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Regular
Price $19.95
Starring:
Campbell Scott; Vivian Schilling; Nathan Darrow,
Directed By:
Don Maxwell,
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 2006-01-10
Studio: Hannover House
Format:
Closed-captioned,
Collector's Edition,
Color,
Director's Cut,
Dolby,
DVD-Video,
Full length,
Widescreen,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
Ambrose Bierce - Civil War Stories
AMBROSE BIERCE: CIVIL WAR STORIES
I don't believe that any war in which we have ever been involved was as needless and tragic is the War Between the States. This trilogy involves two short stories written by Ambrose Bierce, a Union officer who seems to have lived a tortured, troubled life as a result of his combat experiences. The third short story relates to incidents that probably happened all the way from Manassas to Memphis during the War. I will not provide spoilers on these three shorts, but anyone who enjoys the study of history, and the twisted, illogical, immoral conduct in which people engage during war, will find this trilogy interesting, to say the least.Ambrose Bierce - Civil War Stories
very good
bierce's works are amazing and merit further attention by hollywood. the scenes played like episodes of the twilight zone - appropriately. contrary to the opinions of the other viewers, i was never pulled into or found believable the characters sipping tea / bourbon / iced tea as bierce succumbed to reading three of his stories. in the first, i found myself antsy, waiting for something to happen, anticipation building, until, once action began, i, quite viscerally, didn't want it to be happening. here, i was drawn in. likewise in his second and third stories, i was fully pulled in. i found that this was somewhat disappointing, overall. i would purchase it used or view library collections.Ambrose Bierce - Civil War Stories
The Curious World of Ambrose Bierce
You might wonder where writer/directors such as Ray Bradbury or M.Night Shyamalan got their interesting stories and noted end twists.You can basically stop at the 19th century short story genius Ambrose Bierce.Bierce was a world renowned contributor to The San Francisco Examiner owned by mogul William Randolph Hearst, and his 1891 meeting with famous-to-be novelist Gertrude Atherton is the basis for the retelling of three of Bierce's famous "Civil War Stories" that were stinging observations on the actions of mankind under war conditions.Bierce's writings bothered and infuriated most because his observations deglamorized and deglorified war and showed the soldier and the civilian as they in truth Bierce recorded them under such conditions.
Campbell Scott portrays Bierce as he is challenged and cajoled by Atherton and Hearst into a "woman's parlour reading" of three of his short stories "One Kind of Officer","Story of a Conscience" and "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" which has been made famous several times over on two continents.The retelling of these stories,shown as short films, give a great sense of the cynical and ironic that shows in Bierce's writings.This DVD is almost a curiosity if anything.It is not terribly overwhelming in it's production value as much as it is in the 78 minute content of the three stories.It is easy to see how Bierce's stories became foundational for so many to come.Informationally, this is a must for writers and literary people who note the differences between the genre of the short vs. the novel as well as the need for an author to have control over the content of their works.Ambrose Bierce - Civil War Stories
Finely crafted. Subtly conveys thoughts and inner conflicts.
It seems appropriate and not at all accidental that Civil War Stories should be released at a time when the realities of our current war have come home to so many of us. Ambrose Bierce's vision of futility and emptiness within a universe deprived of divine order is unequivocally realized in this short, but finely crafted film. There is a subtle, yet deliberate, telling of three, separate stories that focuses on dialogue and expression as a means to convey the thoughts and inner conflicts of the various characters, without resorting to extravagant dramatic effects. The first of these, filmed entirely in fog, evolves like a dream bathed in blue-gray light. The second, most economical of the three, puts the actors to the test as their faces communicate stunning realizations within the sparse dialogue. The third, probably best known of the stories, is filled with action that has been prudently edited to keep a frantic pace while preserving the intensity of the final denouement.
The director has set Bierce, W. R. Hearst, and Gertrude Atherton in conversation in a hotel drawing room as a device for unifying the three stories and has written mordant lines for Bierce, which Campbell Scott delivers with soulful strength.Ambrose Bierce - Civil War Stories
Will Awaken You to a Major Writer
This movie starts out like a high school play. I was put off by what seem obvious wigs on the actors, especially on Campbell Scott, who plays Bierce. And I was put off by everyone's stilted, stagy delivery.
But before long, the amateurishness lifted, like a curtain rising - and I found myself being absorbed in the recreations of Bierce's opinionated pessimisms, and in the dramatizations of several of his short stories. So stick with it.
The story dramatizations take their time. These vignettes aren't for people who demand action and special effects. The first story for example will make you wander in a dense fog on a long-gone Civil War battlefield for long minutes at a time, without anything really happening. But it was this very deliberateness that won me over, that put me in these characters' shoes as they try to decide where their priorities lie - in the abstractions of patriotism and honor - or in their personal relationships with people who have meant something to them. This is so often a slow, foggy, inward process of decision that the pace of the film serves the material well.
Bierce's most famous short story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," is well-done here. I don't think it's done quite as well as it was done decades ago as a Twilight Zone episode. But it is still mesmerizing, heart-wrenching.
I had known Ambrose Bierce mostly for his "Devil's Dictionary," his collection of epigrammatic, cynical definitions - and for his mysterious disappearance in Mexico almost 100 years ago. I hadn't realized he had written regular columns for William Randolph Hearst's papers, or that he had written so many moving short stories. So this movie was an eye-opener for me. It sent me back to check Bierce's collections of stories off the library shelves. Like me, you might end up being grateful to this movie for allowing you to discover, or to re-discover, an American original, an American genius.
Ambrose Bierce - Civil War Stories
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