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{{Infobox Television | show_name = The Civil War | image = [[Image:Civil war.jpg|200px]] | caption = | show_name_2 = | genre = [[Documentary]] | format = | creator = | developer = | writer = | director = | creative_director = | presenter = | starring = [[Sam Waterston]]<br>[[Jason Robards]]<br>[[Morgan Freeman]]<br>[[Garrison Keillor]]<br>[[Arthur Miller]] | judges = | voices = | narrated = | theme_music_composer = | opentheme = | endtheme = | composer = | country = {{USA}} | language = [[English language|English]] | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 9 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = | producer = | editor = | location = | cinematography = | camera = | runtime = 608 minutes (9 episodes) | company = [[American Documentaries Inc.]] | distributor = | channel = [[PBS]] | picture_format = | audio_format = | first_run = | first_aired = September 23, 1990 | last_aired = September 27, 1990 | status = Ended | preceded_by = | followed_by = | related = | website = | production_website = }} '''''The Civil War''''' is an acclaimed [[documentary film]] created by [[Ken Burns]] about the [[American Civil War]]. It was first broadcast on [[PBS]] on five consecutive nights from Sunday, September 23 to Thursday, September 27, 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most watched program ever to air on PBS, to this day remaining one of the most popular shows broadcast by PBS. The visitorship to Civil War battlefields and memorial sites measurably increased the summer following the series first airing, a credit to the documentary's impact on viewers. It is considered to be Ken Burns' [[masterpiece|magnum opus]], and is one of the most awarded and most popular documentaries of all time. The film was remastered on the twelfth anniversary of its release, and a book following the movie has also been released. ==Production== Ken Burns was inspired to make this documentary because of Mathew Brady's photographs. The documentary is over 10 hours in length, consists of nine episodes and explores the Civil War through personal stories and photos. During the creation of the movie Burns makes extensive use of more than 16,000 archival photographs, paintings, and newspaper images from the time of the war. This resulted in the coining of the term the “[[Ken Burns Effect]].” These images were intermixed with contemporary [[cinematography]], [[music]], narration by [[David McCullough]], anecdotes and insights from authors such as [[Shelby Foote]], historians [[Barbara J. Fields]], [[Ed Bearss]], and [[Stephen B. Oates]], and a chorus of voice acted characters such as [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Mary Chestnut]], [[Ulysses S. Grant]], [[Walt Whitman]], [[Stonewall Jackson]], and [[Frederick Douglass]], who read quotes from the period. ===Music=== The theme song of the documentary, "[[Ashokan Farewell]]," which was performed for the film by its composer [[Jay Ungar]], became so closely associated with the war thanks to the film that people frequently and erroneously believe it was written and performed during the Civil War. In fact, it is the only piece in the entire soundtrack which was not from the Civil War period. ===Voices=== Described as "voices", a large cast of actors read correspondences, memoirs, news articles, and the like from the Civil War. Waterston had also played Thomas Jefferson in Burns' films about Jefferson and about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. *[[David McCullough]] as Narrator *[[Sam Waterston]] as [[Abraham Lincoln]] *[[Julie Harris]] as [[Mary Chesnut]] *[[Jason Robards]] as [[Ulysses S. Grant]] *[[Morgan Freeman]] as [[Frederick Douglass]]<small>†</small> *[[Paul Roebling]] as [[Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain]] *[[Garrison Keillor]] as [[Walt Whitman]]<small>†</small> *[[George Black(vocal actor)|George Black]] as [[Robert E. Lee]] *[[Arthur Miller]] as [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]<small>†</small> *[[Chris Murney]] as [[Elisha Hunt Rhodes]] *[[Charles McDowell, Jr. (journalist)|Charley McDowell]] as [[Sam Watkins]] *[[Horton Foote]] as [[Jefferson Davis]] *[[George Plimpton]] as [[George Templeton Strong]] *[[Philip Bosco]] as [[Horace Greeley]]<small>†</small> *[[Terry Courier]] as [[George B. McClellan]] *[[Jody Powell]] as [[Stonewall Jackson]]<small>†</small> *[[Studs Terkel]] as [[Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)|Benjamin Butler]]<small>†</small> *[[Hoyt Axton]] as various *[[Colleen Dewhurst]] as various *[[Shelby Foote]] as various *[[Ronnie Gilbert]] as various *[[Jeremy Irons]] as various *[[Derek Jacobi]] as various *[[Kurt Vonnegut]] as various *[[Larry Fishburne]] as various *[[Pamela Reed]] as various † Performer voiced other characters as well. == Episodes == Each episode was divided into numerous chapters or [[Vignette (literature)|vignettes]] as detailed<ref>Film Descrpitions http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/film/descriptions.html#top Retrieved 2009-11-02.</ref>: {{clear}} {| class="wikitable" style="width:98%;" |- ! style="background-color: #DEDDE2;"| # !! style="background-color: #DEDDE2;"| Episode {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=1 |Title=The Cause (1861) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; The Cause; [[King Cotton|All Night Forever]]; [[Abolitionism#Abolitionist Movement|Are We Free?]]; A House Divided; [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia#John Brown's raid|The Meteor]]; Secessionitis; [[Battle of Fort Sumter|4:30 a.m. April 12, 1861]]; Traitors and Patriots; Gun Men; [[First Battle of Bull Run|Manassas]]; A Thousand Mile Front; Honorable Manhood |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=2 |Title=A Very Bloody Affair (1862) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; 1862 A Very Bloody Affair; Politics; [[Ironclad warship#First battles between ironclads: the U.S. Civil War|Ironclads]]; Lincolnites; [[Peninsula Campaign|The Peninsula]]; Our Boy; [[Battle of Shiloh|Shiloh]]; The Arts of Death; Republics; On To Richmond |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=3 |Title=Forever Free (1862) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; 1862 Forever Free; [[Stonewall Jackson|Stonewall]]; [[Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)#New Orleans|The Beast]]; [[The Seven Days]]; Kiss Daniel For Me; Saving the Union; [[Antietam]]; The Higher Object |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=4 |Title=Simply Murder (1863) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; 1863 Simply Murder; [[Battle of Fredericksburg|Northern Lights]]; Oh! Be Joyful; The Kingdom of Jones; [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Under the Shade of the Trees]]; A Dust-Covered Man |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=5 |Title=The Universe of Battle (1863) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; 1863: The Universe of Battle; [[Battle of Gettysburg#First day of battle|Gettysburg: The First Day]]; [[Battle of Gettysburg#Second day of battle|Gettysburg: The Second Day]]; [[Battle of Gettysburg#Third day of battle|Gettysburg: The Third Day]]; [[United States Sanitary Commission|She Ranks Me]]; [[Siege of Vicksburg|Vicksburg]]; Bottom Rail On Top; [[Battle of Chickamauga|The River of Death]]; [[Gettysburg Address|A New Birth of Freedom]] |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=6 |Title=Valley of the Shadow of Death (1864) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; 1864: Valley of the Shadow of Death; [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]]; [[Robert E. Lee|Lee]]; [[Battle of the Wilderness|In the Wilderness]]; [[Overland Campaign|Move By the Left Flank]]; Now, Fix Me; The Remedy |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=7 |Title=Most Hallowed Ground (1864) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; 1864: Most Hallowed Ground; [[Siege of Petersburg|A Warm Place in the Field]]; [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]]; Summer, 1864; Spies; [[Battle of the Crater|The Crater]]; Headquarters U.S.A.; The Promised Land; The Age of Shoddy; [[Andersonville National Historic Site|Can Those Be Men?]]; The People's Resolution; Most Hallowed Ground |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=8 |Title=War Is All Hell (1865) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; War Is All Hell; [[Sherman's March]]; The Breath Of Emancipation; Died Of A Theory; Washington, [[Lincoln's second inaugural address|March 4, 1865]]; I Want to See Richmond; [[Appomattox]] |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} {{ Episode list |EpisodeNumber=9 |Title=The Better Angels of Our Nature (1865) |ShortSummary=Prologue; THE CIVIL WAR Series Title; The Better Angels Of Our Nature; [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|Assassination]]; [[John Wilkes Booth#Death|Useless, Useless]]; Picklocks Of Biographers; Was It Not Real? |LineColor=DEDDE2 }} |} == Reception and awards == The series has been honored with more than 40 major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, Producer of the Year Award from the Producers Guild of America, People's Choice Award, Peabody Award, duPont-Columbia Award, D.W. Griffith Award, and the US$50,000 Lincoln Prize, among dozens of others. ==2002 remastering== The entire series was digitally remastered in 2002. The soundtrack was also remixed. Paul Barnes, Editor & Post-Production Supervisor, Florentine Films at that time commented: "Ken Burns and I decided to remaster ''The Civil War'' for several reasons. First of all when we completed the film in 1989, we were operating under a very tight schedule and budget. As the main editor on the film, I always wanted to go back and improve the overall quality of the film. The other reason for remastering the film at this time is that the technology to color correct, print and transfer a film to video for broadcast has vastly improved, especially in the realm of digital computer technology."<ref>Why we decided to remaster http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/film/remaster.html Retrieved 2009-11-02.</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/ PBS: The Civil War] {{Ken Burns films}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Civil War, The}} [[Category:American Civil War films]] [[Category:American Civil War TV series]] [[Category:PBS network shows]] [[Category:American documentary television series]] [[Category:Films directed by Ken Burns]] [[de:Der Amerikanische Bürgerkrieg]] [[fr:The Civil War]]
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