| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3

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| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3 | The History Cooperative

Movie Review

Electric Money. Prod. by David Davis. Oregon Public Broadcasting and Reiner Moritz Associates Ltd., 2001. 120 mins. (PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698; 1-800-344-3337; <shop@pbs.org>; <http://shop.pbs.org/education> [Sept. 23, 2002])

Electric Money comprises two one-hour segments for PBS on how information technology is replacing both in-person transactions and the cash and checks used to carry them out. The first hour, "Bills to Bytes," covers credit cards, online payment systems, automated teller machines (ATMs), and the growth of interstate and international banking. The concluding episode, "The Global Game," covers financial futures and options trading, discount brokerage, electronic stock trading, and computers that forecast prices and trade without human intervention. 1

PBS documentaries fall between Ken BurnsÕs slow-paced style of letting the material speak for itself and Michael PalinÕs intrepid narrator. Fearing the "dismal" reputation of topics economic, Electric Money resembles the latter, as we follow tech writer Robert X. Cringley from exploring the fiber-optic cables under ManhattanÕs streets to ordering golf balls from a Finnish course using a cell phone. The show also adopts the great man view, telling stories through luminaries including Dee Hock (speaking about the bank cooperative enabling Visa), Walter Wriston (automated check clearing and ATM networks), Leo Melamed (currency futures and options markets), Charles Schwab (discount stock brokering), and the current New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg (online financial information). . . .

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