As I posted in a thread In Search Of This Thread, I saw it in its entirety (my 10 year old son watched with me; the parts about the ex-slave Mary anne Cord were especially heart-rending) & thought it was brilliant. I'd always admired mark Twain as a literary force and source of pithy & biting commentary, but I came awy feeling a great sense of affection for him as a man. Not being an authority (talk about your understatements!!!) on either baseball or jazz, I can't critique either of those films, but I saw "The Civil War" MANY times--usually late at night in repeats on PBS, as I was nursing a newborn baby when it came out!--and have never lost the sense of "connectedness" I felt with those long-dead Americans that I gained from it.

My father's parents came from Europe in the '20s, and my mother was an English war bride, arriving here in 1949, so technically speaking the American Civil war is not "my" history, but that film made me feel that it was, and is. Historiographical standards aside, I think that a film-maker that can elicit that sort of deep emotional response for his topic is a rare talent.

And I've ordered the Mark Twain CD for myself AND my dad, who'll absolutely love it!