The Andersonville Trial (Broadway Theatre Archive)

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Production
Review: This is actually a videotaping of a stage play "The Andersonville Trial" which takes place on a single set - a courtroom shortly after the end of the Civil War. It was directed by George C. Scott and features an absolutely excellent cast (including Martin Sheen in a very small, early part). William Shatner and Jack Cassidy play, respectively, the prosecutor and defense counsels at the trial of Henry Wirtz, the commandant of the infamous Confederate prison camp, Andersonville. Wirtz was the only Souutherner put on trial for "war crimes", and this play examines a number of moral issues on that point. This play was produced in 1970, but Shatner and Cassidy never did finer work than this. Rather long but worth sticking with to the end. Powerful!