The Search for Robert Johnson (1991)

Original title

The Search For Robert Johnson

Directed by

Chris Hunt

Genre

documentary film, documentary television film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 12m

Rated

U

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 6 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A documentary filmmaker travels through the American South to investigate the life and death of blues musician Robert Johnson. He talks to people and visits places to separate fact from legend about Johnson's career and mysterious end.

investigativemelancholicreverentreflectiveatmosphericpoignantfactualmusical

What happens

The Search for Robert Johnson is a 1992 British television documentary film about the American Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, hosted by John Hammond, and produced and directed by Chris Hunt. In the film, Hammond journeys through the American Deep South to pursue topics such as Johnson's birth date, place and parents, his early musical development, performances and travels, romances, his mythic "pact with the devil," his death in the late 1930s, the discovery of possible offspring, and the uncertainty over where Johnson is buried. Throughout, Johnson's music is both foreground and background, from recordings of Johnson and as performed on camera by Hammond, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, and Johnny Shines. Produced by Iambic Productions, the documentary first aired on Channel 4. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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