Guns of the Civil War (1993)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Rodger Jacobs
Directed by Cass Paley
Hosted by Charles Martin Smith

Special Features:

• Map of major battlefields
  
• Weapon manufacturer profiles
  
• Scholar interviews
  
• Still gallery
  

Rating: NR, suitable for most audiences

Anamorphic: N/A

My advice: Rent it if you’re a Civil War history buff

Originally having appeared on PBS stations around the same time as Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary series, Guns of the Civil War covers the hardware of that conflict, from the earliest muzzle-loading flintlock muskets to the advanced percussion-cap revolvers common later in the war. Combining historical data from the governments involved with personal anecdotes related by troops in their letters, the shows give an excellent picture of the state of firearms during the American Civil War.

Covering the individual advances and inventions in some detail, the three included episodes span the development of a wide variety of firearms. Samuel Colt, Smith and Wesson, Sharps, Spencer, Henry, and Winchester--these names have become synonymous with firearms in America, and were the first to seize upon the advances of the Industrial Revolution and turn them to the technology of warfare.

Charles Martin Smith’s narration is informative, if not the most exciting voice they could have chosen. The cinematography is dubious, with long lingering shots of the firearms in question, presented lovingly from a variety of angles with soft music in the background. I would have preferred a more technical approach in a documentary that ostensibly is about the technology of the war. Show me Winchester’s famous rolling block, or the mechanism for releasing the entire cylinder of Colt’s percussion cap revolvers, or the method by which the Sharps rifle barrel was rifled--but the soft focus “glamour shot” approach didn’t do a whole lot for me.

This is the greatest weakness of the documentary series. Instead of being an incredible technical look at the weapons, it breaks down into a series of discussions about federal purchase agents buying X guns of type Y from company Z at price A. Not terribly interesting, really, unless you’re a big enthusiast for the history of military acquisitions. It just seems like the show would have benefited more from a tighter focus on the technology of the weapons involved, rather than the minutiae of how many the Confederacy ordered in 1862.

Still, as a source of Civil War details, the volume is packed with nearly three hours worth of information. The fact that not all of this information seems directly related to the guns themselves isn’t indicative of a lack of quality research. The makers have certainly done their homework. The extras add to the raw data store of the disc, with breakdowns of all the major manufacturers, their inventions, and their success in industry. There’s also an audio interview with a scholar who works at the Gettysburg National Military Museum, regarding a pair of the rifles in their collection, the story behind their use in the battle and their discovery. Pretty interesting stuff, really.

So Civil War enthusiasts will find much here to make it worth watching (and maybe even owning), but those that are more lukewarm about American history or the Civil War in particular will find nothing here compelling.