April Morning [VHS]

April Morning [VHS]
by Delbert Mann

April Morning [VHS]
List Price: $9.98
Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Chad Lowe, Meredith Salenger, Robert Urich, Susan Blakely, Tommy Lee Jones
Director: Delbert Mann
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, EP, NTSC
Running Time: 99 minutes
Release Date: 1996-11-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Hallmark
Studio: Hallmark

VHS Movie Reviews of April Morning [VHS]

Movie Review: Disperse Ye Rebels! Disperse!!
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a decent film that deserves to be re-issued on DVD. While not a big budget opus like infamous Mel Gibson's THE PATRIOT, this is a much higher quality film overall. While a bit slow in the beginning with family relationships in Lexington, the film picks up when the British at last appear on the screen! There is a nice shot of the British columm deploying impressively into line to face Captain Parker's company. The only problem here is that the British force at this point consisited of six companies of Light Infantry who jogged into town at a fast clip before forming line opposite the militia. This would have been less impressive to show, plus i guess the available re-enactors could not all be shown in Light Infantry garb. So we get the usual mix of line companies, Grenadiers and Lights all in group together! Colorful, but not accurate!

The confrontation on Lexington Green is made out to be the fault of a renegade Irishman who fires the mysterious first shot of the Revolution. This guy seems like an IRA Fenian several generations ahead of his time! None the less it provides an excuse for how the war began. The British are shown rather impersonally. The officers dry and slightly arrogant. It would have been nice to have expounded more on their circumstances in the beginning of the film. Major Pitcarrin of the Royal Marines for example was universally admired by rebels in Boston for his firm, but fair manner.

The battle scenes are none the less exciting and well done. While the Americans are shown doing their thing from behind cover popping away at the red-coats, the British Lights are also depicted as countering their moves with skirmesher tactics. On the whole this is well done. The fatigue the British column starts to suffer is well portrayed. Again, we should have only Grenadiers and Light Infantry since these were the collected elite companies brought together for this mission. The tri-corned hat men of the line should only be shown coming up with Lord Percy later on. Still, this is a relatively minor detail which most not familier with the British army of the 18th century will not notice (or care about).

The acting is well done overall, Tommy Lee Jones seems way out of place here in a period movie. One keeps expecting him to reveal his under cover cop badge or something! Still, the plot and acting work to create a decent film about the early days of the Revolution. Deffinitely one of your better American Rev War flicks. Should be re-issued on DVD someday.

Movie Review: Lexington in April 1775
Summary: 4 Stars

This film is set in 1775 Colonial Massachusetts. A peddler is stopped and searched, the British troops find a musket, powder, balls and confiscate them and the wagon (Gun Control!). The peddler stops at a local tavern to tell about this. The people have noticed an increase in British troop patrols. We then meet a family and see a portrayal of life in the 18th century as similar to today. There is a meeting among the men, they discuss the relative military strengths of the Colonial militia to the 5,000 British troops in Boston. [In fact the militia had a long military experience in colonial warfare, the British were less experienced.]

A rider gives the alarm: the British are coming to seize the guns and ammunition stored at Concord where the Continental Congress is meeting. The local militia is summoned by the ringing of the church bell. They are drawn up peaceably on the village green as for their regular drill. They did not block the road or threaten the British. The British order them to disperse. A shot rings out, and the battle ends in a rout. Then the troops reform to march to Concord. [Later the British officers claimed they did not order an attack on the villagers, as if to deny any guilt or responsibility for attacking the militia.] This battle of Lexington was just a minor diversion, but gave time for the Minutemen to prepare at Concord for the shot heard around the world.

The British reached Concord, but the guns and ammunition had been moved away. When they began their return to Boston the Minutemen from all the surrounding towns followed and kept up continual fire upon the British. The patriots used their well-tried tactics practiced for generations in forest fighting. After the British retreated to Boston the militia surrounded them and took the hills overlooking the town. The battle of Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill) did not dislodge them. When cannon were brought in the British fleet abandoned Boston. [Mike Wright's book tells how a supply wagon was captured in Lexington.]

The end of the French and Indian War led to new and heavy taxes on the 13 colonies and a ban on some prior rights. The Boston Tea Party was followed by heavy sanctions on Boston (yet none betrayed those "Indians" who committed an illegal act). The taxation worsened. Committees of Correspondence were formed in the colonies to seek a common front. They prepared to defend themselves. The Congress at Concord became a target for the British. So they marched there to capture the leaders. This film presents a dramatic view of those times, as seen by the people. [I think it is better than Mel Gibson's "The Patriot".] John Galvin's book explains this best. The Minutemen were those militia men who were best fitted to muster at a minute's notice, a part of the militia. In 1774 the Massachusetts militia were first to practice the democratic election of officers (a practice that lasted until WW I). The morale of the volunteers was part of their effectiveness.

Movie Review: Not very impressed
Summary: 3 Stars

Saw this this on televison.

Lovely scenery. Weapons and costumes appear authentic. Buildings need a little work. Interior shots good. Acting and diolog need a little work.

Overall a Soap Opera.

Really not very impressed with what looks more like a work of revisionism than anything authentic. The Americans appear blood thirsty and looking for trouble. They appear to lack any semblence of militery organization or fighting doctrine. Historicly those are proven far from the truth. Over a third of New England's male population were veterans of the previous war and had generations of combat experience fighting the French and the indians. Some men in the Colonial Militia had literally fired more rounds in combat in the name of Britain than whole regiments serving under Gage.

Also appears to have been done on the cheap.

Movie Review: Family Friendly and Educational
Summary: 4 Stars

April Morning is a family-friendly video of the first major battle of the American Revolution. The dramatic tension between two generations climaxes with a greater understanding, and a loss. The video is a great addition to a homeschool unit on the Revolution, or a good family night viewing, with discussion of the relationship between father and son. I highly recommend it, and was disappointed that it was out of stock. We watched it on TV the first time, and have not been able to find it since.

Movie Review: Adds Another Level to Social Studies Classes
Summary: 4 Stars

Yes, the movie is melodramatic and l....o....n....g with the dialogues in the first portion. That's why I don't show the whole thing in the classroom. We start just before the rider shows up with the warnings. I have a typed synopsis of the events leading up to this and explain the tensions of frontier warfare experience, womens' issues vs the male ego, and that this is a MOVIE based on the events. However, the use of reenactors, authentic clothing, and armaments make it somewhat more appealing. Rip Torn's aggression played against the desire to reason things out to prevent war are universal themes that really get the Language Arts teachers smiling with writing prompts for opinion papers. I wish it was rereleased to get the price down. My ancestors were Loyalist Rangers who, along with their Iroquois allies, didn't play "fairly" and had to bug out to Britain and Ontario in 1781. It is interesting to the students how young the British soldier is and his confusion under stress is typical of most newbies throughout history. The disagreement of the British officers at the green to "force" the crown's authority or just march by such a small underarmed group has been documented. If the movie is prepped and guided with thoughtful questioning it usually becomes one of the students' favorites. I find it great fun to have intuitive kids ask if I was technically a "Redcoat" as a Marine in Danang. I smile and respond that I was loyal to my "king" and "country" but, like the young fusilier in the movie, I was often just as concerned.
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