American Experience - The Donner Party (DVD, 2005)

Overall this documentary film gives a good basic review of the tragic history of the Donner and Reed emigrant parties. However, it skips much of the more interesting details which can be found in written histories done on the subject, such as the definitive book "Ordeal by Hunger" by George Stewart (available as an audio book),

Now obviously a 90 minute film isn't going to come close to the depth of detail contained in a dedicated history book, but the slow pace of this film and the long drawn out readings of diary entries wasted valuable time which I felt could have been devoted to offering the viewer more details.

Nonetheless this DVD is worth getting if you want a quick primer on the subject, or as an addition to a written history you might also read. But it's certainly not the best documentary ever made!

This Documentary is Very well made and takes you thru the hardships endured by these Settlers (Donner Family and 3 other families) making their way WEST. Bad decisions, sickness, wrong turns, broken wheels, the Great Salt Desert, and a Harsh Rocky Mountain winter made this Group of westward settlers trip doomed. I have Been to the settlement, which is located in what is now Truckee, Californa. Knowing the story before I made the visit made me invision what I knew about that fateful winter. Good Documentary and History Lesson. 2 Thumbs Up!

I had been trying to rent this DVD for months but it was never available so I decided to buy it. It is one of the best documentaries ever made. I highly recommend it to everyone.