John Brown's Raid is a 1960 television play directed by Sidney Lumet.
The story of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.
It was shot on location at Harper's Ferry. Producer Robert Alan Aurthur said the decision was based on NBC's success the prior season with recording The American on location in Arizona, and the fact that Harper's Ferry had been restored to its original condition, making it a "superb location" and "an extraordinarily beautiful site." The Los Angeles Times said it was rehearsed in one day and filmed in four days. James Mason wrote in his memoirs that there were ten days of rehearsal in New York. It was shot on video tape.
Mason said when he saw the production "a lot of good material was missing and the dramatic urgency was never really established."
Variety later wrote: <blockquote>[Lumet] tried to maneuver things into some semblance of that needed reality, but it was a lost cause from the start. Little enough drama emerged from the hour outing and one couldn't help wondering: why this continuing concentration on John Brown as a subject of presentation when the end result proved little more than the rantings of a religious fanaticâÂÂ; for it was as though everybody concerned was briefed on the premise: âÂÂForget about the drama, irâÂÂs the tape job that counts.' At least thatâÂÂs the way it played. </blockquote>