Henry Wirz was the only Confederate soldier to be convicted and executed for war crimes during the Civil War. Wirz remains a controversial figure whose name is associated with some of the worst atrocities of the war by many while considered a martyr to the Glorious Cause by others. As Union forces pushed into the South the Confederacy was ending up with more and more Union prisoners and the Andersonville Camp was created to relieve the situation in Richmond and elsewhere. However, in June of 1864 the Union discontinued the policy of prisoner exchanges and without that avenue of release or the construction of another facility, the prisoner population of Andersonville swelled to 26,000 prisoners crammed into a little more than 26 acres. Add to this the impoverishment of the Confederacy in the final year of the war when the 33,000 prisoners in Andersonville made it the fifth largest "city" in the Confederacy, and it is hardly surprising that hundreds of men were dying each day. Of the 45,000 prisoners sent to Andersonville, 13,000 died.

Levitt used the official record of the trial of Henry Wirz as his basic source material. While sticking to the facts, Levitt was obviously more interested in the personalities involved in the proceedings. So while "The Andersonville Trial" is accurate with regards to the time and place of the trial, names of the participants, and some of the dialogue, it is still much more of a drama than a documentary. Furthermore, as a televised stage play it is necessarily restricted to the primary set of the courtroom and the scope of its interest is pretty much restricted to that venue as well.

The pivotal character of the drama is Lt. Colonel N.P. Chipman (William Shatner in the role Scott played in the original Broadway production), the officer prosecuting Wirz (Richard Basehart), who responds to the charges against him with the defense that he was obeying orders and doing what he could under the circumstances. This leads Chipman to the conclusion what Wirz should have done was disobey orders that would lead to the deaths of thousands of prisoners. However, this is not an argument that an officer in the military can make lightly, and this sets up a conflict with the presiding judge, General Lew Wallace (Cameron Mitchell), who would achieve fame as the author of "Be-Hur: A Tale of the Christ." But Chipman feels compelled to come up with a response to the argument that following such orders is a legitimate defense.

Shatner's performance is superb, and those who remember playing Spencer Tracy's aide in "Judgment at Nuremberg" can appreciate the irony of his having a larger role in this related drama. The biggest compliment I can give Shatner's work is that I cannot imagine George C. Scott having played this role. One of the strengths of this production is how Scott takes a collection of "television stars" like Shatner, Basehart, Jack Cassidy, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Sheen, John Anderson and Whit Bissell, along with veteran character actors like Mitchell and Albert Salmi, to create a stellar ensemble cast. Just as impressive is how he has actors like Alan Hale, Jr. and Kenneth Tobey sitting as members of the Court-martial board. For Shatner, Basehart, Cassidy, Mitchell and Salmi you will be hard pressed to find anything better on their acting resumes.

"The Andersonville Trial" is one of the most powerful courtroom dramas you will ever see. It has something of an advantage over the likes of "The Caine Mutiny" and "A Few Good Men" in that the play is almost entirely the trial, which makes it more like "Breaker Morant" and, most obviously," Judgment at Nuremberg." The drama comes down to Chipman's cross-examination of Wirz and the prosecutor's futile effort to get the prisoner in the dock to explain why he did not do the "right" thing and disobey his orders. I think the net effect is to make Wirz more of a tragic figure than a monster, locked into a system of rules and beliefs that would not let him see a way out of the disaster happening before him.

First and foremost, it is a damn fine production, and a very powerful stage play captured on video. Second, the play has many famous names among the cast, some of whom appear in early roles (Martin Sheen, for one). William Shatner, of course, is oddly Kirk-like, but does very well as Lt. Colonel Chipman. Richard Basehart? Wonderful, and the ultimate professional, as always. Buddy Ebsen plays a doctor. Even Alan Hale Sr., who blazed a trail of adventure in many of Errol Flynn's films, is on hand (though in a non-speaking role). None other than George C. Scott directed the enterprise, and introduces the feature in a short segment.

Another thing that makes this production unique is that it harkens back to the best of PBS, before they started worrying about ratings, hype, and marketing. Shows like "I, Claudius" and "Masterpiece Theater", among others, made their way to the network about the same time, and "Sesame Street" had yet to become the moneygrubbing exercise it is now (Elmo, this means YOU!). This was back when PBS really lived up to the ideals of being a Public Broadcaster, and shows like "Andersonville Trial" were an offshoot of those ideals. Like other PBS shows, it was the BEST the arts offered at the time; a famous cast in a dramatic play, coming right into our living rooms.

On the tape, we even get to see the old PBS logo, with "PBS" spelled out in that funky 60's-70's type they used to use (with the orange letter "P"). That alone is worth the purchase price.

Hopefully a DVD will someday be released. Until then, if you can latch on to a copy of the tape, you should by all means do so. It is a dramatic telling of a famous war crimes trial, with superb acting and a moral message about war that will stay with you for some time to come.