The American Experience: The Donner Party Movie Review 1992

A group of 87 settlers, heading for California in 1846, make the disastrous mistake of taking a shortcut through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Trapped by snow for five months in what is now known as Donner Pass, some of the group resort to cannabalism in order to survive. Burns (brother of "The Civil War" Ken Burns) uses readings from journals, archival photos, and photography of the sites to show the heartbreak and self-sacrifice of this ill-fated expedition.

Distribution

Direct Cinema Ltd., PO Box 10003, Santa Monica, CA 90410-1003, Phone: (310)636-8200, Toll-free: 800-525-0000, Fax: (310)636-8228, Email: orders@directcinemalimited.com, URL: http://www.directcinema.com

Available on VHS
Running time 86 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Documentary Films, History--U.S.

Director

Ric Burns