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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25057 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 200 minutes

Amazon.com
With beautifully shot footage of reenactors, Civil War Combat illustrates aspects of four particular Civil War battles that are rightfully considered legendary. Filmed on location, the reenactors depict the violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor. Produced by the History Channel, the episodes all benefit from insightful appearances by historians as well as rangers from the National Park Service. The format of putting the focus on specific points of action in larger battles allows for narratives about specific soldiers and commanders, in both the Union and Confederate ranks, to develop. For instance, the segment on Antietam profiles commanders and individual soldiers from the Union's Irish Brigade and the Alabama regiment they charged during some of the most violent action of the entire war. The Civil War reenactors provide a credible look at how the war must have appeared to participants (though purists will note that some of the reenactors appear too clean and too well fed to have been marching behind Robert E. Lee). The discussions of strategy and the importance of the events depicted, combined with the uniformly excellent cinematography, make this an entertaining and enlightening look at critical events of the Civil War. --Robert J. McNamara

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Customer Reviews

Dull and esoteric
I am a great follower of the American Civil War, my interested piqued by the stellar performances of Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, and others in "Gettysburg", and I greatly enjoy studying the highly interesting period of history.

For the money, this DVD set is certainly a worthwhile piece. However, even made in 1999, it feels inferior to what it could have been.

For one, the title is misleading, but the back descriptions openly admit: these documentaries are NOT about the battles, but about specific instances in the battle. So concerned with the individual aspects of each battle is the documentary that it becomes esoteric, and a completely new experience even for someone like me who has studied such battles as Antietam and Gettysburg deeply. The Battle of Shiloh manages to go beyond the Hornet's Nest itself, but the piece on Antietam never leaves the trenches, and the piece on Gettysburg is secured entirely in the wheatfield, to a point of such intense study and devotion that you'd think the Wheatfield was where the core of the battle took place (Hint: it wasn't. It was major, but it was not the decisive battle area).

The re-enactments are decent, but inferior. Most of the re-enacting involves men laying around camp, or marching into battle. Typical of cable television documentaries, there's no blood and no violence, with very little emphasis on the actual fighting, and more on men marching, falling dead, and raising their guns to fire at targets never shown on camera. The re-enactment footage, compared to the pictures and interviews, are very hazy, as if done with a lower-quality camera, or under a perpetual veil of dust. Some of the casting, even though only present for a few seconds, are questionable, and their actions appear slightly out of character for the historical person. For example, the extra playing General Longstreet appears too portly, and looks so taken aback by the actions at the Wheatfield that he appears stunned stupid, not exactly the sort of reaction of a Corps Commander.

For the price offered by Amazon or its merchants, this is certainly a worthy addition, but I do not recommend it to anyone not a devoted studier of Civil War history, and even then it can appear dry, almost dull, when compared to other documentaries, or movies or books like "Gettysburg/The Killer Angels", "Gods and Generals", "The Last Full Measure", "Cold Mountain", etc.

Civil War Combat
Good overview of some of the battles. It is a good addition to my Civil War collection.

Excellent productions from The History Channel
I have not actually purchased this DVD, but I watched every episode of "Civil War Combat" when The History Channel was airing them for the first time several years back.

Each episode of "Civil War Combat" focuses on a particular story within the larger framework of some of the war's major battles. For example, there are episodes centering on The Wheat Field (Gettysburg), The Sunken Road (Antietam), The Hornet's Nest (Shiloh), and the futile Union charges at Cold Harbor. Going even deeper, each scenario centers on a particular unit or brigade (both Union and Confederate) - with particular attention to a key colonel, or Brigade commander, or a Private soldier - that fought in these particular areas of the battlefields. By doing this, the viewer is placed in the shoes of the rank and file and is given a pretty good sense of the desperate figting that ocurred and what these men were experiencing.

The one "negative" I have to mention regarding these presentations is that the producers clearly could not amass the necessary body count of reenactors to accurately portray the numbers of troops involved. For example, in The Gettyburg "Wheat Field" episode, you see a small platoon of Union troops advancing across the field, where they were depicting an entire regiment or brigade. Fighting would be over in a few seconds with such a paltry command taking part in such an attack. So, even though these productions are excellent, the number of troops represented is far from accurate... almost ludicrous.

I have not heard of or seen any new episodes of Civil War Combat in a long while. I'd like to see more episodes in the future. Some scenarios I can think of that I wish were covered originally in the series would be "Gettysburg - McPherson's Ridge" focusing on the Union 1st Corps' (with particular focus on The Iron Brigade) defense of the ridge on July 1st. Also, "Antietam - The Cornfield" focusing on - again - either the Iron Brigade's clash with the 1st Texas, or one of the other many regiments that took control and/or lost control of that sector of the battlefield.

Definitely worth adding to your Civil War DVD collection - whether you're an old Civil War "buff", or a fledgling "buff". I may have to buy these myself real soon.

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