The Search for the Nile

"The Search for the Nile" was originally telecast on NBC in January of 1972. If I remember correctly, the network broadcast it immediately following its coverage of the Winter Olympic Games from Sapporo, Japan. (It was, and still is, very rare for any of the three major networks in the years before cable to broadcast anything from the BBC. PBS did pick it up later; has anyone contacted them?) Yes, the narrator was the incomparable James Mason. I also love the main title music for this superior docudrama. I was told the sheet music was available but have never found it. The composer's name is Joseph Horovitz.

Everything all the other respondents have written is true, this mini-series was one of the best histories ever made and I would also love to have it. As for Bob Rafelson's "Mountains of the Moon," don't bother. It doesn't even hold a candle to the original.

This is the first mini-series in my memory, and perhaps one of the greatest ever. Two men compete to be the first European to find the source of the Nile River. In the early 1970's one would never have imagined such a conquest to be so challenging and epic. The music, the settings, the acting, and the direction are all so brilliant, this tv movie easily holds the same place in my memory as "Lawrence of Arabia." If anyone knows how to get the BBC to re-air this film, they'd be doing a great service to television history.

I have been looking for the series The Search for the Nile and have been unable to find this series in spite of the fact that it won the Golden Globe Award best TV special 1973. I have checked all university video libraries, the Smithsonian library, public libraries, all video sources even the BBC. No one has this series. WHY Why has it been pulled from all sources? If you have a copy of this series I would be interested in purchasing it.

This is one of the best series on Victorian Era exploration I have seen. It also give one an insight into Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton's life and character.

bob

I saw this when I was 13 years old and I will never forget it.I have always loved this period of History( which is why I hate the fact I've never seen Mountains of The Moon),and this is a terrific treatment. It has one of the most literate scripts, and some of the most complex,fascinating characters, ever seen on the small screen.I will note, for instance, the brilliant performance by Kenneth Haigh as Sir Richard Francis Burton..one of the most astonishing, half-mad half-genius figures in human history.everybody else is also superb, including the actress who played Burtons devoted, if bigoted , wife.This film belongs on DVD..is it ever run on cable?

Quite a few of the best BBC films have been locked away. There is a possibility that, in the minds of a very politically correct and left leaning BBC upper management, the advertising of Empire and Africa is not a truth that should be allowed anymore. The standard of documentary's, and that of the news itself for which the BBC used to be renowned, has been lowered dramatically over the past 20 years. The BBC are ashamed of British involvement in Africa in the nineteenth Century and do their best to make certain that any programs which reflect otherwise are not available. It's a great pity. No quality anymore just proselytizing. The BBC is being systematically dumbed down to make certain it reflects a government view of the world.