American Experience (TV Series) Murder at Harvard (2003) User Reviews

not crazy about it

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 29 August 2016]

"Murder at Harvard" is a documentary that is part of the American Experience. I have to say, I didn't really enjoy it.

There is a complaint here that there was too much fiction, which was because no one knows what really happened concerning the murder of Dr. George Parkman. Actually it seemed like a long ad to sell the book of an author who was interviewed. There was an interview with a Dr. Francis Moore - I used to work for a Dr. Francis Moore at Harvard, though this man looked nothing like him.

The only interesting thing for me were the Boston locations, as I used to live there, and what the historian had to say about the culture in those days.

Otherwise, not that involving.

Insufferable

[bellsauf · 1/10 · 20 May 2007]

The beauty of American Experience is the coherent way each episode lays out the factual history of an event or person and how it enriched the history of America. This pukeful entry is a cross between tabloid and a Monty Python sketch. Simon Schama, in every other frame looking like a bobble-head doll, insists on making himself the focus of the program by defending his choice to fictionalize the account. Why not present the facts of the case and let the viewers come to their own conclusions? I'm surprised this was made at all, since this comes across more as a promo and an overall "cover my a--" for Schama-lama-ding-dong than a legitimate documentary.

Not bad but not up to the usual standards of "The American Experience".

[planktonrules · 16 November 2011]

The show is a sensationalizing of a murder and subsequent trial back around 1850. It seems that a rich landlord was killed and a Harvard professor was put on trial for the VERY grisly crime--that included the dismemberment of the victim! Yuck.

I usually have a hard time reviewing documentaries from the PBS series "The American Experience". That's because I try to find fault with them but in just about every case, the shows are nearly perfect. How can you critique something that is always that exceptional? I get tired of giving the shows scores of 8, 9 or 10. So, at least "Murder at Harvard" gives me a change to find fault with one of their shows! The problem with "Murder at Harvard" doesn't seem as serious to me as the other review currently posted on IMDb. That reviewer was seriously enraged by the show--much of it due to the documentary being filled with fiction. While I would agree that this isn't a great thing, this sort of playing with the facts has, unfortunately, become more and more the norm and the term 'documentary' doesn't mean the same thing now as it did in the past (for example, the films of Michael Moore). As a retired history teacher, this is bothersome but does not make the show unwatchable. However, this creative approach does make the film a lot less enjoyable and enlightening than usual.