For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of the masses, was quite simply their most important weapon. Government authorities monitored the production of feature films and the military itself produced documentaries aimed at rallying the American people to support the troops. This film tells the story of four Hollywood directors of European origin, who returned to the "Old World" during the Second World War to make propaganda documentaries for the US Army at the front: William Wyler from Alsace, Frank Capra from Italy, Anatole Litvak from Ukraine and - in post-war Germany - Billy Wilder from Austria.
'Purple Smoke' tells the complex story of Lithuanian Jew Jozef, partisan commander Vlad and their two beloved Janes.
Tribune Marcus Aulus, out of favor in Rome because of his alleged sympathy for Christians, arrives to take charge of an aqueduct project on the hot, arid fringes of the Empire. Centurion Gaius, cruel and corrupt, resents being replaced by Marcus. He instigates a revolt by his slave-workers, then blames the situation on Marcus. During the revolt, five muscular slaves escape. They meet up with fellow escapee Balisten, a farmer unjustly condemned to the aqueduct project. Balisten, impressed by Marcus's enlightened attitudes, has rescued the Tribune from the revolt. The six slaves, with Marcus's advice, plan to gain their freedom using their prowess as gladiators. Marcus plans to clear his name and to re-unite with his fiancée, Claudia, recently arrived from Rome. Gaius plans to kill Marcus and thus hide the truth about the slave revolt. Brawls and fights both inside and outside the arena come thick and fast.
This MGM Passing Parade series short takes a look at changing definitions of art in the United States.
It was one of humankind's most epic quests - a technical problem so complex that it challenged the best minds of its time, a problem so important that the nation that solved it would rule the economy of the world. The problem was navigation by sea—how to know where you were when you sailed beyond the sight of land - establishing your longitude. While the gentry of the 18th Century looked to the stars for the answer, an English clockmaker, John Harrison, toiled for decades to solve the problem. His elegant solution made him an unlikely hero and remains the basis for the most modern forms of navigation in the world today. This film will be both a celebration of Harrison's invention and an adventure story. An expedition on a period sailing vessel as it sails the open sea will demonstrate the life and death importance of finding your longitude at sea.
Artistic portrayal of the difficult personality of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and his dramatic life against the backdrop of National-liberation war in the mid-17th century and the Cossack state building. The main storyline shows Khmelnytsky not only as hetman and commander, but reveals his private life and his complicated relations with his beloved woman.
Chitralekha is a 1964 historical-philosophical Hindi film, directed by Kidar Sharma, starring Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari and Pradeep Kumar. It was based on 1934 Hindi novel by the same name by Bhagwati Charan Verma about Bijgupta serving under the Maurya Empire and the king Chandragupta Maurya (340 BCE – 298 BCE) and his love for courtesan Chitralekha. Set in the back drop of the middle age society. The portrayal of the three tools wisdom, knowledge and power become superfluous in the absence of strength of character.
Based on testimony by Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass, the Rosenbergs are arrested by the FBI. The couple is accused of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the USSR. Though the Rosenbergs maintain their innocence from the start, the media and public opinion seem to have condemned them from day one. The trial does nothing to change this and ends in a death sentence. On Friday June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed in the electric chair. Julius first, then Ethel. 30 years later, the truth finally comes out. Declassified FBI archives reveal that Ethel was not guilty of being a spy; she was merely married to one. Julius did indeed commit espionage for the Soviet Union, though primarily as a recruiter, nothing at all like the fictional James Bond. This documentary, made entirely of archival footage and animated illustrations, offers a tale of espionage as well as a complex family tragedy.
The film depicts Namık Kemal's love for his country. The newspaper İbret, published by Namık Kemal and his friends, is shut down on the grounds that it incites the people to rebellion. Namık Kemal and his friends are sent into exile. On the ship they board to go into exile, Namık Kemal tells his friends about his play titled "Vatan" (Homeland). The play tells the story of Islam and Zekiye, who are in love with each other, and their struggle for their homeland. Islam forms a volunteer regiment to go to war. Zekiye joins the volunteers in male disguise, both to be close to Islam and to serve the homeland. Love for the homeland will bring Islam and Zekiye closer together.
This film is a chronicle of painter Frida Kahlo, and her encounter with the personalities of her time. Despite being confied to a wheelchair as a result of polio, operations and amputations, she faces and traces some of the most colorful and controversial aspects of Mexican history, during the dominant time of Mexican muralism.
In a time preceding the Carnation Revolution, we meet two men: one young, one old. One is fleeing the country, and the other helps him escape through Trás-os-Montes. While they make “the leap,” they speak about their lives and their troubles… This is an ode to those who fought for Freedom, and to these fifty springs that have passed. Throughout 13 performed songs, we travel across the country, hand in hand with several Portuguese people who tells us their stories through music, until we get back to this young man who runs away and returns to Lisbon, shortly after the Revolution, to reunite with his loved ones and live in freedom.
After the defeat of the 1905 revolution, the underground fighter Gio is sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. However, he manages to escape eight years later. Having lost his wife and daughter during this time, he decides to take revenge on the gendarmes. Gio's younger brother joins him in the mountains...
In 1876, Lt. Tony Britton of the 7th Cavalry is in love with pretty young Barbara Manning, but the wife of his superior, Capt. Granson, is in love with him and begs him to run away with her. Britton refuses, but is soon sent to arrest Sioux chief Rain-in-the-Face, who has murdered two soldiers from the 7th. He captures his quarry and carts him off to jail, infuriating the local Indians. When Capt. Granson learns of his wife's infatuation with Britton, he makes trouble for Britton, who is soon forced to resign his commission. He signs up as an army scout, and learns that the Indians are planning to attack and massacre the 7th under the command of Col. George Armstrong Custer. Can he get to Custer in time to warn him of the impending attack, and will he--a disgraced army officer--be believed?
Based on the 1925 novel The Sailor's Return by David Garnett. A sailor returns to his hometown to open a pub bringing with him his new black wife. Very quickly they find themselves ostracised by the community.
The death of a samurai in a palanquin leads girl detective Oshichi to take action to crush a plot to overthrow the Shogunate.
The cunning Cardinal Richelieu must save King Louis XIII from treachery within his inner circle.
Genoa, 1945. The war is over but not for 4 partisans who still try to capture the remaining fascists. They are not satisfied with the concept of justice that the new born Italian Republic tries to instigate.
Set in the 19th century against the backdrop of the Mutiny of 1857, the film is about the bravery of queen Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi, who took up arms and led her army against the British.
Did you know that the first cowboys were black? Using magnificent archives and testimonies from historians, Cécile Denjean restores justice to African-Americans in the story of the conquest of the West.
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