Civil War Films of the Silent Era (2000)

[sbl]

I just got finished watching these. Corny and overacted by our standards but Well Worth a look. No "bad guys" just stories of people. The battle scenes appear to have been shot all at once for all three films by the same producer.

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?...75&trkid=90529


"Three Civil War films by legendary producer Thomas Ince, made nearly 50 years after the conflict's end, offer a unique look at the ravages of bloodshed. "The Drummer of the Eighth" (1913) focuses on a young boy who follows his brother into the Union Army. "The Coward" (1915) follows a young man as he confronts his fear of battle. "Granddad" (1913) chronicles the relationship between a Civil War veteran and his granddaughter."

Granddad actually made me cry! Final scenes appear to have been shot at a real Memorial Day ceremony.

[Forquer]

Final scenes appear to have been shot at a real Memorial Day ceremony.

Scott -

So this thing about movie producers getting starstruck reenactors to provide bodies, equipment, and clothing for their movies for the price of a t-shirt and coffee mug goes actually goes back a few years...........

YOS,

[sbl]

"t-shirt and coffee mug" or whatever the 1913 equiventent was. Maybe "Granddad Background Artist" or "I Survived Drummer of the Eighth" on a sleeve garter or panama hat band.

The battle scenes looked like Indian War/Span-Am gear on extras who weren't trusted with fixed bayonets. All the action in the scenes must have been pretty thrilling for those early audiences although Thomas Edison was restaging the Spanish American War for the movies in New Jersey some years earlier.

[Crabby]

Don't foget "Birth of a Nation"

Crabby

[sbl]

Don't foget "Birth of a Nation"

Crabby

I own a DVD version.

Interesting.

[sbl]

It is BIG but and well made but I just don't like the charecters and the story. The copy I have uses Wagner's "Ride Of The Valkyries" when the Klan rides to the rescue.
Netflix has it...

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?...=993737531_0_0

The three films I just saw have likable charecters, no real villians, and bittersweet endings.

[EasySam]

I liked "The General" starring Buster Keaton. My family saw it in an old beautifully refurbished theatre in Miami, OK called the Coleman. The music was accompanied by a very talented feller on a Wurlitzer organ. Man that was great.
Sam Looey

[sbl]

Sam,

I saw the General once at Hammond Castle in Magnolia, Mass.

http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/hammond.jpg

This mansion is a "castle" build by the inventor John Hammond to house his collection on medieval art. The Great Hall is used to show silent films accompanied by the massive pipe organ built into the stone tower. What a show. I loved the girl in the story, Marion Mack. She could do slapstick and still look beautiful.


Hammond Castle was going to present Birth Of A Nation but a few locals complained. (Geeze!) Mostly film buffs go these shows, not KKK recruits.