Item Detail Information

Streaming Media

The Man Who Might Have Been : An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman

Copies

0 Total copies, 0 Copies are in, 0 Copies are out.

On April 4, 1957, Herbert Norman, the Canadian ambassador to Egypt, leapt to his death from a Cairo rooftop. During his remarkable life, Norman helped set the course of post-war Japan and played a key role during the Suez crisis. But with all of his talents and achievements, there was something haunting Herbert Norman and following him to every corner of the globe: the accusation that he was a Soviet spy. Director John Kramer's chilling and revealing documentary The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman takes us back to a time when the Cold War was heating up and when the mere accusation of communist sympathies could destroy a man's career. Using declassified documents, interviews with key players and dramatizations filmed around the world, Kramer reconstructs the ordeal that Norman endured for seven long years, as a US Senate subcommittee relentlessly probed his past beliefs and current loyalties. During his meteoric rise and fall, Norman crossed paths with some of the greatest personalities of his time: Nobel-prize winning Canadian diplomat and politician Lester B. Pearson; FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, whose organization had an 800-page security file on Norman; General Douglas MacArthur, to whom Norman was a trusted aide; and charismatic Egyptian leader Gamel Abdul Nasser.

Share It:

Summary MARC Cover Image Additional Info

General Note

Agency - English program:.Ontario Centre.
Agency:.Produced by the NFB with the financial support of Toyota Canada.
Study guide available.

Credit Note

Writer, John Kramer ; director, John Kramer ; producer, Gerry Flahive ; director of photography, Andreas Poulsson ; music composer, Mark Korven ; editor, David Kazala ; sound recordist, John Martin ; sound editor, Alan Geldart ; research, Elizabeth Klinck, Nadine Simunic ; archival film research, Tanya Fleet ; historical consultant, Roger Bowen ; historical advisor, Toshiko Nakano ; graphics, Martha Newbigging ; re-recording, Peter Kelly ; foley artist, Steve Hammond ; executive producer, Louise Lore.

Performer Note

Cast, Greg Ellwand ; narrator, Kenneth Welsh ; performer, Frank Blanch, Derek Curwin, Ernest Dyck, Lisa Mininni, Michael O'Neill.

Time of Event Note

Recorded 1998.

Summary

On April 4, 1957, Herbert Norman, the Canadian ambassador to Egypt, leapt to his death from a Cairo rooftop. During his remarkable life, Norman helped set the course of post-war Japan and played a key role during the Suez crisis. But with all of his talents and achievements, there was something haunting Herbert Norman and following him to every corner of the globe: the accusation that he was a Soviet spy. Director John Kramer's chilling and revealing documentary The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman takes us back to a time when the Cold War was heating up and when the mere accusation of communist sympathies could destroy a man's career. Using declassified documents, interviews with key players and dramatizations filmed around the world, Kramer reconstructs the ordeal that Norman endured for seven long years, as a US Senate subcommittee relentlessly probed his past beliefs and current loyalties. During his meteoric rise and fall, Norman crossed paths with some of the greatest personalities of his time: Nobel-prize winning Canadian diplomat and politician Lester B. Pearson; FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, whose organization had an 800-page security file on Norman; General Douglas MacArthur, to whom Norman was a trusted aide; and charismatic Egyptian leader Gamel Abdul Nasser.

System Det Note

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Source of Description Note (R)

Description based on online resource; title from title screen (National Film Board of Canada, viewed 2023-08-10).