Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster
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| Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Bigger Picture Films |
Release date |
|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster is a documentary film made by Bigger Picture Films for the BBC in 2009. It was originally aired on BBC Four on Sunday, 16 May 2010. It was subsequently repeated on BBC Two and BBC Four.[1]
The programme tells the story of the 1955 Le Mans disaster in which Pierre Levegh's Mercedes 300 SLR smashed into the crowd, killing 83 people and injuring 120 more.[1]
Reception[edit]
Calling the documentary "brash but fascinating", Ceri Radford of The Daily Telegraph found it to be "a cross between a video nasty and a mind-boggling trip back in time to a past that wasn’t just another country, but a different planet"[2] The Times's Joe Clay wrote, "this excellent film uses original footage and stills, along with eyewitness accounts to examine the chain of events to try to discover exactly what happened" during the 1955 Le Mans disaster.[3]
Autoweek commented, "Originally aired in 2010, the documentary (...) dives into the background of the race with some spectators and participants, but spends it the second half talking about the accident in graphic detail. For motorsports fans who haven't already seen it, this hourlong documentary is a must-watch -- note that viewers might find some of the footage disturbing."[4] while The Independent wrote,"The makers of a documentary exploring the tragedy (...) have reconstructed a roll of film taken by a spectator, who was himself injured. It has not been seen for over half a century and it serves to dramatically shift the blame."[5]
The Routledge Companion to Automobile Heritage, Culture, and Preservation stated in 2019 that, regarding the Le Mans disaster, "What has emerged in recent years is a consensus perhaps best summed up by the 2009 B.B.C documentary".[6]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "BBC Programme Page - Deadliest Crash".
- ^ Radford, Ceri (17 May 2010). "Worried About the Boy, BBC Two, Review". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ Clay, Joe (15 May 2010). "Digital choices". The Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ Wren, Wesley. "'The Deadliest Crash' Dives Into The 1955 Le Mans Catastrophe". Autoweek.
- ^ Scott-Elliot, Robin (14 May 2010). "The rivalry that caused the deadliest crash in motorsport | The Independent". The Independent. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ Stiefel, Barry L.; Clark, Jennifer (6 December 2019). The Routledge Companion to Automobile Heritage, Culture, and Preservation. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-75342-8.
External links[edit]
- Deadliest Crash: The 1955 Le Mans Disaster at IMDb
- BBC Programme Page for The Deadliest Crash
- Official Web Page
- Bigger Picture Films
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