1991, TV Movie. Dir: Delbert Mann. Cast: Virginia Madsen (Betty Stuart).

Civil War Themes: The race to build the first successful iron-plated battleship.

Battles/Moments: Union attempt to destroy the Gosport dry-dock; naval battle at Hampton Roads between the Monitor and Merrimac

      Turner Pictures is the only filmmaker that has strived to make films based on the Civil War in this decade, with the last decent movie--not made by Turner--based on the era being Glory in 1989. Gettysburg was the noblest effort by Turner Pictures, and is a fine epic of what some regard as the most important battle in American History.

      In 1991, Turner made a two-hour film based on a most interesting subject, the battle of the ironclads, between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, more popularly known by its Federal name, the Merrimac. Both were standard wooden ships retrofitted with iron plating that withstood a constant barrage of cannonfire with nary a dent in the hulls. But when the two sides each have one, it makes for a stalemate.

      The problem with making a movie like this, though, is that the finale, the crème-de-la-creme of the movie, the battle between the two souped-up ships, must be done well. Disappointingly, this scene in Ironclads is obviously done completely with little model ships in an overgrown tub. There's no tension, little explanation of what exactly is going on and what the timeframe is of the stand-off.

      Summary of the true history of the battle: On the night of Saturday, April 20, 1861, the U.S. naval authorities evacuated the navy yard at Gosport, Va. The dry-dock was not destroyed, as the fuse failed to ignite the powder; but whether from accident or from the work of other hands has never been discovered. Ironclads makes a storyline of this, suggesting it was by a Union soldier who stamped it out on purpose to save local houses from being destroyed.

      Steps were immediately taken by the Confederate authorities to convert the Merrimac into an ironclad. Naval history was made on March 8, 1862, when the first Confederate ironclad steamed down the Elizabeth River into Hampton Roads to attack the woodensided U.S. blockading fleet anchored there. Built on the hull of the U.S.S. Merrimac, the new warship had been christened C.S.S. Virginia, but in common usage retained its original name. The Union's ironclad, the Monitor, appeared the next day, and The Battle at Hampton Roads ensued.

      The Confederate Military History confirms an item the movie Ironclads showed for ten seconds: "Nearly every man, woman and child in the two cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth were at the same time on their way to Sewell's point, Craney island, and other points where they could see the great naval combat which they knew was at last to take place." The least the movie could have done was to show some reactions from the crowd during the battle.

    The two ships pounded away at each other for four hours before first the Monitor and then the Virginia retired, having done little damage to each other. The battle ended in a draw, although the Monitor had saved the rest of the Northern ships. The two ironclads never fought again, but the fight signaled the end of the era of wooden warships.

      Knowing this, the movie Ironclads stays close to the history of the actual battle, but the scene is uninspired because of the aforementioned cheap effects and confusing manner in which it was done.

      Naturally the film takes quite a few liberties with the surrounding story, such as the Union traitor and most notably that of Betty Stuart (Madsen), a Virginia belle who betrays her country as a Union spy.

      Considering that this was more than half of the film, it turned me off completely. You see, Miss Stuart attended school in Maryland, and learned that slavery was bad, thus her friends and family were evil and she had to free all those in bondage, doing her turn by procuring the blue prints of the Merrimac.

      My argument is not that a southerner could see the light, but that it takes up so much of the plot. I was looking forward to an interesting story of how these two behemoths of Civil War naval warfare came to be; instead we get preached to about the evils of slavery, as if it still existed. Completely unnecessary, and more melodramatic rather than substantive, ignoring that women wouldn't be more prone to watch based on this storyline than if it were simply about the politicians, soliders and ships. Either way men would make up 3/4 of the movie's demographic.