A bit odd to see the American Revolution reduced to being over "taxes" after Rubin's thorough modern-parallel treatment of the Declaration of Independence yesterday. What about exclusionary immigration policies, trade barriers, incompetent/corrupt/immoral appointees, royal self-enrichment, threatening the press, weaponizing justice, etc.?
The Civil War, hmm--until recently, NOT a good example of cinematic embrace of good/evil contrast. So much classic Hollywood output (including the mentioned Gone with the Wind) embrace the traitorous enslavers and cast the Union forces as the bad guys. So much for avoiding wars with problematic enslavers as heroes.
OTOH the 50s did produce some Revolutionary War movies. The Scarlet Coat (1955), directed by John Sturges, is Benedict Arnold spy-vs-spy, heavily fictionalized (including a love triangle). The Devil's Disciple (1959) adapts (or eviscerates) George Bernard Shaw's play--with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Laurence Olivier.
Earlier, in the 30s, Warner Bros made a few surprisingly decent (and well-cast) shorts about the Revolutionary era--the "Old Glory" series, which (I think?) were part of Harry and Jack Warner's anti-Nazi campaign. I've seen them as extras on DVDs. Two examples: Give Me Liberty (1936), Declaration of Independence (1938).
Maybe none of those examples would be "good" by modern or any critical standard. But then, I enjoy a bit of camp, and anyway prefer the old movies with their restful camerawork to modern shaky-cam quick-cut eyestrain. I'll even suffer the old anachronistic women's styling (1950's cinched lift-and-separate silhouettes), over the new men's anachronisms (modern haircuts).
So why is a weirdo like me commenting--sorry about that. Dear. Ms does sound worth a watch.
Agreed. I'll even put in a vote for 1776. It's more about the Declaration than the Revolution. It also portrays the split between the northern and southern colonies, between Congressmen from the same colonies, and that the issue of slavery was already so important that its abolition was a major bone of contention to passing the Declaration. All things we never teach in school.
Netflix's "Turn" about Washington's spies was pretty good, though I don’t know enough about the manners of the time to know if it had any weird conflations of fashions or speech centuries apart. It did moral ambiguity VERY well, particularly with Washington and Simcoe. It was one of my Covid binges
Perhaps it wasn't the American Revolution, but The Last Of The Mohicans showed that the era could be portrayed in an epic way. Sure, it was fiction and the movie took some liberties with the original story, but many of the same themes, along with scenes of a pristine young America, could provide the backdrop for a terrific movie.
I also think That John Ford's "Drums Along The Mohawk, while dated in many respects, examines pretty well the tensions within a community as it is thrust into a revolutionary war.
Ken Burns is at work on one, to be out later this year, I believe.
Yes, he's going on tour with it.
A bit odd to see the American Revolution reduced to being over "taxes" after Rubin's thorough modern-parallel treatment of the Declaration of Independence yesterday. What about exclusionary immigration policies, trade barriers, incompetent/corrupt/immoral appointees, royal self-enrichment, threatening the press, weaponizing justice, etc.?
The Civil War, hmm--until recently, NOT a good example of cinematic embrace of good/evil contrast. So much classic Hollywood output (including the mentioned Gone with the Wind) embrace the traitorous enslavers and cast the Union forces as the bad guys. So much for avoiding wars with problematic enslavers as heroes.
OTOH the 50s did produce some Revolutionary War movies. The Scarlet Coat (1955), directed by John Sturges, is Benedict Arnold spy-vs-spy, heavily fictionalized (including a love triangle). The Devil's Disciple (1959) adapts (or eviscerates) George Bernard Shaw's play--with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Laurence Olivier.
Earlier, in the 30s, Warner Bros made a few surprisingly decent (and well-cast) shorts about the Revolutionary era--the "Old Glory" series, which (I think?) were part of Harry and Jack Warner's anti-Nazi campaign. I've seen them as extras on DVDs. Two examples: Give Me Liberty (1936), Declaration of Independence (1938).
Maybe none of those examples would be "good" by modern or any critical standard. But then, I enjoy a bit of camp, and anyway prefer the old movies with their restful camerawork to modern shaky-cam quick-cut eyestrain. I'll even suffer the old anachronistic women's styling (1950's cinched lift-and-separate silhouettes), over the new men's anachronisms (modern haircuts).
So why is a weirdo like me commenting--sorry about that. Dear. Ms does sound worth a watch.
Agreed. I'll even put in a vote for 1776. It's more about the Declaration than the Revolution. It also portrays the split between the northern and southern colonies, between Congressmen from the same colonies, and that the issue of slavery was already so important that its abolition was a major bone of contention to passing the Declaration. All things we never teach in school.
Netflix's "Turn" about Washington's spies was pretty good, though I don’t know enough about the manners of the time to know if it had any weird conflations of fashions or speech centuries apart. It did moral ambiguity VERY well, particularly with Washington and Simcoe. It was one of my Covid binges
The revolutionary war was very terrible.
Perhaps it wasn't the American Revolution, but The Last Of The Mohicans showed that the era could be portrayed in an epic way. Sure, it was fiction and the movie took some liberties with the original story, but many of the same themes, along with scenes of a pristine young America, could provide the backdrop for a terrific movie.
I also think That John Ford's "Drums Along The Mohawk, while dated in many respects, examines pretty well the tensions within a community as it is thrust into a revolutionary war.
Sons of Liberty is awesome! Not too far from historically accurate, I think..