A seldom-seen, award-winning documentary on Henry Hudson that was narrated by Orson Welles is now online.
Documentary filmmaker Jon Scott Bennett detailed in several online postings last week how he discovered a copy of Henry Hudson’s River: A Biography deep in a library archive. He searched online and found a VHS copy of the 1979 film being sold on eBay. Bennett digitized the videotape and recently uploaded it to the Internet Archive at archive.org/details/henry-hudsons-river
“I feel this documentary is too good not to be seen – and it is narrated by Orson Welles,” Bennett said in a YouTube short. He also discussed his find in postings on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
While Bennett stated the Welles-narrated documentary is commercially unavailable, the website for the producer, Hudson River Film & Video, lists it as available for purchase on VHS and DVD.
The 90-minute documentary was honored with an Emmy Award, Cine Golden Eagle and Grand Prix at the Houston International Film Festival.
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