"Testimony of Two Men" was an important production in its day. It (and "The Captains and the Kings"--from another work by maven of historical, inter-generational, soap operaish novels, Taylor Caldwell) was among the first works of "Operation Prime Time" which provided productions to be aired by local stations independently of their networks.
This early miniseries has an impressive cast comprised of shopworn but genuine movie stars (including Ray Milland, Ralph Bellamy, dancer Dan Daley and child star Margaret O'Brien) and familiar television faces (including Randolph Mantooth from "Emergency"; William Shatner from "Star Trek" and John de Lancie who went on to be Q in "Star Trek: the Next Generation"; and the father on "Happy Days" Tom Bosley, whose pleasant voice narrates).
Other familiar faces of the time belonged to Leonard Frey as a flamboyant art critic; Theodore Bikel as an immigrant who found the American Dream; J.D. Cannon as a senator (one of his best performances) and Cameron Mitchell as an old Civil Warrior (Federal) who knows the difference between true patriotism and sloganeering jingoism for political purposes.
Heading the cast is David Birney as the idealistic young doctor, who steps on toes as he is devoted to radical new medical procedures (such as washing his hands before and not smoking cigars during operations).
The bad guys are easily identifiable. They are businessmen, hypocritical politicians and clergy, people of the older generation who won't change their ways and young artistic types who put self-interest above the good of others or the community. The good guys include prostitutes with hearts of gold, members of the older generation who take against their peers and earnest youngsters--doctors, rare honest lawyers, or genuinely compassionate members of the clergy (Mantooth).
Heading the amazing cast is . . . David Birney. Birney was good at what he did, but he was hardly strong enough as an actor to carry a three-part, six-hour miniseries practically single-handedly. While a good match for Shatner and Steve Forrest, cagier actors like Ray Milland, as the delightfully wicked gunpowder maker, and J. D. Cannon's mealymouthed senator, act rings around him.
Furthermore, Birney's character, while medically forward-looking, is prickly, self-righteous and intolerant of disagreement. He's one of the "old school" in waiting: radical when young but so devoted to his methods when he gets old himself he'll probably be considered archly conservative. His character may be a great healer (we keep being told he is) but he brings unhappiness to everyone he meets on a personal level; he even forgets himself so far as to nearly commit a rape, which turned my stomach.
The turn of the twentieth century ambiance looks good but the history is on the level of "Apart from that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" Truly amazing innovations and inventions of the post-Civil War period that changed the world (telephones, electric lights, phonographs and "horseless carriages") are mentioned casually, as are great personages of the period--none of whom, fortunately, appear; we are in a hermetically-sealed fictional world and the miniseries is better for not parading before the viewer a lot of genuinely important historical persons.
The historical background also reminds us that, the upheaval after Oswald's assassination of Kennedy notwithstanding--if one was born precisely one hundred years before I was, in 1861, by the first year of the twentieth century one would have seen three assassinated presidents (all Republican, of course, so who's counting?).
An impressive achievement in 1977, especially in helping undermining of the three major networks who had a stranglehold on televised entertainment, today "Testimony of Two Men" comes off as . . . well, a bit pointless.
With a truly impressive cast (like its sister production, "The Captains and the Kings") and some impressive production values (though the Civil War looks more of a skirmish and relies on a knowledge of American history to fill in gaps--good luck in the twenty-first century!), it nevertheless boils down to a truncated soap opera. And it may be difficult for the casual viewer to keep up with who is whose illicit offspring. "Testimony of Two Men" suffers from a genuinely hard-to-like, self-righteous hero who spends less time in the OR than fighting tedious and repetitive conspiracies against him made up of more polished actors who were leading men in the movies when they were BIG.
I may be perhaps biased against it because I personally never liked medical shows. I found "Testimony of Two Men" worth watching for its historical importance alone ("Operation Prime Time" breaking free of the big networks), and found it comfortable viewing from long-familiar faces. "Testimony of Two Men" is best watched in one, long go on a rainy afternoon, and it's a lot easier than trying to pick one's way through Taylor Caldwell's pretentious novel.
This early miniseries has an impressive cast comprised of shopworn but genuine movie stars (including Ray Milland, Ralph Bellamy, dancer Dan Daley and child star Margaret O'Brien) and familiar television faces (including Randolph Mantooth from "Emergency"; William Shatner from "Star Trek" and John de Lancie who went on to be Q in "Star Trek: the Next Generation"; and the father on "Happy Days" Tom Bosley, whose pleasant voice narrates).
Other familiar faces of the time belonged to Leonard Frey as a flamboyant art critic; Theodore Bikel as an immigrant who found the American Dream; J.D. Cannon as a senator (one of his best performances) and Cameron Mitchell as an old Civil Warrior (Federal) who knows the difference between true patriotism and sloganeering jingoism for political purposes.
Heading the cast is David Birney as the idealistic young doctor, who steps on toes as he is devoted to radical new medical procedures (such as washing his hands before and not smoking cigars during operations).
The bad guys are easily identifiable. They are businessmen, hypocritical politicians and clergy, people of the older generation who won't change their ways and young artistic types who put self-interest above the good of others or the community. The good guys include prostitutes with hearts of gold, members of the older generation who take against their peers and earnest youngsters--doctors, rare honest lawyers, or genuinely compassionate members of the clergy (Mantooth).
Heading the amazing cast is . . . David Birney. Birney was good at what he did, but he was hardly strong enough as an actor to carry a three-part, six-hour miniseries practically single-handedly. While a good match for Shatner and Steve Forrest, cagier actors like Ray Milland, as the delightfully wicked gunpowder maker, and J. D. Cannon's mealymouthed senator, act rings around him.
Furthermore, Birney's character, while medically forward-looking, is prickly, self-righteous and intolerant of disagreement. He's one of the "old school" in waiting: radical when young but so devoted to his methods when he gets old himself he'll probably be considered archly conservative. His character may be a great healer (we keep being told he is) but he brings unhappiness to everyone he meets on a personal level; he even forgets himself so far as to nearly commit a rape, which turned my stomach.
The turn of the twentieth century ambiance looks good but the history is on the level of "Apart from that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" Truly amazing innovations and inventions of the post-Civil War period that changed the world (telephones, electric lights, phonographs and "horseless carriages") are mentioned casually, as are great personages of the period--none of whom, fortunately, appear; we are in a hermetically-sealed fictional world and the miniseries is better for not parading before the viewer a lot of genuinely important historical persons.
The historical background also reminds us that, the upheaval after Oswald's assassination of Kennedy notwithstanding--if one was born precisely one hundred years before I was, in 1861, by the first year of the twentieth century one would have seen three assassinated presidents (all Republican, of course, so who's counting?).
An impressive achievement in 1977, especially in helping undermining of the three major networks who had a stranglehold on televised entertainment, today "Testimony of Two Men" comes off as . . . well, a bit pointless.
With a truly impressive cast (like its sister production, "The Captains and the Kings") and some impressive production values (though the Civil War looks more of a skirmish and relies on a knowledge of American history to fill in gaps--good luck in the twenty-first century!), it nevertheless boils down to a truncated soap opera. And it may be difficult for the casual viewer to keep up with who is whose illicit offspring. "Testimony of Two Men" suffers from a genuinely hard-to-like, self-righteous hero who spends less time in the OR than fighting tedious and repetitive conspiracies against him made up of more polished actors who were leading men in the movies when they were BIG.
I may be perhaps biased against it because I personally never liked medical shows. I found "Testimony of Two Men" worth watching for its historical importance alone ("Operation Prime Time" breaking free of the big networks), and found it comfortable viewing from long-familiar faces. "Testimony of Two Men" is best watched in one, long go on a rainy afternoon, and it's a lot easier than trying to pick one's way through Taylor Caldwell's pretentious novel.