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Studio:Eureka Entertainment

Director:Al Reinert

Cast: Jim Lovell, Russell Schweickart, Eugene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong

Running Time:79 minutes

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- For all Mankind

I find this compelling. It preserves and communicates all the feelings and emotions of the astronauts on the hazardous Apollo missions better than any other film has. They tell the story, as it happens, through their own "home video" taken throughout all the Apollo missions. It's an irony that we've become so familiar with the jerky, spontaneous style of home recording recently- a result of You Tube, mobile phones and films like Cloverfield. This film made use of the intimacy of this style long before any of those were around.

I first saw this documentary film when it was screened on the BBC around the time of the 20th anniversary of the moon landings in 1989. I recorded it on videotape and watched it over and over again throughout my late teenage years. Unfortunately, my life moved on and the VHS format became obsolete. By the time I finished university, my parents had thrown it away. So, now I'm reserving a DVD copy and expect to be hooked all over again.

- An Outstanding Document

Having seen a larger number of documentaries and series on the moon landings , this is by far the best. The primary reason being the rare footage , the perfect quality of picture and sound, the music by Bryan Eno fits simply perfectly. When Eagle 1 ( of the Apollo 11 mission) leaves the moon surface the only background sound is 'Ascent ' by Bryan Eno, these 2 minutes or so is probably the climax of the approach this dvd has : less narrative and more music, footage taken from the astronauts not previously seen in other documentaries. In my opinion for this scene only its worth having this dvd. Apart from this scene, other footage is breathtaking and I recommend this dvd to anyone who has an interest to mankind's greatest achievement to date perhaps

- The closest you'll get to being there

I've been looking for a copy of this ever since I dumped my old VCR - along with an old VHS recording - and figured I'd take a punt on the Blu-Ray version as it wasn't much more than the standard DVD.

Having seen some other supposed HD documentaries covering this period I wasn't holding out much hope for more than a cleaned up video transfer but Criterion have done a stunning job here - this has to be the best quality I have seen of the Apollo era. Obviously there is some low quality footage - in particular from some of the on-board handheld cameras & TV transmissions but for the most part everything else is superb (presumably much coming from the 16mm scientific camera's that most missions carried).

For All Mankind presents the Apollo story in a unique way - bringing together clips from all the missions to combine and tell the story in the form of a single trip to the moon and back. Accompanied by occasional inciteful quotes from the Astronauts involved and underscored by Brian Eno's wonderfully atmospheric soundtrack this is a 79 minute journey that you really feel you are accompanying those 24 fortunate men on.

If you are looking for a documentary with in depth narration then look elsewhere you won't find what you are looking for here - there are countless formal documentaries out there (try NASA's Greatest Missions as a start).
For All Mankind is something else - a grand story told as such - and that's what makes it so special.

- For anyone interested in NASA and Space Exploration

Over the years I have watched and owned many of the various DVD, and now all the Blu Ray, releases of documentaries on Space Exploration and this really is a phenomenal docu/film. As has been stated by other Amazon buyers, the NASA's Greatest Missions boxset on Blu Ray is a superb record of NASA's achievements but, apart from some of the shuttle footage, it doesn't really benefit from the Blu Ray format: For All Mankind is a totally different story! The quality is truly breathtaking. Having wanted the Criterion region A version since release I was thrilled to see the same version being released in the UK by Masters of Cinema. The film footage has been scanned from the, unfrozen, original NASA film archives with eye-popping clarity. This coupled with the candid interview dialogue track from 20 of the 24 Apollo Astronauts has created a cinematic tour de force. If you are at all interested in Space Exploration, especially if only mildly interested, this is by far the most accessible and visually stunning of any Blu Ray or DVD release you can buy on the subject.

- Superb - show this to your children and grandchildren!

This film is an essential record of one of the key events in the science and technology of the mid-20th Century, especially since the history of the manned space programme [including the Apollo 11 landing itself ] is barely mentioned in schools today.

In common with a few other reviewers, I first saw this particular film as a TV broadcast in 1989 to mark the 20th anniversary of the first moon landing, and taped it off-air onto VHS; I've been looking for a better quality copy ever since...

The quality of the Blu-ray disk is very good, bearing in mind that most of the source material was taken from 16mm filmstock, or possibly even 1960's video recordings. Thankfully the producers have very wisely decided to preserve original picture aspect ratios; and whether in plain stereo or in it's new multi-channel mix, Brian Eno's soundtrack is still as evocative and appropriate as when I first heard it on this film more than twenty years ago.

Keep this film. Show it to your children when they ask what 'old people' mean by "Apollo", or when they ask whether humans have ever been to the Moon!