Search - Historic Time Travel Spanish American War on DVD

Frustratingly short but adds "color" for my students

romaphile | Yakima, WA | 01/04/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a collection of VERY short videos (mostly 10-30 seconds long) that are so short they frustrate me to death--but my middle-school students were riveted. They were excited to see the "Edison" tag introducing each clip and LOVED the clip of the horse trainers. I used this AFTER we studied the Spanish-American War so they had frames of reference for the ships and locations---but don't get too excited about the clips. They're just so.short. Side benefit of showing these clips: It jumped a GREAT discussion on the advance of technology in the last 100 years and led into a great brainstorming about what the future holds. Bottom line: history geeks like me will like it but not love it---teachers will get limited use from it. Students will enjoy the brief exposure to early film."

A pure primary source, but good luck if you don't know this

mpsparty1 | Berkley, Michigan USA | 12/23/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Being only a couple of years removed from Edison's invention of motion picture photography, these are surely among the first examples of the new technology and entertainment media. However, these scattered snipets will not tell you the story of the Spanish American war on their own. In fact, they are more suited as a prop to educate on early motion pics than the war that sprung America as a world power. Most of the 'action' shorts such as 'battle' scenes and Roughriders 'riding by' appear staged for the camera. Pictures of the Maine in Havana harbor and other shots of Navy assets are the most realistic and interesting. Pure primary sources like these short...and I mean short videos(some less than a minute long), need prior knowledge or advised viewing to make sense. Not to knock the producers who have offered something unique here....but buy with caution and know that you cannot watch this and learn much more than what a :50 second Edison short looked like in 1898."

Rough Riders

Arthur | America | 07/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""You provide the prose, I'll provide the war," William Randolf Hearst was supposed to have said right before the Spanish American War broke out. It was American's first optional war and this DVD has some of the best vintage footage of the war and what led up to it that I've ever seen. The best, of course, is the stuff with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. I liked it alot as a history buff."

Very Vintage

Ejaz | 05/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to say that these clips are some of the most truly vintage films I've yet to look at. They were clearly shot either right at the end of the War or just afterwards so there is a strong sense of how people perceived war before the two world wars.

There is a strong sense of propoganda here but that is to be expected in any film shot during wartime. I liked the very early footage of Teddy Roosevelt - you can see how he was able to get elected president after the war.

There is a grainy feel to most of these documentaries - and it should be noted that because of their age they are silent movies."