The President's Book of Secrets (2010) (TV)

Release Date:

1 December 2010 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Journey inside White House history to unveil fascinating truths behind secrets known only to the President. |

Cast

Jonathan Adams	...	Narrator
Jonathan Alter
Michael Chertoff
Susan Ford
David Gewirtz	...	Himself
Newt Gingrich
Michael Hayden
Clay Johnson	...	Himself
Karen Keller	...	Herself
Anita McBride	...	Herself
Natasha Neely	...	Herself
Dana Perino	...	Herself
Dan Quayle	...	Himself
Dan Rather	...	Himself
Roger Tilling	...	Narrator UK
Mark Zaid	...	Himself

Produced by
Kevin Burns	....	executive producer
Sapna Chhabra	....	associate producer
Gregory S. Cohan	....	post production producer
Brian Coughlin	....	producer
Kellie Dancho	....	co-producer
Frankie Glass	....	producer
Frankie Glass	....	supervising producer
Evan Goldstein	....	associate producer
Scott Hartford	....	co-executive producer
Steve Rockmael	....	line producer
Kim Sheerin	....	co-executive producer

Original Music by
Dan Beyer

Film Editing by
Greg Arata
Damon Brewster
Chris Collins
David Comtois
Titus Heard
Casey Lee

Production Management
Shannon Schaefer	....	production manager

Sound Department
Jim Baldree	....	sound mixer
James Gower	....	sound (as Jim Gower)
Sean O'Neil	....	sound
Jason Quinn	....	sound
Juan Rocha	....	sound
Chiara Roy	....	sound
Brian Sepowitz	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Patrick Connelly	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Roger Gower	....	camera operator
Travis Johnson	....	camera operator
John Lawrence	....	camera operator
Mike V. Peters	....	camera operator
Jayme Roy	....	camera operator
Mark Smith	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Nicole Alessi	....	assistant editor
Bryan Banks	....	lead assistant editor
Mark W. Jacobs	....	on-line editor
Randy Magalski	....	on-line editor
Michelle Mogavero	....	post-production assistant

Music Department
Jeff Broadbent	....	composer: stock music

Other crew
Justin Bitton	....	post production coordinator
Jonathan Garda	....	production assistant
Brian Garson	....	production coordinator
Jirar Gertmenian	....	field production assistant
Sharon Hubbs	....	production accountant
Mari Johnson	....	clearance coordinator
Anita A. Kelly	....	post production coordinator
Mary Kochones	....	vp: rights & clearances
Michelle Mogavero	....	post production assistant
Nick Montalvo	....	field production assistant
Natasha Neely	....	publicist
Daryl Orenge	....	research assistant
Daryl Orenge	....	researcher
Steven J. Peña	....	business & legal affairs
Adam Quintanilla	....	field production assistant
Sheri Reeves	....	assistant production accountant
Tony Stewart	....	field production assistant
Matt Thomas	....	research assistant

Production Companies

• Prometheus Entertainment

Distributors

• History Channel (2010) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Periscope Film  stock footage

Also Known As:

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG

Company:

Prometheus Entertainment

So What?

This seems a bit much to establish the shocking fact that Presidents of the United States know a lot of stuff that your average joe on the street doesn't know. But that's essentially what this does. It talks about secrets we already know about (things like health issues with former presidents, for example - Woodrow Wilson's stroke, JFK's Addisons Disease and dependence on pain killers), it talks about things we don't know but that we know the President must know (like the fact that the United States must have secret weapons), it talks about the fact that there are probably things that even the President doesn't know (because, as Newt Gingrich points out, there's just too much to know, and someone has to decide what goes to the President and what doesn't), and there are vague conspiracy-like hints through the whole thing. It's a little bit heavy on 9/11, and although it bills itself as a journey inside White House history, it's most definitely biased toward recent history. There's lots on Obama and Bush, Jr., with preceding presidents from that point back getting progressively less attention. The earliest president mentioned as I recall was Woodrow Wilson, except for a perfunctory line at the end noting that the presidency exists in an unbroken chain dating back to George Washington. This doesn't reveal any particularly surprising information, and as a result it's biggest weakness as a documentary is that - really - you don't learn anything from it that you shouldn't already know if you're at all interested. The whole concept is developed around the idea that there might be (stress the might) a special "book of secrets" that every new president gets access to, and it regards with suspicion right from the start the secret, personal letter that every outgoing president leaves for every incoming president.

No doubt that presidents and former presidents form a sort of special club, if you will. Equally there's no doubt that there's knowledge within that special club that those not in the club don't have. This documentary established that and then - quite frankly - left me yawning and asking "so what?" (4/10)