Online Site Support Notebook: Films and Videos
Each library wishing to show films or videos related to "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World" to the public must themselves arrange for public performance rights (PPR).
Libraries that find other films related to the topics of the exhibit are asked to post them to the project discussion list or Wiki.
Documentaries
www.earlyamerica.com/ben-movie.htm
Online movie titled "The Ben Franklin Story" from the web site "Archiving Early America," which contains a wealth of resources -- a unique array of primary source material from 18th Century America.
www.pbs.org/benfranklin/
Videos and DVDs of the PBS feature, "Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life, An Electric Mind" are available from PBS as well as from many commercial video and DVD sources.
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=71737
The History Channel's "Ben Franklin" (2004) is narrated by Edward Herrmann and features interviews with renowned biographers and historians, and reenactments shot in HD video on locations in Philadelphia. Available from the History Channel and other video and DVD retailers.
Commercial Films
1776. The film version of the Broadway musical comedy of the same name in which Benjamin Franklin (played by Howard Da Silva) plays a prominent role in trying to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. Available from many sources.
Other sources: A search on the Internet Movie Data Base ( http://us.imdb.com) for the character "Benjamin Franklin" produces every TV series, film, short film, and other format in which this name appears. Some are available in either video or DVD.
Children's Films
Ben and Me. Robert Lawson's
Ben and Me, the story of a mouse who guided Benjamin Franklin to success and prominence, was made into a 21-minute Disney cartoon in 1953. Copies available from Amazon on a DVD with other Disney cartoons from the 1920s to the 1960s.
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ATQYUG/thehomeimprovemz
Liberty's Kids. Selected episodes are available on DVD from Amazon and other sources. www.amazon.com/Libertys-Kids-Boston-Party-Vol/dp/B0002F6AV6