Civil War, The (Ken Burns)-Volume 3: War Is All Hell (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	208:16 (Case: 205)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (102:43)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Ken Burns
Studio Distributor	Florentine Films Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Click
RPI	$49.95	Music	None Given

    The Civil War, Volume Three provides the final three instalments of this brilliant documentary series. My review of The Civil War, Volume One contained my review of the series generally, and it can be read here.

    There are three episodes included in Volume 3:

Episode 7, Most Hallowed Ground (71:31)

    The war has ground along slowly, and public opinion is starting to turn against the Union's cause. In 1864 with an election looming, Lincoln desperately needs a major victory. Grant, Sherman and Sheridan provide one by taking Atlanta.

    Meanwhile, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the 'Genius of the South', continues to cause trouble for the Union. Forrest (a self-made millionaire by the 1860s!!!)  rose from being a Private at the beginning of the War, to being a Lieutenant General by the end of it. Forrest was wounded four times in battle, and is famous for having 30 horses shot out from under him, and for killing 31 men in hand-to-hand combat. Under Forrest's command, the South took on the much larger Northern Armies (sometimes over three times the size of his Southern forces) and won.

    Soldiers are kept in disgraceful conditions in POW camps, including one Confederate camp in Georgia where over 13,000 Union prisoners died per year. The Southern Commandant would not allow the Union prisoners any shelter or medical care. Made to sleep in the open, without any decent food, sanitation, clothing or shelter, soldiers died of disease and starvation. There are horrendous photographs of some of these camps and survivors, which are reminiscent of images taken from the Nazi Concentration Camps. I suppose 'white supremacy' and cruelty go hand in hand.

    With the Union cemeteries now all full, some land had to be found to bury the mounting number of dead soldiers. Lincoln turns General Lee's captured home and surrounding land into a cemetery for Union soldiers -- Arlington National Cemetery, the Union's 'most hallowed ground'. General Lee will never visit his old home again.

Episode 8, War Is All Hell (68:22)

    In 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which ends slavery, is passed 119 to 56 votes in the Northern Congress. Nathan Bedford Forrest co-founds the Ku Klux Klan in the South, and Southern 'Gentlemen' now attack and kill unarmed blacks, rather than Federal Soldiers (something they're still doing today).

   Sherman's Army leaves Atlanta, and then puts it to the torch. Sherman begins his famous march through Georgia and South Carolina. The Union destroy Southern rail lines and leave few buildings standing in their wake. An order is given to troops to not loot houses but it is not strictly enforced. By the end of Sherman's march, his Army has caused over $100 million worth of damage.

    In desperation, slaves are now forced into the Southern Army, and General Lee promises to free them at the end of the war.

    After mass desertion, General Lee has to face Grant with less than 20% the size of the Northern Army. After the Battle of Petersburg, Grant lets the black soldiers lead the Union Army into the Southern town and down the main street. The Confederate Government evacuates from Richmond, and that City also falls to the Union. Lincoln visits Richmond and is mobbed by freed slaves.

    With an army that is now a fraction the size of the North's, and no longer able to adequately feed or arm his men, General Lee agrees to surrender. Grant offers Lee very favourable terms, and the Northern soldiers share their rations with the captured Southern troops.

Episode 9, The Better Angels Of Our Nature (68:23)

    Five days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln is assassinated by a cowardly Southern actor (who had moved North to avoid becoming a soldier). The North is plunged into shock and mourning. The Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, is arrested and made to wear the chains of a slave.

    By the end of the War, 25% of all young Southern males have been killed in action. More Americans were killed in the Civil war than were killed in all other wars combined. In 1866, Mississippi would spend over 20% of their entire State's budget on artificial limbs.

    The Nation is fundamentally changed, but begins to heal. In the 1880s, Mississippi elected the first black man to the US Senate, in the seat once held by Jefferson Davis. Over four million slaves were freed, but left with nothing but their freedom. It would be over 100 years before the Civil Rights Movement would start offering them any real equality in the 1960s.

Video

    The transfer is of the same poor quality as Volume One and Two. It is consistent across all three episodes on this disc, so the times below all refer to Episode 7.

    The transfer is presented in a Full Frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    Again the image is soft throughout, as can be seen with the shot of Capital Hill at 58:30. The shadow detail is very poor, as evidenced by the shot of the Forrest at 10:14.

    Again the colours are dark and muted throughout.

    MPEG artefacts appear throughout. The image suffers from pixelization, such as can be seen in the shot of the river at 48:57. There is also posterization, such as on historian Shelby Foote's face at 10:55 and some macro-blocking throughout, as evidenced by the background at 33:30.

    Again there is slight aliasing throughout, which normally takes the form of a slight shimmer, for example the shimmer on the blinds at 43:02. Perhaps the worst offender in regards to artefacts is telecine wobble. It is as bad as it was in Volume One and Two, and once again I had to watch the program in stages to avoid getting a headache.

    Film artefacts appear frequently, but are tiny. A smattering of these tiny flecks can be seen between 8:19 and 8:21.

    There are no subtitles on this DVD.

    This is a RSDL-formatted disc, with the layer change occurring during Episode 8 at 31:12. The change is very smooth, as at the time the audio is silent and the image has paused on a photograph.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    As with Volume One and Two, there is only one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 1.0 audio track.

    This mono track uses the centre speaker only. The dialogue quality and audio sync are good, and the narration is very clear.

    Again the program utilises Civil War era music, including recognisable tunes such as Dixie and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. There is also a fair amount of martial music used, seemingly played by military bands.

    As a mono track, there is no surround presence and activity and the subwoofer is not called upon.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are no extras.

Menu

    A well animated menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio.

    This title has not been released on DVD in Region 1.

    As I found with Volume One and Two, 'The Civil War is a brilliant documentary series which has been given a very disappointing transfer. The quality of the program, however, is such that it can transcend the lousy image and mono audio. One can only dream what this series could have been on DVD.'

    The video quality is extremely disappointing but still watchable.

    The audio quality is good for mono.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall