A naval battle between two large ships: the "Monitor" and the "Merrimack".A naval battle between two large ships: the "Monitor" and the "Merrimack".A naval battle between two large ships: the "Monitor" and the "Merrimack".
- Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys
- 4 nominations total
- Leslie Harmon
- (as Reed Edward Diamond)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Monitor and the Merrimack were re-created in models one third of their actual size, and the battle scenes between them were filmed in the big tank at Pinewood Studios, England.
- GoofsThe U.S. sloop Cumberland is shown being destroyed by gunfire. In the actual battle it was sunk by ramming.
- Quotes
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: Where is the Monitor?
Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy: Commodore Smith?
[Smith wordlessly passes a dispatch to Davis]
Cmdr. Davis: The Monitor was last sighted off the Delaware-Maryland border, floundering in the very heavy weather.
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: In other words, she may already be at the bottom of the ocean!
Abraham Lincoln: I'm sure the Monitor is still afloat. I look for her to be the veritable sling with a stone that smites the Merrimack Philistine in the forehead.
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: Mr. President, do you really have that much faith in Ericsson's untested experiment?
Abraham Lincoln: I have that much faith in Providence, which did not create this great Union to see it be destroyed by the invention of a weapon. If the Monitor doesn't stop the Merrimack, something else will. Good night, gentlemen.
Or, so one might think. To tell that story, the filmmakers employed an entire fictional spy story centered around Betty Stuart, a Southern belle (Virginia Madsen) who works alongside a disgraced Union Quartermaster's Mate (Reed Diamond) to learn and smuggle information about the Confederate ironclad northward. To make matters more complicated, Betty is in the midst of a romance with the Virginia's first officer Catesby Jones (Alex Hyde-White), which tests her allegiances to home and country even farther as Lieutenant Guilford (Philip Casnoff) of the Confederate navy seeks out a spy. Not the most sweeping fictionalization ever, granted, but does it serve the story?
Ultimately, no. The spy story elements and the romantic elements offer up plot complications about as predictable and embarrassing as the southern accents on display. When combined with dialogue that often leans towards the cringeworthy, it feels like a distraction from what the film's titular subject. And the cast, bless their hearts, does the best they can with a less than perfect script. All of which is a shame since there are accounts of Civil War-era espionage deserving of being put on screen, incredible tales that don't need inventing people and events around a historic battle.
In fact, Ironclads is at its best when it's focused on the two warships. The actual design and building of the two vessels, with particular focus on the Union's Monitor and its designer John Ericsson (an underused Fritz Weaver), effectively becomes a subplot in a movie supposedly dedicated to them. Even here, though, the dialogue is often little more than functional or expositional. With the likes of Weaver, EG Marshall, and James Getty in the cast, that seems like something of a shame.
Thankfully, the movie has one definite saving grace: the depiction of the Battle of Hampton Roads. Taking up much of the back half of the running time, it's got everything that a Civil War buff could dream of seeing. There are recreations of the two ironclads, both inside and out, giving viewers an idea of the incredible conditions under which the men on bought sides fought. Indeed, one might never have had a sense of just how claustrophobic and cramped they were, cannons blazing and smoking filling the air inside. A combination of sets, built at something akin to full scale, as well as some superb miniatures, work to complete the depiction of this epic battle that changed naval warfare forever after. It is here, rather than in the cliches of espionage and romance, that Ironclads finds its best moments and highest drama.
If only the rest of it had lived up to that standard, Ironclads would rank with Gettysburg as one of the best screen depictions of perhaps the defining conflict of American history. Instead, it spends much of its length trapped inside a dull melodrama and made by exposition. In the final analysis, Civil War buffs will find much to love about Ironclads, but anyone else will be bored to sleep by it.
- timdalton007
- Mar 18, 2020
- Permalink
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- Also known as
- La batalla de los acorazados
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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