The Chronicles of Melanie (2016)
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The evolution of a nation during six decades of turbulent history is dramatized via two families from opposing classes.
British agent working in Russia is forced to remain longer than planned once the revolution begins. After being released from prison in Siberia he posses as a Russian Commissar. Because of his position among the revolutionaries he is able to rescue a Russian countess from the Bolsheviks.
During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: "Our boat is full." A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum: four Jews, a French child, and a German soldier. They seek temporary refuge with a couple who run a village inn. They pose as a family: the deserter as husband, Judith as his wife, an old man from Vienna as her father, his granddaughter and the French lad, whom they beg to keep silent, as their children. Judith's teenage brother poses as a soldier. The fabrication unravels through chance and the local constable's exact investigation. Whom will the Swiss allow to stay? Who gets deported?
A chronicle of life in a small village in the Baikal Region on the eve of World War I and at the time of the October Revolution. The age-old foundations are crumbling, the process of social stratification is underway and, as a result, some people go to defend the revolution, and others - to fight against it. The main hero is the young Cossack Roman Ulybin. At first, this carefree daredevil is preoccupied only with one problem: whether his sweetheart, Dashutka, is to marry him or a merchantâs son, Alyoshka. Roman is killing time fist-fighting with his rival. But little by little, the young man realizes that the world around him has changed, that people are fighting for equality and social justice, and, being a real Cossack, he canât remain on the sidelinesâ¦
In the 1930s political activist Jimmy Gralton is deported from Ireland during the 'Red Scare'.
Emma Hamilton is a 1968 historical drama film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Michèle Mercier, Richard Johnson and John Mills.[1] It was based on the novel La San-Felice by Alexandre Dumas and depicts the love affair between Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson. It was a co-production between Italy, West Germany, France and the United States.
Spartacus is a 1960 American historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast about the historical life of Spartacus and the Third Servile War. The film stars Kirk Douglas as the rebellious slave Spartacus who leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman empire. The film was awarded four Oscars and stands today as one of the greatest classics of the Sword and Sandal genre.
Based on the childhood memories of actor Michael Degen, the movie deals with the everyday struggle to survive as a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany. As his father had died in 1940 after being released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Michael and his mother fear to be deported themselves. They manage to live in Berlin with false names and faked papers, hidden by several, often broken, people...
A dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft following alleged demonic possessions of sexually repressed nuns.
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His diplomatic status in a Catholic country prevents Colonel Kappler from openly arresting him, but O'Flaherty's activities become so large that the Nazi's decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican. O'Flaherty continues his work in a variety of disguises. Based on a true story. Written by John Vogel
As the face of law enforcement in America for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life.
A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria and her relationship with her slave Davus, who is torn between his love for her and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
Historical epic. The triumphs and tragedy of the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra.The winner of four Oscars, this epic saga of love, greed and betrayal stars Elizabeth Taylor as the passionate and ambitious Egyptian queen who's determined to hold on to the throne and seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison). When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to his general, Marc Antony (Richard Burton), who vows to take power -- but Caesar's successor (Roddy McDowall) has other plans.
At the end of 1918 while civil war is raging on in Russia, antagonism is slowly spreading to the East, between the Oural mountains and Shanghai. Stuck between a desire to save what's left of the great Imperial Russia, and starting from a clean slate, old generals, secret organizations, and mercenaries attracted by gold, struggle to take advantage of the events. As Corto Maltese returns to Shanghai, he barely gets time to cross paths with his old friend/nemesis Raspoutine, and escape a murder attempt before being contacted by members of a Chinese secret organization called "The Red Lanterns". In the heart of violent Mandchourian horizons, Corto and Raspoutine launch themselves into a fabulous treasure hunt, following the tracks of the mysterious armor-plated train of Koltchak. A steel monster spiked with canons and machine guns, this trains protects the counter-revolutionaries gold...
The action takes place shortly after the end of the Second World War in the Siberian hinterland, among Russians and Germans with damaged personal stories and a strange transformation: the victors seem to be crawling into the skins of the defeated, and vice versa. Ignat, is the embodiment of the larger-than-life image of the Soviet victorious warrior who, in fact, proves to be shell-shocked, sick and broken, although not completely destroyed. Trains become fetish for the heroes of the film, and speed becomes a mania; they virtually become one with their steam engines, while the machines take on human names. The heroes set up an almost fatal race in the Siberian forest, risking their own lives and those of others.
A romance blooms between a noblewoman and a common man amid a peasant revolt against the brutal Russian army
"The Anarchist's Wife" is the story of Manuela who is left behind when her husband Justo fights for his ideals against Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. He is deported to a concentration camp, and upon his release, continues the fight against nationalism in the French resistance. Years, pass without a word from him, but his wife never gives up hope of seeing him again.
Tom Wolfe's book on the history of the U.S. Space program reads like a novel, and the film has that same fictional quality. It covers the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager to the Mercury 7 astronauts, showing that no one had a clue how to run a space program or how to select people to be in it. Thrilling, funny, charming and electrifying all at once.
The story of the last year and a half of Tsar Nicholas II and his family from the February Revolution of 1917 to their execution in July 1918.
This is a story of a great love facing the greatest drama of the history of Russia. Admiral Kolchak is a true war hero and beloved husband and father. One day he meets Anna, the love of his life and the wife of his best friend. The revolution in his heart faces the revolution in his own country His destiny is to become the Supreme Rules of Russia.
The story of the voyage of the "Mayflower" in its historic voyage across the Atlantic to the New World. The passenger list includes John Alden and Priscilla Mullins among those who made the 96-day storm-filled crossing. Along the way the Captain has an ill-starred romance with the wife of a religious fanatic that ends in a sudden, dramatic way off the coast of Cape Cod.
1942. Joseph is eleven. And this June morning, he must go to school, a yellow star sown on his chest. He receives the support of a goods dealer. The mockery of a baker. Between kindness and contempt, Jo, his Jewish friends, their families, learn of life in an occupied Paris, on the Butte Montmartre, where they've taken shelter. At least that's what they think, until that morning on July 16th 1942, when their fragile happiness is toppled over.
Young German princess Sophia is married off to Russia's half-mad Grand Duke Peter in the hope of improving the royal blood line.
In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership. Cy Endfield co-wrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst defeat of the British army by natives, with the British contingent outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film's opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached  manner leads to one mistake after another.
Christine Collins is overjoyed when her kidnapped son is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, the police captain has her committed to an asylum.
An examination of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 through to the present day.[Synopsis from the director, courtesy of Cannes Film Festival] : "The Time That Remains" is a semi biographic film, in four historic episodes, about a family--my family--spanning from 1948, until recent times. The film is inspired by my fatherâs diaries of his personal accounts, starting from when he was a resistant fighter in 1948, and by my motherâs letters to family members who were forced to leave the country since then. Combined with my intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained in their land and were labeled "Israeli-Arabs," living as a minority in their own homeland.
Robert Koch (German title: Robert Koch, der Bekämpfer des Todes) is a 1939 German historical drama film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Werner Krauss and Viktoria von Ballasko. The film was a biopic of the German pioneering microbiologist Robert Koch (1843-1910).
Silent film master D.W. Griffith's first talkie works as a companion piece to his classic BIRTH OF A NATION, providing a detailed biographical sketch of the 16th president. We see his birth in a log cabin, the tragic death of his first love, Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel), his debates with Douglas, his accepting of the presidency, the terrible toll of the Civil War, and finally the tragic assassination at Ford's Theater. Griffith shows his usual meticulous attention to period detail, and the framing of the various vignettes has the feel of historical photographs come to life. Walter Huston is excellent in the title role, with a portrayal that subtly evolves from laconic, wizened rascal to noble elder statesman. This is a fascinating, worthy film, and an interesting historical document in and of itself.
The picture opens in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in late 1988, when military trainees Petrovsky, Ryaba, Chugun, Stas, Pinochet, Lyutev and Vorobyev are whipped into shape at a training camp by the brutal, sadistic commander, Warrant Officer Dygalo - prior to being sent off to the front lines. After several one-by-one dalliances with the local whore, Snow White, and a cautionary lecture on the history, geography and culture of Afghanistan (which most of the men sleep through), the trainees head off to battle - first to the Bagram air base, then to the Afghani province of Khost to secure supply lines. But nothing can begin to prepare them for the brutal devastation into which they are plunged, or the relentless tide of slaughter that scatters thousands of Soviet victims in its wake.
The Celtic queen who shook the Roman Empire. Boudica is one of historyâs first and fiercest women warriors. Sickened by ceaseless war, the king of the Iceni accepts a treaty with the Romans in exchange for his tribeâs continued independence. But oppressively high taxes impoverish the tribe and soon the Romans want something more â slaves. Refusing to submit, the Romans, led by the greedy and psychotic Emperor Nero, move to crush the Iceni and control their lands. Drawing on the strength of her warriors, mystical druidic powers, and her own pain, Boudica unites the historically fractious tribes of Briton to unleash a stunning onslaught on the Roman colonial camps. The ferocity of Boudicaâs attacks will shake the foundations of the Roman empire and make her a legend.
A political thriller advancing the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare's plays; set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her.
Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.
King Richard the Lionhearted launches a crusade to preserve Christianity in Jerusalem.
Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.
Jews rise up in the Warsaw Ghetto against the Nazis in 1943.
One of the doyennes of Hungarian film deals with a dark period of national history: the Soviet regime in Hungary. She portrays it through the fate of the former prime minister and national hero, Imre Nagy. The script is based on the diary written by Imre Nagy, and the memories of his daughter, Erzsébet Nagy, as well as authentic documents and records.
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film which tells the true story of the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s.
Handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed.
The movie is about the great historical figure Vasil Levski. It follows three different plot lines: the relationship with his mother, Gina, the relationship with his loved one, Ana, and the plans for freeing Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. The movie starts in 1846 and follows Vasil Levski's whole life until his hanging in 1873.
Tarakanova is a 1930 French historical drama film directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Ãdith Jéhanne, Paule Andral and Olaf Fjord. It depicts the life of Princess Tarakanoff, the pretender to the throne of Catherine II in Eighteenth Century Russia.
June 14, 1941, 3 a.m. Over 40000 people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are deported by Soviets to Siberia. Among them is a philosophy student Erna, a happily married mother of a little girl. Separated from her husband Erna and her daughter are dispatched together with other women and children to remote Siberian territories. Despite hunger, fear and brutal humiliation Erna never in next fifteen years loses her sense of freedom and hope of returning to homeland. The story is inspired by real events.
The Nomad is a historical epic set in 18th-century Kazakhstan. The film is a fictionalised account of the youth and coming-of-age of Ablai Khan, as he grows and fights to defend the fortress at Hazrat-e Turkestan from Dzungar invaders.
After the death of his wife and his son, Michael, an intrepid Russian imperial army officer, lost the joy of living. His family has been the victim of an attack by the commander Ogareff Tartar troops, operating in the eastern DRC. When Tsar commissioned him to cross the dangerous mission across Siberia to restore communications troops sabotaged by Ogareff, the young officer does not hesitate to accept.
This 2004 version of the Arthurian legend is different from the traditional, as it is loosely based on the "Sarmatian hypothesis", formulated by C. Scott Littleton and Ann C. Thomas in 1978, which holds that the Arthurian legend has a historical nucleus in the Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops stationed in Britain, and that the Roman-British military commander Lucius Artorius Castus is the historical person behind the legend.
Allegheny Uprising is a 1939 film produced by RKO Pictures, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne as pioneers of early American expansion in south central Pennsylvania. Clad in buckskin and a coonskin cap (as he would be a decade later in The Fighting Kentuckian), Wayne plays real-life James Smith, an American coping with British rule in colonial America. The film is loosely based on a historical event known as the Black Boys Rebellion during the 1760s.
Based on a story by Jules Verne and featuring battle footage from a French film version of the tale, this epic action-adventure follows a courageous courier of the Czar Alexander II as he struggles to deliver vital information to Russian troops fighting a losing battle against the invading Tartar hoards in Siberia.
Ponner Sankar is based on historical novel written by Kalangir M. Karunanidhi. Story is about the two warriors, both are brothers named Ponner and Sankar living in Kongu Nadu (present day Coimbatore, Erode etc..). This is a historical movie and these two warriors are even worshipped today at most of the above mentioned part of Tamil Nadu.
Frank Latimore is cast as Balboa, the heroic Spanish explorer who discovers the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, he must pacify the wrath of his enemies and battle his way through a forest inhabited by savage natives. This one features some really nice battles, stunning ocean photography, and tolerable reconstruction of historic events.
United States has just acquired Louisiana from France. An expedition led by Lewis and Clark is sent to survey the territory and go where no white man has gone before. Are they able to overcome the dangers with the help of Sacajawea?
World War II is raging on the Eastern front but the soldier Nikanor has been sent to Siberia: bot as a prisoner, but as the leader of a motley group of entertainers who travel from village to village giving concerts. Still, Big Brother is watching and when the entertainers encounter a strange man in the woods there is trouble brewing. One of the performers falls in love with the mysterious backwoodsman, but the secret service is after him, too.
Three narrators (French writer Jean Martin, an English royal equerry, and a papal chamberlain) tell the story of seven matched pearls, four of them now in the British Crown.
The film version of a popular historical legend follows Prince Salim (Pradeep Kumar) through a passionate love affair with a beautiful, sassy commoner (Bina Rai).
Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film-the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate.
Three-part historical miniseries on the life of the founder of Islam.
When she learns she's in danger of losing her visa status and being deported, overbearing book editor Margaret Tate forces her put-upon assistant, Andrew Paxton, to marry her.
Goof and Hugo are flatmates in Amsterdam who have made a tidy sum from having sex with tourists, then robbing them. Their goal is to spend the money together on a world trip and their scam is going well until they meet Lara, originally from Siberia, whom Goof becomes besotted with (IMDB)
Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant, who falls in love with a young Russian officer, André, and spends the next 10 years perfecting the harvester and pursuing her love, who has been exiled to Siberia.
An anthropologist is brought to an arctic base when explorers discover the body of a prehistoric man who has been frozen in a block of ice for 40,000 years. After thawing the body to perform an autopsy, scientists discover to their amazement a real possibility to revive him and their attempt to resuscitate the "iceman" proves successful.
The real-life deportation of gangster Lucky Luciano was the inspiration for this romanticized and slightly crackbrained crime drama. Jeff Chandler plays the Luciano counterpart, who once he arrives in Italy renews his criminal activities.
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