The History Channel Presents The Civil War
by David de Vries, Donna E. Lusitana, Jim Lindsay
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DVD details
Actor: Brian Merrick, Danny Glover, Ed Mantell, Gary Hubb, Tony JayDirector: David de Vries, Donna E. Lusitana, Jim Lindsay
Brand: A&E HOME ENT.
Producer: David de Vries
Writer: David de Vries
Producer: Donna E. Lusitana
Producer: Jim Lindsay
Producer: Craig Haffner
Producer: Glenn Kirschbaum
Producer: Greg Weinstein
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 600 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: History Channel
Product features:
- From Harper s Ferry, Fort Sumter, and First Bull Run to Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, THE HISTORY CHANNEL PRESENTS: THE CIVIL WAR captures the most legendary Civil War battles in brilliant detail. A sweeping selection of the soldiers and legendary leaders who fought these battles, including Sherman, McClellan, Grant, Beauregard, Lee, Davis, and Jackson, are also brought back to life in richly
DVD Reviews of The History Channel Presents The Civil War
DVD Review: Not A Great Series......
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to agree with most of the other reviewers on here that this series, though reasonably priced, is not really worth your money. Most of the problem with it is not its quality or production that is quite good. It has more to do with the series being more of an odd pick of some essential battles of the Civil War, rather than a documentary done in some chronological order. It more resembles parts of a much bigger series, lets say with 15 episodes for example, where 6 are just chosen at random and sold as a collection. I would only recommend purchasing this series if you can find it used, and at a substantially reduced price...DVD Review: I Do Not Recommend This DVD
Summary: 2 Stars
I have not seen this DVD, but based on the extant reviews (9 of them) I could not recommend it. I gave it two stars because of the content of those nine reviews.DVD Review: Endless Civil War battle reenactments.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this at Sam's Club (same title, packaging and UPC) and tried to return it, unsuccessfully. The back of the box says there is a "24 page companion booklet," and "interactive DVD-ROM content." Neither of those is there, and though the Amazon listing does not seem to mention them, in case you are relying partly on a description of the same product from elsewhere, be forewarned.
As I said, I attempted to return my copy. This is my highly biased opinion colored by my expectations. I was looking for a comprehensive understanding of more than the battles and generals involved. Do understand that I didn't have the patience to view the whole thing, but from watching the first disk and dipping into chapters on each of the other disks, it is my conclusion that this is an attempt to dramatize the battles and personalities involved, rather than to present an education in the many aspects of a broad history of the war.
Chapter after chapter seemed to consist of a few portentous comments by either Danny Glover or Roger Mudd, followed by endless battle reenactments, interspersed with short comments by historians on the battles and generals. I found myself overwhelmed by statistics of deaths and injuries, descriptions of tactics, and once again, endless battle reenactments.
The Civil War was a turning point in American History. I expected to learn about the myriad contributing causes: political, economic, social, and more, along with the many facets of the consequences of the war. I wanted to learn about the times and the civilization that were backdrops to the war. I don't need to watch ten hours of battle dramatizations to understand only that there was tremendous suffering and heroism during that time.
Gosh I wish I could return mine. When will I learn not to shop at Sam's Club?
DVD Review: Good but somewhat of a mixed bag
Summary: 3 Stars
I came to this series as a newcomer to Civil War history, and wanted a good set of videos to learn from. Overall, this set serves well for that purpose, with spectacular re-enactments, interesting narration and information, and overall good video and production qualities.
But the series does have its quirks. For one thing, the set doesn't seem to contain, from what I remember, all the episodes of battles that I saw when I first watched the series in reruns on TV. The last two videos are just narration by Danny Glover and don't contain any re-enactments. While this is still a good set, I don't understand why they just didn't pick the most dramatic re-enactments to put on DVD.
But all in all, this is a good teaching set to learn from, and the enactments are dramatic and interesting to watch. With just a little suspension of disbelief, it really feels like you're right there in the heat of the battle. I also liked how much of the commentary focused on the main military commanders, their style of command, tactics, previous experience, and how their decisions, good or bad, influenced the outcome of the battles.
For example, I learned that in few wars in history did troops charge so bravely but often futilely against superior or fortified enemy positions as in Chickamauga and Antietam, from which came withering hails of bullets and cannon fire that decimated the oncoming troops. But each side of the war thought their cause was with the angels and so the troops fought with a determination and resolve that few wars have ever seen. The advent of exploding canon shells rather than the old canon balls further added to the slaughter.
Over the years, I've known several friends who used to participate in Civil War re-enactments, and it was always interesting to listen to their stories, and how much fun it was to participate in them. But I'd never attended one and was curious to see how they really looked. One of them said you had to be careful when pouring in the powder charge not to create any sparks, because the flame could travel right up to your powder horn and take your head off.
I note some people have commented that the video needs re-mastering and looks like it was transferred directly from VHS to DVD. I'm not knowledgeable enough about video to know if the video could be improved in the transferring process or not, but I thought the video was just fine the way it was. There are video upscaling methods that can improve video, though, I guess through mathematical interpolation and other techniques (which is all I know about it), so perhaps this is what they are referring to, and many of the pricier DVD players right now offer this capability for people who want better performance out of their new HD TVs. But anyway, I thought the video was okay the way it was.
Through this set I was finally able to view some of these historical re-enactments, and also to learn a lot I didn't know about the war. Overall a good set despite some quirks and an excellent way for a neophyte in Civil War history to get his feet wet.
DVD Review: Excellent programming, odd format
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoy Civil War history and decided to add this to my collection. While the programs themselves are enjoyable, I found myself scratching my head as to how this collection was put together.
It's not a "new series" but contains episodes of both The History Channel's "Civil War Journal" and "Civil War Combat" which aired originally in the mid 90's. (Until recently these were often shown on THC in the early morning hours). THC also has a couple of different boxed sets of "Civil War Journal" and some of the episodes here are included. For whatever reason, though, it seems impossible to obtain the ENTIRE collection of this great series. (From what I can determine, the whole series was originally released on VHS some time ago but is no longer available).
Regardless...
It is odd to me also that the various episodes here are presented in no particular order. You would think that something called "The History Channel Presents the Civil War" would perhaps start out with Fort Sumter on volume one, and go in chronological order. However, that's not the case here. Fort Sumter is somewhere on disk 3, I believe.
I feel like some intern at THC said, "Hey, let's take some of these old shows and just throw some of them together as a DVD set!" and someone listened.
Despite my irritation with the format, I really do enjoy this programming. It's just too bad that these great series are not grouped together as ONE boxed set.
Still, this is worthwhile and not too pricey.
Description of The History Channel Presents The Civil War
From Harper?s Ferry, Fort Sumter, and First Bull Run to Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, THE HISTORY CHANNEL PRESENTS: THE CIVIL WAR captures the most legendary Civil War battles in brilliant detail. A sweeping selection of the soldiers and legendary leaders who fought these battles, including Sherman, McClellan, Grant, Beauregard, Lee, Davis, and Jackson, are also brought back to life in richly detailed profiles. Through interviews with scholars and historians, reenactments, and their own written words, the full military and political contexts of these men, their armies, and the clashes between them are thoroughly explored.General DVDs
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