Product Details

• Actors: David McCullough, Sam Waterston, Jason Robards, Morgan Freeman, Garrison Keillor
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Simitar Entertainmen
• VHS Release Date: December 3, 1991
• Run Time: 680 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302277426
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,150 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost excellent, November 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Civil War - Secession to Gettysburg (Vol. 1)/ Gettysburg to Reconstruction (Vol. 2) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This retelling of the American civil war could be excellent. It has very a good narration (not David McCullough) and contains very good material (not directed by Ken Burns). The story is told using contemporary photographs, film of re-enactments, and scenes from early movies. They are well spliced together and explain the civil war clearly and simply...

2.0 out of 5 stars pretty bad, and listing has wrong info, July 6, 2011

By 

remus lupin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Civil War - Secession to Gettysburg (Vol. 1)/ Gettysburg to Reconstruction (Vol. 2) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

the previous negative reviews are pretty accurate. the listing i read on amazon had the WRONG INFO for the video. it is not 680 minutes. it is 90 min. also, some of the information is wrong. i didn't watch past the battle of shiloh, but up to that point several things were wrong, including names, pictures attributed to the wrong historical figure and even statistics. shiloh had 23,000 casulties (killed wounded or missing) but the film stated that there were 33,000 dead.

i can't say i would recommend this to anyone, even if you just want an overview of the war. ken burns doc. is still the best overview, though it is lenghty.

there are a lot of better cw video/dvds out there. i hope this helps.

2.0 out of 5 stars The many repeated scenes significantly reduce the quality, February 28, 2011

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Civil War - Secession to Gettysburg (Vol. 1)/ Gettysburg to Reconstruction (Vol. 2) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While the narration on these tapes is very good and historically accurate, the video footage approaches the absurd. The action scenes are cut from silent movies about the American Civil War and some of the scenes are repeated many times. As is the case with the silent era, the physical movements of emotion are exaggerated and the film is often grainy.
Photos of the principal politicians, battle scenes and military leaders are included as references when an event is being described. Of course, there were no video cameras during the war, so the only possible accurate video is of aged veterans, of which some is included. Nevertheless, the video is a weakness of this historical record, especially given the number of repeats.