The Blue and the Gray revolutionized television and has since come to DVD. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is now releasing a shorter cut of the film running only four and a half hours versus the original seven hour running time.

Based on the works of Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Catton, The Blue & The Gray is recognized for its historic accuracy, dramatic intensity and spectacular battle sequences. Filmed entirely on location in Arkansas with over 160 characters and 6,3300 extras, this searing sagacontains all the stirring conflict and narrative lyricism of such cinematic masterpieces as Gone with the Wind and Glory. The film brilliantly reconstructs an eternally fascinating and controversial era in American history when families and nation were divided between the black and the white, the North and the South and “The Blue & The Gray”.

The DVD, in view of its still immense runtime will have no extras, but will arrive on shelves on July 26th for $19.94.