THE SCARLET COAT is a solid dramatic treat, and wisely concentrates on the real tragic hero in the story: Major John Andre. However, only the first twenty minutes of the film deal with the conspiracy at all (though the plot hinges on clearing Costello's name of treason charges). One is the comedy THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES, where Abbott and Costello link their colonial characters to the fate of Arnold's local co-conspirators. The conspiracy of Benedict Arnold - Sir Henry Clinton - and Major John Andre is a subject that has only appeared in two movies - and oddly enough both were good. A sad list - fortunately there is 1776 and DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK and THE SCARLET COAT. As for Mel Gibson's THE PATRIOT, it collapses in his desire to show sadistic British incidents which never happened (if a British Cavalry officer had burned down an Anglican Church with it's parishioners inside in the South in 1780, King George III - who took his being head of the Anglican Church seriously - would have had that officer hung!). Even Al Pacino could not save REVOLUTION. Robert Stack starred as JOHN PAUL JONES (a movie sunk by a wooden, lifeless script). LAFAYETTE has Orson Welles portraying Ben Franklin (oddly enough nobody thought of making the musical BEN FRANKLIN IN Paris into a film - with Robert Preston in the lead as on Broadway). So it goes with all of the other films - Griffith's America does have a diabolic performance of Lionel Barrymore as Walter Butler, the Tory. Except for 1776 the other two films have stars in them (1776 had some good character actors, William Daniel as John Adams - repeating his stage performance fortunately - and Howard De Silva as Ben Franklin - even in the small role of Edward Rutledge there is John Cullum singing that fascinating economic lecture "Mollasses to Rum to Slave".). But they remember THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA, a dull film from the early 1940s that may be the most mediocre performance in Cary Grant's career. They remember THE DEVIL'S DESCIPLE for Laurence Olivier's excellent (and fun) performance as General Burgoyne, and for the good work of his co-stars Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. People recall 1776 for the solid musical underneath it. It is not as well recalled as other films about the Revolution - many of which are inferior. It is one of those films that I have referred to elsewhere that once was shown pretty frequently but then vanished from the small screen. We’ve included links to each.I was glad to see that THE SCARLET COAT, after being absent from television for many years, has begun showing up on cable - usually on TURNER NETWORK. Note: You can find nearly all ten of the best American Revolutionary War movies on Netfilx or other streaming services. Add to that a few television series that do the same, and you have the 10 best movies and television shows set during the American Revolution. Regardless, there are still a handful of major motion pictures and made-for-TV movies which carefully tell the story of America’s fight for independence. However, due to the success of several television series set during the American Revolution, it seems most likely that the complexities of the Revolution couldn’t be accurately portrayed in just a few hours. Perhaps it’s because there is relatively little public interest in this time period. Perhaps this is because early attempts at these films flopped. However, a truly definitive American Revolutionary War movie has yet to appear. history such as The Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. There are plenty of famous war movies depicting other conflicts in U.S. Interestingly, there is little cinematic portrayal of this pivotal period. Colonists fought for years against the injustices brought by the British Empire. The American Revolution was, hands down, one of the most significant periods in our Nation’s history. Greatest American Revolutionary War Movies – Military Connection’s Top Ten ListĬontributed by Melissa Lucas, senior staff writer
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |