Two young directors adapted the short stories of two Russian authors whose works had been banned for decades, and so their film ended up in the censor’s vault as well – for twenty years. Both tales look back to the post-revolutionary era: 'Angel' (Olesha) speaks tragically of the brutality and destruction of the time, and 'The Homeland of Electricity' (Platonov) captures its haunting grotesquery.
After the end of WW2 a blonde boy arrives at an orphanage made for the children of Partizans or people being killed in the war. The headmaster knows that the boy's parents were Nazis but conceals that fact from others, fearing violence by vengeful children. He invents the boy's life story, but the other children get suspicious.
This is a movie about a local resistance group and its leader Gunvald Tomstad, in the southern part of Norway. Gunvald takes on a heavy burden as he pretends to be a devoted Hitlerjugend-leader and soon he becomes a trusted friend of the German occupants.
In December of 1944, Lionel Evans, an internationally renowned American conductor, is on a USO tour with his 70-piece symphony orchestra in newly-liberated Belgium. While fleeing from a German counterattack, Evans and his orchestra members are captured by a Panzer division and taken to an old chateau in Luxembourg. Despite orders to execute every prisoner, General Schiller, an avid music lover, commands Evans to give a private concert for him.
A portrait of the era of "Red Terror" during the civil war that followed the Bolshevik revolution, The Seventh Companion offers a character study in General Adamov (Andrei Popov), a law professor in the tsarist army, who is incarcerated by the Bolshevik secret police along with many other members of the bourgeoisie. Finally released into the new world of the Soviet Union, the resigned officer finds that he has lost everything from his old life except a mantel clock that he carries through the night from place to place, until he ends up back where he started.
During the Battle of the Bulge, word goes out to watch for German soldiers dressed as GIs. That's when black sergeant Chris Christiansen begins wondering if the GI who befriended him is really a friend--or the enemy.
A hidden gem produced at the height of the Hong Kong left-wing cinema. The Japanese army wants to force resistance leader Cheung (Bow Fong) to appear by capturing his family. Cheung's wife dies and, despite the protection by the nurse Yeung (Chu Hung) and other villagers, Cheung's daughter is captured. In the end Cheung's subordinate Lee Fu (Jiang Han) regroups with the resistance and saves the day, defeating the enemy and rescuing everyone. This film clearly references wartime productions in the mainland of China, with elements such as the Japanese taking hostages, resistance guerilla fighters, and the contrast between ‘heroes' and ‘villains' made obvious through camerawork and make-up designs. Street scenes shot in Macau merge seamlessly with studio scenes to recreate northern Chinese towns. War epics were not a strong suit of Hong Kong cinema. This film takes inspirations from Euro-American spy films and pays attention to character development and the mise-en-scène.
An episode from the war in 1806 when a small troop of Prussian soldiers digs in at a mill in order to defend itself against the overwhelming advance of the French army.
A U.S. army officer, the military governor of an Italian town during World War II, tries to reintroduce democracy, but his efforts are hindered by his commanding general. Placing his career in jeopardy, the governor decides to replace the town's bell, which had been looted by the Fascists.
The events unfold during the years of the Civil War. Commissar Fadeytsev once spared the life of a White officer, Chugureyev. Now, in the days of the counter-revolutionary uprising, Chugureyev, sent by his command to a remote island, encounters Fadeytsev, who is hiding in the house of a gamekeeper named Maksim. The gamekeeper is sentenced to hang, and the sentence is carried out. Fadeytsev manages to escape captivity, but being on an island, he knows full well that he won’t get far from the enemy...
As Moscow is set ablaze by the retreating Russians, the Rostovs flee their estate, taking wounded soldiers with them, and unbeknownst to them, also Andrei. Pierre, dressed as a peasant, tries to assassinate Napoleon but is taken prisoner. As the French are forced to retreat, he's marched for months with the Grande Armée, until being freed by a raiding party. Part four of the four-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel.