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Preservation

Emmy award-winning film on the Battle of Franklin

to be shown at Franklin Theater

Franklin, Tenn - The Emmy award winning film “The Battle of Franklin” will be shown at the Franklin Theater on Sunday, November 2nd at 3:30pm, which will include a brief introduction and a panel discussion afterward.

Tickets are $15.00, with one third of the proceeds going to help protect the Franklin battlefield.
The film’s director and producer Robert Lee Hodge, of Hodge Films, said that it is the first time the film has ever been shown in Franklin on the big screen.

The Washington DC filmmaker, who recently moved to Nashville, wanted to finally debut his Emmy award-winning project in the town where the story takes place. “I thought it would be a great way to kick-off the month-long list of memorial events Franklin has in store for the 150th anniversary of this epic battle,” said Hodge.

In a review in Booklist it stated that Hodge’s film is, ". . . an exceptional program for both students and Civil War buffs, worthy to be alongside filmmaker Ken Burns' acclaimed The Civil War.”
Hodge just wasn’t into creating a film on Franklin, he has also played an active role in preservation of the battlefield. In 2000 he gave Save the Franklin Battlefield (STFB) $22,000 that helped kick-off preservation efforts in Franklin. “The battlefield I have been drawn to since I first saw it in 1978. As a child I did not understand why there were not green fields with monuments you often see on a major battlefield like Shiloh or Gettysburg. To see the reclamation of parts the battlefield from commercial sprawl is fantastic,” Hodge said.

The Battle of Franklin movie struck a chord in many historians also. Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, Ed Bearss, said, “One of the best, if not the best, documentaries I have seen on a Civil War battle. Not since Ken Burns’ monumental PBS production, The Civil War, have I seen better.”

“In my opinion, The Battle of Franklin: Five Hours in the Valley of Death, remains one of the best and most balanced visual depictions of the Battle of Franklin ever made,” historian Eric Jacobson said. “It is a timeless representation of this important event in our history, and never fails to evoke a multitude of emotions. From the musical score, to the re-enactment footage, to the careful way in which accounts of the battle are interwoven, the film never lags. The opening scenes are exceptionally powerful and the conclusion is near perfection.”

Historian Thomas Cartwright stated, “This Emmy award-winning DVD truly does justice to Franklin. The scenes depicted herein are as close as anyone will ever wish to be to that vortex of hell.”

Reserve tickets are suggested and will be on sale at the Franklin Theater website www.franklintheatre.com , or call (615) 538-2075.

For more information contact Robert Hodge at rlh@robertleehodge.com, or The Franklin Theater.

From the DVD cover:

"Late in the autumn of 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood led the battle-hardened veterans of the Army of Tennessee on a fateful campaign into central Tennessee in a desperate attempt to regain control of the state from Federal forces. U.S. General John M. Schofield, commanding two corps of entrenched Federal infantry, forced the rebel onslaught in the village of Franklin. The battle that commenced was a bloody death struggle unparalleled in its ferocity."