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January 20, 2010

Mr. Movie – Civil War films

Anonymous The Randolph Guide Wed Jan 20, 2010, 10:15 AM EST

The Civil War is the setting for several good films, though not as many as you might expect. Birth of a Nation (1915) is a silent classic that practically invented movies as we know them. Directed by the Founding Father, D.W. Griffith, it is unfortunately sympathetic to the KKK, but it is one of the first movies to tell a story. Its battle scenes are still incredibly realistic.

Glory (1989) tells the true story of an all-black Union infantry unit. Blacks have criticized it because it is more the story of the white colonel (Matthew Broderick) who commands the unit and less about the soldiers. This is a fair enough objection, but the screenplay was based on the letters of the character played by Broderick. Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, two of our best actors of any color, are splendid as soldiers.

Friendly Persuasion (1956) is about Quakers during the Civil War and the hard-case testing of their nonviolence. Gary Cooper is the determined father, and Anthony Perkins has a nice turn as the son who is worried that he will be seen as hiding cowardice behind religious principles.

You knew Gone With The Wind (1939) was coming and here it is. The Yankees are the bad guys, the sweeping panorama of Atlanta at war is captivating and Clark Gable is wonderful. Vivian Leigh has a fine time flouncing about and batting her eyes.

Audie Murphy was a real life Congressional Medal of Honor winner and he plays Stephen Crane’s antihero soldier in The Red Badge of Courage (1951). It was the high water mark of his movie career by several gallons.

Gettysburg (1993) at four hours is too long by two and a half. The setting is authentic and the battle scenes are fine, but it just drags and drags. The Andersonville Trial (1970) is an excellent made-for-TV effort about the infamous Confederate prison camp. It asks some pointed questions about people at war and sorting it all out after peace finally comes.

And finally, there is Ken Burns’ tremendous nine-hour TV documentary, The Civil War (1990). Of course, it is not a movie, but it is the best thing ever done on The War Between The States.

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. Friendly Persuasion is fine for children of all ages. The rest are suitable for mature 10-year-olds and up.

Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.

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