Nevada. With 95% of their journey already completed, they would be forced to wait months to make the final push, enduring the Sierra Nevada's most unfavorable winter in history. The group was trapped on the eastern side of the Sierra for five months, culminating in death and cannibalism. Of the 87 men, women and children in the Donner Party only 46 survived to reach California.
Donner Party
The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada...
, an ill-fated pioneer group from Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
to Sutter's Fort, California - a disastrous journey of 2500 miles made famous by the tales of cannibalism the survivors told upon reaching their destination. The film is narrated by David McCullough
David McCullough
David Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award....
and premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 1992 and aired on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
as part of the American Experience
American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
program in October, 1992.
The film was produced using a combination of archival materials, including letters, photograph, paintings and diaries from members of the Donner Party. New footage was shot of the trail the Party journeyed along in Oregon and California. Animated maps are used to show the route the Donner Party took. On-camera experts include Harold Schindler
Harold Schindler
Harold Moroni "Hal" Schindler was an American journalist and historian, known for his articles and books on the American west...
, Joseph King, Donald Buck and Wallace Stegner
Wallace Stegner
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
. Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
, Amy Madigan
Amy Madigan
Amy Marie Madigan is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams and Iris Crowe in the HBO television series Carnivale...
, Frances Sternhagen
Frances Sternhagen
Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
, George Plimpton
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
, Lois Smith
Lois Smith
Lois Smith is an American actress whose career in theater, film, and television has spanned five decades.Smith was born Lois Arlene Humbert in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Carrie Davis and William Oren Humbert, who was a telephone company employee...
, and Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
perform the letters and diaries written by the Donner Party before, during and after their journey.
Synopsis
In 1846, a large wagon train left SpringfieldSpringfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In July of that year, following the advice of "The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California" written by a pro-emigration promoter named Lansford Hastings
Lansford Hastings
Lansford Warren Hastings is best remembered as the developer of Hastings Cutoff, a shortcut across what is now the state of Utah, a factor in the Donner Party disaster of 1846.-Early life:...
, the Donner party left the main body of emigrants to take a never before tried “shortcut” across the Great Basin.
The Donner Party arrived at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the last mountain pass before California weeks behind schedule and short of food. The first blizzard of the season started only one day before they planned to head up and over the Sierra Nevada. With 95% of their journey already completed, they would be forced to wait months to make the final push, enduring the Sierra Nevada's most unfavorable winter in history. The group was trapped on the eastern side of the Sierra for five months, culminating in death and cannibalism. Of the 87 men, women and children in the Donner Party only 46 survived to reach California.
Critical Reception
Time magazine called the film "a grueling, unforgettable trip" and named the film one of the top ten television programs of the year. USA Today’s Matt Roush wrote, “Historical narratives rarely have as much dire beauty as Ric Burns’s The Donner Party, a documentary that aches with the austere eloquence of human desperation.” Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times characterized Burns as a "low key" director but also wrote that the film "has everything: heroism, cowardice, stupefying folly and price and a truly terrible irony."Awards
- George Foster Peabody Award
- Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement, 1993
- D. W. Griffith Award of the National Board of Review for the Best Television Program of 1992
- Director's Guild of America for Best Director, Documentary (nomination)
- EMMY Award for Writing & Directing (nomination)
External links
- http://www.ricburns.com/Donner_set.swf
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/donner/