The Battle of Gettysburg

Imagine the dry, didactic verbiage of your fourth grade history textbook come to life, set to still images of the illustrations within the book that occasionally cut to shots of famous memorial statues and on-location pans of Gettysburg, and you have The Battle of Gettysburg. If you recall those days in high school history class, where the teacher would lecture you about history you've already memorized and regurgitated enough times to be able to author a textbook about the events and your experiences learning said material, The Battle of Gettysburg might trigger post-traumatic stress disorder that even the glorious colors and wide-angle camera lens of early CinemaScope, nor Leslie Nielsen's soothing narration, couldn't cure. The approach director Herman Hoffman and writer Dore Schary take is one of incredibly redundant, historical prose, that lacks any kind of emotional attachment to the battle and the noteworthy figures that were involved, let alone sacrificed, in Gettysburg. Shockingly dry and almost unbearably long at thirty minutes, it's stunning to see such acclaim for a short that would've probably drove kids batty and restless if shown in schools.

Narrated by: Leslie Nielsen. Directed by: Herman Hoffman.

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.

"...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).

Shot on location at the battlesite, this short, which was nominated for two Academy Awards, uses visuals from what is now a national landmark and monument to tell the story of a critical moment in American history. Visually arresting and impressive, the cinematography is incredible for a short. The narration doesn't always flow, but it doesn't have to. This shows periodically on Turner Classic Movies and almost certainly will be run in March for the "31 Days of Oscar" festival they run each year. Most recommended.

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.