The Unknown Civil War Series:
Greatest Battles Of The Civil War
+ Gettysburg
(MPI DVD Sets)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B
The subject of The Civil War and Gettysburg in particular are played out
beyond belief, but perhaps to capitalize on the recent release of a restored Gone With The Wind, MPI has issued two DVD
sets on the subject from their Unknown
Civil War Series. One is a three-DVD
set (over-)simply called Gettysburg and
the other is the two-DVD Greatest
Battles Of The Civil War. Both are
good, competent and thorough, but at this point offer too much overlap with
other such programs, a few of which we have previously covered that were a bit
better.
They are thorough enough that those unfamiliar with the
subject will not be bored or disappointed, but if you are ‘Gettysburged’ out,
you may not be as impressed. It is odd
that the Civil War set is one DVD shorter than the other set, but that is what
you get. The Civil War set is split into
eight installments, while the Gettysburg set is
split into three parts (one per DVD) Heroes,
Legends and Battle. Now, you can judge for yourself, especially
for experts and fans, the sets are not bad overall.
The 1.33 X 1 image is somewhat soft throughout with a source
that seems like older NTSC footage, analog shoot. Color can be good (both sets are mislabeled
on the back to their detriment as black & white only), but aliasing errors
are more common than they should be and if it were any worse, this would rate
lower. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is
simple stereo at best and can be compressed, but is also not as weak as it
could have been, so the combination is watchable, but it has not aged
well. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
