Films for Civil War and Reconstruction

Jack & Jake & Sue Lee with Bushwackers in KA
Abraham Lincoln (1930) by D. W. Griffith with Walter Huston as Lincoln
Adams Chronicles (1975 on PBS) and notes has a segment on Charles Francis Adams as Civil War ambassador to England.
Amistad (1997) and notes is Spielberg's film about the 1839 slave ship revolt
Andersonville (1996 on TNT) and notes won one of the highest audiences on cable.
Birth of a Nation (1915) - notes - the classic racist silent film by D. W. Griffith.
Blue and the Gray, The (1982 TV miniseries)
Civil War, The (1990 for TV) - notes - documentary series by Ken Burns.
Cold Mountain (2001) directed by Anthony Minghella based on the novel.
Gangs of New York (2002) and notes
General, The (1926) and notes with Buster Keaton in the classic silent film about Andrews' Raiders.
Gettysburg (1993 on TNT) and notes
Glory (1989) and notes about Robert Gould Shaw and the Mass. 54th.
Gods and Generals (2002) and notes
Gone With the Wind (1939) - notes - a classic Selznick interpretation of the Old South.
Great Locomotive Chase, The (1956) by Disney in Cinemascope, with Fess Parker as James J. Andrews.
House Divided, A (2000 on SHO) and notes - from the biography of Amanda America Dickson.
How the West Was Won (1962) and notes
Hunley (1999 on TNT) and notes tells the story of the Confederate submarine.
North and South (1985 TV miniseries) from the John Jakes novels
North and South - Book II (1986 TV miniseries)
North and South - Book III (1994 TV miniseries)
Operator 13 (1934) with Marion Davies as a spy for the Union falling for Confederate Gary Cooper.
Prisoner of Shark Island, The (1936) is a John Ford film about Dr. Samuel Mudd imprisoned for treating Booth.
Raintree County (1957) with Elizabeth Taylor and an all-star cast in a GWTW imitation filmed in MGM Camera 65.
Red Mountain (1951) with Alan Ladd stopping Quantrill in Kentucky.
Ride with the Devil (1999).
Roots (1977 on TV) by Alex Haley started a genealogy boom.
Santa Fe Trail (1940) - notes - with West Point officers Ronald Reagan and Errol Flynn hunting down John Brown in Bloody Kansas.
Shenandoah (1965) with Jimmy Stuart as head of a sanitized Virginia family.
Two Flags West (1950) by Robert Wise

revised 1/30/06 | Filmguide | Filmnotes | Class page