Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
The Battle of Franklin: Five Hours in the Valley of Death
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images

The Battle of Franklin: Five Hours in the Valley of Death

Starring: Various Director: Wide Awake Films Format: DVD
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


2 used from $29.99
Trade-In Store
Trade in Your DVDs and Get an Extra $10
Submit a DVD trade-in order with a total value of $50 or more in our Movies & TV Trade-In store and in addition to your Amazon.com Gift Card, you'll receive an extra $10 credit good toward your next purchase in the Blu-ray store at www.amazon.com. See details.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Battle of Chickamauga (Special Widescreen Edition)
13% buy
The Battle of Chickamauga (Special Widescreen Edition) 4.0 out of 5 stars (4)
$19.95
Explore similar items

Product Details

  • Actors: Various
  • Directors: Wide Awake Films
  • Format: NTSC
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Studio: Wide Awake Films
  • DVD Release Date: April 26, 2005
  • Run Time: 65 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0009SQFJS
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,735 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Editorial Reviews

Robert Hicks, Author of Widow of the South

"Great cinematography! The film very much captures the emotion that I would envision was felt at the battle of Franklin."

Product Description

Battle of Franklin: Five Hours in the Valley of Death depicts Confederate General John Bell Hood s fateful attempt to gain control of Tennessee from Federal forces in one of the Civil War s fiercest battles. As cannons and muskets roar, this film presents the decisive conflict of the 1864 Battle of Franklin, told through the actual thoughts and words of the soldiers who experienced this ferocious and bloody struggle. Partially filmed on the original battlefield in stunning high-definition, Battle of Franklin is the recipient of a 2007 Emmy® award and a 2007 Telly Award. The film has aired locally on Nashville Public Television.
See all Editorial Reviews

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin

Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin

by James L. McDonough
3.4 out of 5 stars (16)  $14.00
The Battle of Chickamauga (Special Widescreen Edition)

The Battle of Chickamauga (Special Widescreen Edition)

DVD ~ .
4.0 out of 5 stars (4)  $19.95
Battle of Stones River: The Fight for Murfreesboro

Battle of Stones River: The Fight for Murfreesboro

DVD ~ Various
3.0 out of 5 stars (1)  $19.95
The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville (Modern War Studies)

The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville (Modern War Studies)

by Wiley Sword
4.1 out of 5 stars (39)  $12.71
Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom

Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom

DVD ~ Ronald F. Maxwell
4.0 out of 5 stars (5)  $18.49
› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(4)
(3)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best out there, September 7, 2005
I am probably a little biased considering I took place in the reenactment in which they filmed many of their shots. When I saw the finished result I was very impressed. They brilliantly captured the horror of the battle of Franklin, and showed why it was truly the valley of death.

They also give you a very good look at the men who fought this battle. By taking excerpts from letters and eyewitness accounts, you see the battle from the fighting man's perspective. You also see why this battle may have been the most horrifying battle throughout the entire war. I would definitely recommend this documentary for any history buff's collection, or for anyone wanting to learn more about the Civil War.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Their best documentary yet., June 2, 2005
This is Wide Awake Films most recent documentary project and their best to date. They have reinvented the documentary after Ken Burns did the same in the 1990's.

The style and storytelling of this DVD is superb and will make a welcome addition to your Civil War library. The Battle of Franklin is one of the most compelling chapters in our Civil War Between the States. This DVD will help you to learn about this tragic battle.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Good Video, Bad History, June 8, 2007
By Scribe (Chestnut Hill South Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
The film is a marvelous visual and audio production, but from a historical perspective, there is no balance whatsoever. The writers of the film seem to have adopted the historical interpretation of the Battle of Franklin from Wiley Sword's highly subjective and fact-filtered book, The Confederacy's Last Hurrah. Sword set the standard for selective disclosure and historical concealment in his otherwise eloquently written award winning book.

The name "Hood" is mentioned 54 times in the 68 minute production, making him the most prominent character in the film. Although the film relies heavily on verbatim quotes from Battle of Franklin veterans and others, of the 58 total quotes in the documentary, the oft mentioned Hood is allowed only three quotes. One quote concerns his relationship with his fiancé, which is unrelated to anything else in the film, and the other two quotes are followed immediately with derisive comments from the narrator.

The film states that Hood conspired to replace Joseph Johnston as commander of the AOT. The film doesn't reveal that William Hardee, AP Stewart, Leonidas Polk, and Joe Wheeler also disapproved of the retreating tactics that cost Johnston his job. Hardee wrote to Jefferson Davis in June 1864, "If the present system continues we may find ourselves at Atlanta before a serious battle is fought." Hood wrote similar letters, yet he is the only Johnston subordinate accused of backstabbing his superior.

The film's writers only included quotes from Hood's critics, while concealing words of support and admiration for Hood from both Confederate and Union veterans, as well as Confederate governors and presidents. Pvt. Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee Infantry wrote of Hood in his memoirs, "He (Hood) was a noble, brave and good man, and we loved him for his virtues and goodness of heart." "We all loved Hood; he was such a clever fellow, and a good man." "Every impulse of his (Hood's) nature was to do good and to serve his country as best he could." No such comments appear in the film.

Hood is portrayed as a commander who preferred frontal assaults, when in fact Franklin was the only frontal attack Hood ever ordered as a commander.

The film paints Hood as a cold and ruthless commander, saying he "bled his boys" in Virginia when witnesses recorded Hood openly grieving for his men at every one of his previous battles.

Regarding the Tennessee Campaign, Spring Hill, and Franklin, the film gives many quotes and testimony from characters, but silences Gen. Hood completely. He recorded the reasons for his decisions in his Official Reports and memoirs, but the film censors him. Hood wrote in his OR, "I learned from dispatches captured at Spring Hill, from Thomas to Schofield, that the latter was instructed to hold that place till the position at Franklin could be made secure, indicating the intention of Thomas to hold Franklin and his strong works at Murfreesboro. Thus I knew that it was all important to attack Schofield before he could make himself strong, and if he should escape at Franklin he would gain his works about Nashville. The nature of the position was such as to render it inexpedient to attempt any further flank movement, and I therefore determined to attack him in front, and without delay."

At Spring Hill, many Confederates held Hood blameless for the Federal escape, yet the film states that Hood "allowed" the Union army to escape. Franklin veteran S.A. Cunningham wrote in 1893, "...the march to Spring Hill, where the Federal retreat was so nearly cut off, a failure for which it was understood General Hood was not to blame, created an enthusiasm for him equal to that entertained for Stonewall Jackson after his extrordinary achievements...The soldiers were full of ardor, and confident of success. They had unbounded faith in General Hood, whom they believed would achieve a victory that would give us Nashville." Such testimony is absent in the film.

At Franklin, the film outrageously says that Hood "sacrificed" his men, when many veterans-Union and Confederate-supported Hood's decision to attack, but like others, they too are silenced.

Perhaps Hood's performance in the Tennessee Campaign was best summarized by Tennessee Gov. Isham Harris, who accompanied the AOT on the campaign. Harris wrote to Jefferson Davis, "I have been with General Hood from the beginning of this campaign, and beg to say, disastrous as it has ended, I am not able to see anything that General Hood has done that he should not, or neglected anything that he should have done which it was possible to do. Indeed, the more that I have seen and known of him and his policy, the more I have been pleased with him and regret to say that if all had performed their parts as well as he, the results would have been very different." Like other Hood supporters, Harris isn't quoted in the film.

The final words of the documentary include, "At Franklin, it (the Army of Tennessee) had almost wrecked itself in an attack that should never have been ordered." Union veteran L.A. Simmons of the 84th Illinois wrote that at Franklin, "He (Hood) was playing a stupendous game, for enormous stakes. Could he have succeeded in breaking the center, our whole army was at his mercy. In our rear was a deep and rapid river, swollen by recent rains- and to retreat across it an utter impossibility. To break the center was to defeat our army; and defeat inevitably involved a surrender, and Nashville was at his mercy, and could be taken in a day. His army well understood that they were fighting for the possession of Nashville. Ours knew they were fighting to preserve that valuable city, and to avoid annihilation." Although the battle was a tragic and decisive defeat for Gen. Hood, the decision to attack was not without justification.

If the documentary was intended to be purely entertainment, it is successful; if the intent was to educate, it has only given one side of the story.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Done
The black and white filming and "combat camera" look and feel to the battle reenactments make this a treat to watch. Good background information presented as well.
Published 16 days ago by J. Strandberg

5.0 out of 5 stars Franklin: The Battle that should not have happened
Franklin: The Battle that should not have happened
The DVD "The Battle of Franklin-Five Hours in the Valley of Death" is an excellent recreation of that bloody fight. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Robert C. Olson

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive DVD on the Battle of Franklin
Wide Awake's The Battle of Franklin is their best documentary yet. Wonderfully edited, the dvd details the botched Confederate opportunity at Spring Hill which led the Army of... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Avid Reader

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

IMDb Says...

Visit IMDb.com opens new browser window the Internet Movie Database, which is visited by millions of movie and tv lovers each month.
IMDb Logo

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Movies & TV by subject:



i.e., each DVD must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.