The Battle of Gettysburg

This is a no-frills, no-thrills and no-action short documentary about The Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. The July 1-3, 1863 battle was considered a key battle in the war. It was the largest and bloodiest by far. More than 165,000 Union and Confederate troops were engaged. And it had more than 50,000 casualties.

MGM sent a crew to, Pennsylvania, to film the Gettysburg National Military Park. Dore Schary wrote the script for this dry documentary. It uses voice over and background war sounds. Leslie Nielsen tells the story of the battle as the camera moves from one place to another.

This is a bare-bones documentary that won't appeal to many people. But what I especially like and credit the film industry for, is its shooting of real places of history for posterity. This 30-minute short picture did get two Oscar nominations.

Those who like history, scenic places and travel should enjoy this brief glimpse of Gettysburg. Of course nothing beats going there when one can.

An MGM Short Subject.

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG in 1863 was a turning point in America's history.

This short film, narrated by Leslie Nielsen, relates the story of the great pivotal battle during the War Between The States. Dispassionate & evenhanded, it deals with its subject in a noncontroversial manner. Touching upon each of the major aspects of the days of engagement, the film ends with Abraham Lincoln's beautiful Gettysburg Address.

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Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

Statues of Union and Confederate officers, soldiers, and irregulars take up positions in Gettysburg National Park, while Leslie Nielson narrates the events of the Battle of Gettysburg in this Oscar-nominated short subject.

It's probably the most famous battle of the Civil War. Even though the Battle of Vicksburg, which put the Mississippi firmly under Union Control, separating the Confederacy in twain ended while this battle was going on, there's nothing for getting newspaper coverage like being near population centers. Gettysburg was near the well-settled east coast cities, and that made it seem more important. The Confederacy was invading the loyal districts, and that made it seem more important.

The fact is that even if the Confederates had won, it would have made little difference to the War. It was a bloody battle, but the Union had superior positions and arms. The Confederate forces made desperate charges and were shot down. There were about 7,000 deaths in total, and about 50,000 wounded, with the Confederates taking slightly the worse of it. Had the ratios been reversed, it wouldn't have killed the Union. They had more men, more arms, more manufacturing. Lee's strategy was to scare the Union into calling off the War. Plus it allowed stupid and brave commanders to lead their troops into slaughter and call it gallantry.

Battle of Gettysburg, The (1955)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-nominated short was filmed at the Gettysburg National Military Park with Leslie Nielsen narrating the story of the famous battle. This is a rather interesting short because it runs a full 30-minutes, which wasn't too normal for the day. Another interesting aspect is that MGM decided to film this in a 2.35:1 ratio, which makes for some beautiful scenes. The final interesting thing is that they decided to make the movie without the use of a single actor. Instead we just get various shots of the actual battlefield mixed in with paintings of the battle and other photos. This was a strange way to present the documentary but for the most part it works just fine even though it does start to feel a bit long towards the end. What I enjoyed the best were the helicopter shots, which give us a grand view of the entire field where the battle was fought.

"...the crucial and deciding conflict of the War Between the States," when 75,000 Confederates were "pitted against" 93,000 Federal troops in a battle which Gen. Robert E. Lee hoped would force a settlement for independence for the South from the North is the subject of this perfunctory job. Filmed entirely at Gettysburg National Military Park, the landscapes, statues and cannons are the visual content, but there are no maps, diagrams or photographs of note, despite two Oscar nominations. It's not to be confused with the far more informative and entertaining "Gettysburg" (1993).