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Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude

  • TV Movie
  • 1998
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
33
YOUR RATING
Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude (1998)
BiographyDocumentaryDrama

18th century British clock maker and carpenter John Harrison invents a marine chronometer that allows ships to calculate longitude while at sea, preventing numerous shipwrecks, some of them ... Read all18th century British clock maker and carpenter John Harrison invents a marine chronometer that allows ships to calculate longitude while at sea, preventing numerous shipwrecks, some of them involving the British Navy.18th century British clock maker and carpenter John Harrison invents a marine chronometer that allows ships to calculate longitude while at sea, preventing numerous shipwrecks, some of them involving the British Navy.

  • Director
    • Peter Jones
  • Writers
    • David Axelrod
    • Dava Sobel
  • Stars
    • Patrick Malahide
    • Richard Dreyfuss
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    33
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Peter Jones
    • Writers
      • David Axelrod
      • Dava Sobel
    • Stars
      • Patrick Malahide
      • Richard Dreyfuss
    • 1User review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos

    Top cast2

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    Patrick Malahide
    Patrick Malahide
    • John Harrison
    Richard Dreyfuss
    Richard Dreyfuss
    • Narrator
    • Director
      • Peter Jones
    • Writers
      • David Axelrod
      • Dava Sobel
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews1

    7.733
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    Featured reviews

    7JurijFedorov

    It's the book made into a doc

    It's pretty engaging and has a lot of cool interesting anecdotes and drama. A bit technical design is presented and it's for sure worth a watch and a much easier intro to the story than the more complicated book/audiobook. But it has the hectic and random style of the book it's based on so you kinda get a ton of facts about a ton of different stuff and it can be a bit hard at times to understand the basic story or the simple design. For example, how can I understand how a clock works without a detailed intro? Then you also need to understand the historical setting, the politics of the time, John Harrison himself, the wood and metal they could produce, the ship fleet, how universities and design worked, how the prize fund worked, how navigation worked, death rates, clock sellers and much more. It's fun either way, of course, and you'll enjoy it.

    It's a lot to take in so you won't quite understand it all, but you will get a short intro. I do recommend watching more simple intros too like BBC's "The Clock That Changed the World". Then after you have done that you can read the book.

    More like this

    Longitude
    7.8
    Longitude

    Related interests

    Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, and Geraldine James in Gandhi (1982)
    Biography
    Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
    Documentary
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    Drama

    Storyline

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 6, 1998 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Sweden
    • Official site
      • NOVA (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • A tengereken bolyongva: a hosszúsági fok nyomában
    • Filming locations
      • England, UK
    • Production companies
      • BBC Horizon
      • David Axelrod Productions
      • SVT Drama
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h(60 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Color

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