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Wednesday 16 June 2010

Gettysburg

Now that I have finished watching GODS AND GENERALS I have decided to move on to watch GETTYSBURG. I saw film this some years ago and owned a copy on a pair of VHS tapes, but when I managed to buy it as part of a set with GODS AND GENERALS some time ago, I passed the tape onto someone else.

So far I am about halfway through the film, and I must admit that it is even better than I remembered it to be. It has firmly convinced me that I must re-visit the American Civil War and dig out my long-stored 15mm armies. I think that they are in my garden shed, where they were consigned some years ago. I hope that they have survived intact (they were sealed inside a plastic crate that has not be opened since); if not it will give me an excuse to buy a couple of new armies! As to rules ... well a modified version of Morschauser's 'Frontier' rules would be my first choice as I could fight a series of battles or a mini-campaign during the course of a day on my rather small wargames table.

But as I keep on saying, my first priority has to be COW2010!

2 comments:

  1. Bob,

    If you can, try to get a copy of the expanded version. Among other things, it includes a bit more of Buford in Gettysburg, Longstreet telling Garnett not to worry about Jackson's slander against him, and most importantly by far, Lee chewing out Ewell, Early, Rhodes, etc., for not pressing on to take Cemetary Hill the first day. Unless the audience is familiar with the sequence of events of the battle, they would have no way of knowing what was going on on that whole end of the battlefield, at least until Trimble shows up later in the movie. It also explains why the actor who played Ewell, featured in the credits, does not actually appear in the movie--his only scene was left on the cutting room floor!

    I would lend you my copy, except that for god knows what reason, the US and the UK use different video formats. Naturally.

    Best regards,

    Chris

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  2. Chris J,

    Many thanks for the offer to lend me a copy of the longer version of the DVD; it is much appreciated even though the problems of trying to take you up on your offer are – as you point out – almost impossible.

    I must admit that now that you have explained what has been 'cut' from the version I have seen it makes me realise that I have missed some quite important aspects of the film. The longer version sounds very interesting and I will try to get hold of a copy on 'this side of the pond'.

    All the best,

    Bob

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