Longitude

Watch: Longitude

PG-13

1/13/20003h 18m

TV Release (US)

Overview:

Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.

Director:

Charles Sturridge

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)
inventor
jamaica
time
18th century
sailing ship
greenwich london
british sailor
watchmaker
longitude
chronometer
transit of venus
royal society

Cast

Michael Gambon

~ as ~

John Harrison

Jeremy Irons

~ as ~

Rupert Gould

Ian Hart

~ as ~

William Harrison (Adult)

Andrew Scott

~ as ~

John Campbell

Bill Nighy

~ as ~

Lord Sandwich

Gemma Jones

~ as ~

Elizabeth Harrison

John Wood

~ as ~

Sir Edmund Halley

Anna Chancellor

~ as ~

Muriel Gould

Brian Cox

~ as ~

Lord Morton

Samuel West

~ as ~

Nevil Maskelyne

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Peter McGinn
Written 5 year(s) ago
7
I had known about this 3-hour long, two part made-for-tv movie for a long time, but it took me a while to get around to watching it. It is very well done, so that even though the dual plots move slowly and with a lot of detail, it kept my interest throughout. It is hard to believe what John Harrison went through all those years working on his clock to be used by sailors to help them know where they are even on the open sea. If Harrison had worked for decades in the hard sciences during a later era, I dare say he would have received a Nobel prize, for it seemed the monetary prize he was seeking from the hopelessly bureaucratic award committee gave him a rougher time than the Nobel committee and fellow scientists ever would have.

In the other story thread that took place many years later, the Jeremy Irons character was on a similar Quixotic epic quest, and his marriage suffers even more. I found his plot slightly less interesting, if only because it seemed like the damage to his personal life was more self-inflicted, like perhaps he wouldn't have been a great husband in the best of times. One minor critique I have is that the stories could have paid more attention to the wives. We more or less lose sight of them after we are deep into the story, though they both make guest appearances here and there. I can't say I will be tempted to watch Longitude again in the future, but the writing and acting is strong enough for me to recommend it.