During the Second World War, a special project is begun by the US Army Air Corps to integrate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. Known as the "Tuskegee Airman" for the name of the airbase at which they were trained, these men were forced to constantly endure harassement, prejudice, and much behind the scenes politics until at last they were able to prove themselves in combat.
The true story of technical troubles that scuttle the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew, with the failed journey turning into a thrilling saga of heroism. Drifting more than 200,000 miles from Earth, the astronauts work furiously with the ground crew to avert tragedy.
Over the course of two centuries, seven million men, women and children abandoned their homeland for America's shores. In just one horrifying decade, two million left to escape a famine that left another million dead. This is the moving chronicle of the Irish immigrant experience.
Painter Dora Carrington develops an intimate but extremely complex bond with writer Lytton Strachey. Though Lytton is a homosexual, he is enchanted by the mysterious Dora and they begin a lifelong friendship that has strangely romantic undertones. Eventually, Lytton and Dora decide to live together, despite the fact that the latter has fallen in love with military man Ralph Partridge, whom she plans to marry.
Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.
Riyo, an orphaned 17-year old, sails from Yokohama to Hawaii in 1918 to marry Matsuji, a man she has never met. Hoping to escape a troubled past and start anew, Riyo is bitterly disappointed upon her arrival: her husband is twice her age. The miserable girl finds solace with her new friend Kana, a young mother who helps Riyo accept her new life.
"The End of the Line - Rochester's Subway" tells the little-known story of the rail line that operated in a former section of the Erie Canal from 1927 until its abandonment in 1956. Produced in 1994 by filmmakers Fredrick Armstrong and James P. Harte, the forty-five minute documentary recounts the tale of an American city's bumpy ride through the Twentieth Century, from the perspective of a little engine that could, but didn't. The film has since been rereleased (2005) and now contains the main feature with special portions that were added as part of the rereleased version. These include a look at the only surviving subway car from the lines and a Phantom tun through the tunnels in their abandoned state, among others, for a total of 90 minutes of unique and well preserved historical information.
In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honour.
Union soldiers in search of food descend on the farm of a Confederate family and decide to stay until one in their ranks' wounds have healed. While the war weary Union captain falls for the mother of the family - whose husband is off fighting for the rebels - her son plots revenge on the dirty, double-dealing Yankees.
His wife having recently died, Thomas Jefferson accepts the post of United States ambassador to pre-revolutionary France, though he finds it difficult to adjust to life in a country where the aristocracy subjugates an increasingly restless peasantry. In Paris, he becomes smitten with cultured artist Maria Cosway, but, when his daughter visits from Virginia accompanied by her attractive slave, Sally Hemings, Jefferson's attentions are diverted.
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon narrates this educational installment of the popular "American Experience" series as it examines the 72-year struggle for a woman's right to vote. Segments focus on influential figures in the women's suffrage movement, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul; the country's widespread fear of social revolution; and the U.S. Senate's passage of the 19th Amendment by a single vote.
The Victorian era was one of the most remarkable periods of British history; it saw the Industrial Revolution, the birth of an empire and advances in medicine, transport and education. It was also a time when harsh working conditions and desperate poverty blighted the majority of the population, conjuring images of the orphan boy Oliver Twist. This DVD uses dramatised readings, expert analysis and extensive period imagery to present a view of a time when the British Empire was at its zenith but also when conditions for the vast populace were perhaps at their lowest.
The story of the NHL's early years, focusing on the battle between the players, led by Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay, and the owners, over issues of benefits, pensions and the like.
Aging King George III of England is exhibiting signs of madness, a problem little understood in 1788. As the monarch alternates between bouts of confusion and near-violent outbursts of temper, his hapless doctors attempt the ineffectual cures of the day. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger attempt to prevent the king's political enemies, led by the Prince of Wales, from usurping the throne.
Squanto is a high-born Indian warrior from a tribe on the Atlantic coast of North America which devotes its life to hunting and rivalry with a neighboring tribe. Everything changes forever after a ship arrives from England, prospecting the region's commercial potential for the rich Sir George, who uses all his wealth and influence only for ever greater profit. When it returns, several Indians find themselves captives on board, including Squanto. The arrogant Christians consider themselves utterly superior to the 'heathen savages' and treat them as brutally as they do beasts. Squanto fights a bear in a circus, not understanding how men can be so cruel to that creature either, and manages a spectacular escape, but where must he go? He finds shelter and help in a rural monastery, where it takes his protector some effort to prevent the others considering the unknown as diabolical. In time sir George's men come looking for him most brutally...
The Visual Bible: Acts is a 1994 film that depicts the events of Book of Acts from the Bible's New Testament. All of the dialogue is word-for-word Scripture, taken directly from the New International Version of the Bible.
The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.