Race for the Double Helix (1987) EDDE Entertainment Jeff Goldblum VHS vg+

Race for the Double Helix (1987) EDDE Entertainment Jeff Goldblum VHS vg+

Nominally based on James Watson’s book, Double Helix, (the “Race” was added to the title of the film for American audiences) the film concerns the discovery of the structure of DNA, the genetic material that is responsible for the reproduction of life on earth. Watson had been doing research in molecular biology in Europe and eventually made his way to London, working at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge with Francis Crick. The two of them struck up a friendship based on their interest in “genes,” at the time an imaginary structure that was responsible for replication of biological organisms. By using guile and taking daring guesses, they were able to deduce the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. The two of them, along with Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 and would have been joined by Rosalind Franklin had she not died in the interim.