Late last month we had the chance to review the individual Blu-ray booklet releases for Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. Both films were geared towards Civil War enthusiasts and both covered respective characters and battle locations. While one certainly was more character driven (Gods and Generals) than the other (Gettysburg), both did a detailed job with accurately telling how things were back in the country’s bloodiest war on our own grounds.
In addition to those releases, Warner Home Video released Gettysburg / Gods and Generals Limited Collector’s Edition set on July 5th. There were only 100,000 printed and it packed a bit more punch than the individual releases of the films.
The Gettysburg / Gods and Generals Limited Collector’s Edition is a unique set. You get both films (Gettysburg: Director’s Cut and Gods and Generals: Extended Director’s Cut) with this release, including all their features in the booklet releases. So the quality of the films hasn’t really changed one bit, which is fine because both looked sharp for the most part (though Gods and Generals looked the sharpest out of the two). One thing that is missing is the lovely booklets included with the releases of the individual films. You don’t get the really interesting written commentary by director Ron Maxwell, which is adds a bit more dimension and detail regarding the filming/writing of both movies.
While it’s definitely a small complaint, it does hurt this release just a little bit. If you’re not interested in what the director has to say, though, then you’re in for a surprise with the rest of the material.
In addition to the films, you get a commemoration coin that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, a huge map from National Geographic that shows in detail where all the major battles were between the two sides(I think this might be my favorite part of the set), and two very informative booklets about the war. The Civil War Artifacts and Correspondence booklet details artifacts found from the war and tons of letters between soldiers and generals of the war. It’s positively fascinating to see old photographs from the war and letters about how people felt as the war was going on. While the Civil War Artifacts and Correspondence book certainly has some lovely images, it does lack in text when it comes to in-depth explanation. It’s more of a picture book than anything else.
As for the second booklet it’s considerably better. While just an excerpt from a larger book, TIME’s The Civil War combines pretty rare and unique photos from the war with in-depth writing on locations of battles, generals involved and rare pictures (featuring one of President Lincoln). Outside of the movies, this particular booklet was my favorite part of the limited edition set. I’m not a huge Civil War buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I find what TIME put together in this small excerpt to be rather informative and fascinating.
All of these items come in a very nicely manufactured boxset that will certainly take up one-third of your Blu-ray shelf. As a whole it’s a very nice boxset and you can find it for around $50 on Amazon.com (despite the $84.99 MSRP). If you’re a huge fan of Ron Maxwell’s two classic films or just someone who likes information on the Civil War then this might be something you should add to your homes. For me, I would have definitely bought this if I had to choose between the individual releases or both (with more) for just a little bit more dough.