The National Dream (miniseries)

Production

The series portrayed the concept and construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the late 19th century, with Berton himself as narrator. The National Dream combined dramatic reconstructions of the events (directed by Eric Till) with documentary content (directed by James Murray). Production required two years and cost $2 million. Royal Trust, which was the executor of Cornelius Van Horne's estate, paid $400,000 to be a principal sponsor.

CBC Television premiered the eight-part hour-long series on 30 March 1974 and aired its final instalment on 28 April 1974. The series' rated audience of three million within Canada set a record for CBC in terms of dramatic programming. The series was also dubbed in French and broadcast on Radio-Canada, and was later seen in modified form on BBC in the United Kingdom.

Principal cast

• John Colicos as Cornelius Van Horne
• Gillie Fenwick as Alexander Mackenzie
• William Hutt as John A. Macdonald
• Joseph Shaw as George Stephen
• Gerard Parkes as Edward Blake
• Chris Wiggins as Donald Smith
• Ted Follows as Charles Tupper

List of episodes

• The Great Lone Land
• The Pacific Scandal
• The Horrid B.C. Business
• The Great Debate
• The Railway General
• The Sea of Mountains
• The Desperate Days
• The Last Spike

After initial release

The series was never intended for international sales to cover any significant portion of its production costs. Berton, however, was believed to have earned at least $250,000 from it, as well as from a re-release of the related books.

There has never been a home video release, but it is available to educational institutions in DVD on special order from the CBC.

The videos are available on YouTube.

References

References

1. (22 February 1974). "National Dream slated". Windsor Star.
2. (26 Dec 1975). "Rail-building Series Back". Leader-Post.
3. (20 May 1976). "A Historical Series On TV to Camouflage American Domination". The Forge.
4. MacDonald, L. Ian. (7 February 1974). "Too late for Van Horne's Dream". [[Montreal Gazette]].
5. "The National Dream". curio.ca.