Leaves of Gold from the History Channel
“Leaves of Gold”
by M. Klausmeier, CCT
“The tobacco industry is among the Nation’s largest and most embattled. Like none other, it has become a flash point for debates; over government regulation of our personal lives; over individual liberty versus the health of others; over the welfare of farmers versus the interests of the medical industry…” – ShopHistory.com
“Leaves of Gold” is a fantastically produced documentary film that spans the history of tobacco in the United States of America. Starting from the introduction of the “Orinoco” strain at the Jamestown Colony by John Rolfe through the advent of the “Marlboro Man” and the final bans on television advertising, “Leaves of Gold” does a masterful job of recounting the story of America’s most hated industry.
Produced by the History Channel, the visual quality of this film is extraordinary. Incorporating short, live action sequences with tons of high quality, historic images, “Leaves of Gold” paints a colorful picture of the people and places that formed America’s tobacco industry as it is today.
Follow young James Buchanan “Buck” Duke as he grows from the son of a tobacco farmer into the master marketer that grew the American Tobacco Trust into one of the most powerful conglomerates in the United States of the early 20th Century. Watch as R.J. Reynolds’s, Duke’s largest long term competitor is swallowed up by the Trust; and learn what happens to the Duke empire with the Supreme Court’s Anti-Trust decision against him.
“Leaves of Gold” uses many experts in both tobacco history as well as authorities on the Duke family and its history. You’ll hear they story from professors from the University of Tennessee, Auburn, and the University of Kentucky. Get the inside story from Dr. Robert Durden, author of “The Dukes of Durham.”
Cigar and pipe smokers will find this film very interesting since many of the sentiments over cigarettes are now being expanded into these other products. For cigar and pipe smokers, it is important to know and understand the history of the anti-tobacco movement in the United States and to understand how this has impacted the cigarette industry here. The same anti-cigarette activities that have taken place in this country over the past 100 years are now happening again, only now to premium cigars and premium pipe tobaccos.
This is a great movie for die-hard tobacco history fans. Not so much a cigar movie per se, but there is a great deal cigar aficionados can learn from the lessons of tobacco’s past.
He who does not know history is doomed to repeat it…
Price: $24.95 (plus tax and shipping)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Rating: Not Rated
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 50 Minutes
Region: Region 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Language: English
Studio: History Channel
DVD Release Date: November 2, 1998
