March 8 - Ironclads

Today’s movie is a historical war melodrama with a scene that happens on March 8. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

IRONCLADS                     

At the start of the Civil War the US Navy tries to destroy the Gosport Navy yard at Norfolk, Virginia. They succeed in destroying most of the base but a sailor, Leslie Hanson sabotages blowing up the dry dock. The Confederate Navy tows the damaged USS Merrimac into the dry dock and begins converting it into an armored ship. Hanson says he stopped the explosion because it would have killed friends he had made in Gosport during the previous two years. This excuse is not accepted and he is to be executed, but he is offered the chance to travel with a Yankee lady spy Betty Stuart to Virginia and get the technical specs on the new Confederate ironclad.  He agrees and crosses the lines with her to Virginia. Harmon later is able to attend a test of the armor on CSS Virginia (the Confederate ironclad created from the hull of the Merrimac), but learns the test is misinformation and that the real armor is very effective in defending against cannon fire. Betty uses her mother’s slave Opel and Opel’s husband Cletus, who works at the Navy yard as agents and couriers. John Ericsson convinces the US government to adopt his design for an armored ship with a rotating turret. Betty falls in love with Catesby Jones, a Confederate naval officer and agrees to marry him. She orders Hanson to return North with the information that the North will have to use more powerful cannon charges against the Virginia.  After Betty learns Jones has been assigned to the Virginia she tries to stop Hanson from going north, but in the end she decides to let him go. On March 8, 1862 [36:42 to 1:10:52] the Virginia is launched. Betty tells Jones what she has learned about the USS Monitor and that the Virginia needs more armor. He deduces that she and Hanson are Yankee spies. The Virginia is immediately sent into battle before the Monitor can arrive and Betty is arrested as a spy. The USS Congress fires on the Virginia to no effect. The Virginia turns and sinks the USS Cumberland and then fires on the Congress, which surrenders. When Yankee shore batteries fire on the Virginia, the Confederates burn the  Congress. When the captain is injured Jones assumes command of the Virginia. Betty learns that she was arrested because of a letter found on Opel when returning from the North, but the letter is not sufficient to create more than suspicion, as Jones did not tell his superiors Betty was a spy.  The Virginia leaves the USS Minnesota stuck on a sandbar, as the Virginia can’t approach or she will run aground herself.  Lt. Gilford, who arrested Betty, tries to get Betty to confess, but she refuses. Hanson, who was on the Minnesota, becomes the Monitors pilot as soon as it arrives at the battle scene in the middle of the night. At dawn the two ships sail straight for each other. The Virginia gets stuck and then tries to ram the Monitor. When the Monitor tries to ram the Virginia, a shot blinds the Monitor’s captain and the ship withdraws to shallow water. The Virginia then returns to its base. North and South argue about who won the battle. Betty and Opel are released, since Jones reported Betty had transmitted misinformation to the North. However, Jones ends his relationship with Betty and advises her to go north. Two months later the Virginia was scuttled and at the end of the year the Monitor was sunk in a storm.         

A decent historical melodrama. Weaves in a fictional story in with the facts. Alters the facts somewhat, but still creates an interesting and compelling storyline.

A History of the Confederate Navy by Raimondo Luraghi (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1996) at pages 139-143 and the film at 43:06 give this date. 

Producers - David A. Rosemont and Norman Rosemont

Director - Delbert Mann

Awards – This film was nominated Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or Special, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries or Special and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special at the 43^rd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Screenplay - Harold Gast

Runtime – 1 hour 34 minutes

Released = March 11, 1991

Starring –

Virginia Madsen as Betty Stuart

Alex Hyde-White as Catesby Jones

Reed Diamond as Leslie Hanson

Philip Casnoff as Lt. Guilford

E.G. Marshall as Commander Joseph Smith

Fritz Weaver as John Ericsson

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.