Thomas Edison is the most well known 'inventor' in the US. One of the reasons is his endless self-promotion. That's not to say that Edison doesn't deserve to be known, he and the scientists he employed did create a lot of useful things, but the Wizard of Menlo Park wasn't the only person who was changing the world in the early 20th Century. One person who, arguably, had more of an impact than Edison was inventor, engineer, and industrialist, George Westinghouse. In a attempt to give the man his due, writer/director Mark Bussler has produced and released an informative and entertaining film about the man and the companies he created, simply entitled Westinghouse.

George Westinghouse obtained his first patent while still in his teens and his second, a method for switching trains to alternate tracks, not soon after that. He'd average a new patent every six weeks after that for the rest of his life. His first really big creation was the air brake, a system that radically shortened the amount of distance that it would take a train to stop. That invention eventually made him a rich man, but he didn't stop there. He continually improved his system making it more efficient and safer.

The reason most people today know the Westinghouse name is for his electric home products. Before he could make the first toaster though, America had to be wired for electricity. This movie covers (a little too briefly for my tastes but still covers it well) the feud that Westinghouse had with Thomas Edison. Edison was, for reasons that still confound me today, a firm supporter of Direct Current. The problem was that type of energy doesn't travel well. A power station would have to be within a mile of the homes that were served. Westinghouse was the champion of Alternating Current, a variety of electric that is able to be transported efficiently. The two industrial giants fought for years for different contracts, but the science was squarely on Westinghouse's side, and he eventually won. That's why we have A/C current in our homes today.

This film does a great job of retelling Westinghouse's life from his early childhood through his death. There are interviews with scholars and experts who manage bring this man's personality to life again, relating how his factories never had a strike and how he was more interested in creating new products than creating wealth. It's very engaging to hear about this generous industrialist in the age of the robber-barons, and his life was very full and interesting.

The place where the documentary falters a bit is after Westinghouse dies. It switches gears abruptly and talks about the innovations that the Westinghouse Electric Corp made. After building up George Westinghouse so much, hearing what his namesake company (that he was pushed out of in 1907) did in the century that followed seemed more like a footnote, but it takes up the last ½ hour of the film. The last 10 minute or so of the documentary is given over to the various exhibits that Westinghouse had at the World's Fairs over the years.

Audio:

This film comes with a DD 5.1 mix that's a bit of overkill. This documentary is mainly dialog, and while there is some music thrown to the rears, everything else is centered on the screen. The audio is crisp and clean and this track does a fine job. There are no subtitles.

Video:

Filmed in HD, this movie looks very good. Naturally some of the vintage clips are showing their age, but the present day interviews and the still pictures that make up a majority of the film look very good with an excellent amount of detail and good contrast.

Extras:

The disc also comes with some nice extras. The first is a commentary track by writer/director Mark Bussler and the Executive Director of the George Westinghouse Museum, Edward J. Reis. I was a little surprised to find a commentary track on a contemporary documentary. After all, wouldn't the creator put all of the pertinent information in the film itself? That is the case here. Much of the information on the commentary track can also be found in the movie which makes it a bit redundant. It's not a bad commentary however. Bussler also discusses where some of the shot were taken, and he's good at bringing Mr. Reis into the conversation. They relate the backgrounds of some of the engineers who worked for Westinghouse and go a bit more in depth on some of the products that the company made. While it's not essential listening, it has enough new information to keep a viewer's interest.

There is 20 minutes worth of deleted scenes and extended interviews that was nice to see, and Nikola Tesla's Grandnephew, William H. Terbo, is featured in a 19-minute clip where he talks about his famous relative.

The two bonus features I enjoyed the most were vintage promotional films. The first is The Westinghouse Time Capsule, a 4-minute look at the Westinghouse exhibit and the time capsule that was buried at the New York World's Fair in 1964, and the second is Type-V Disconnection Switches, a 9-minute examination of how the innovative switch works in all sorts of weather.

Final Thoughts:

Though it loses its focus at the end and goes on a bit too long, this is still an interesting film. Not too technical but not too superficial either, the documentary would be entertaining for anyone interested in history. This film paints Westinghouse as an important man who has all but been forgotten today. Well worth checking out. Recommended.