Popular History Movies on Free Services - Page 38

The Rise of Catherine the Great

1934

The Rise of Catherine the Great

1934
5.9
The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments of contentment, Peter's cruel and erratic behavior causes a rift between him and Catherine. Mere months after Peter succeeds his aunt as the ruler of Russia, a revolt is brewing, and Catherine is poised to ascend to the throne as the country's new empress.
Fidel: The Untold Story

2001

Fidel: The Untold Story

2001
6.7
Documentary about Fidel Castro, covering 40 years of Cuban Revolution. Rare Fidel Castro footage: he appears swimming with a bodyguard, visiting his childhood home and school, playing with his friend Nelson Mandela, meeting kid Elián Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with the Buena Vista Social Club group.
Report from the Aleutians

1943

Report from the Aleutians

1943
5.7
A documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The Women of Brewster Place

1989

The Women of Brewster Place

1989
6.9
A multigenerational story of the lives of several black women who call an inner-city tenement home.
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer

1975

Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer

1975
7.2
Thom Andersen's remarkable and sadly neglected hour-long documentary adroitly combines biography, history, film theory, and philosophical reflection. Muybridge's photographic studies of animal locomotion in the 1870s were a major forerunner of movies; even more interesting are his subsequent studies of diverse people, photographed against neutral backgrounds.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

1989

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

1989
7.2
On the eve of 1987's Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, surviving families and friends of people who have died of AIDS prepare panels to be added to a large-scale memorial quilt project. Drawing from the sea of names memorialized, director Robert Epstein focuses on the lives of six people. Alongside the intimate profiles offered, through news footage and interviews, Epstein puts the AIDS crisis in the larger context of social and government response to the disease.
Like the Clouds, Like the Wind

1990

Like the Clouds, Like the Wind

1990
6.8
Ginga is a simple—yet energetic—country girl, living with her father far from the capital city of the empire in ancient China. When she learns of an opportunity to become a concubine of the young new Emperor, with the possibility of becoming his head wife in charge of all of the other wives, Ginga convinces her father to let her go. Once there, she meets all of the other potential head wives, each of whom have various reasons for being there. All of them must learn to read and write, learn the history of their country, and learn the proper mannerisms for being in the royal court. Ginga's enthusiasm tends to get her in trouble more often than not, but it works to her advantage when they learn that the former emperor's head wife, who is not the mother of the current emperor, is plotting treachery against the new emperor, and that a rebellion is headed toward the capital.
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band

2020

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band

2020
6.8
A confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robbie Robertson's young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band.
Bisbee '17

2018

Bisbee '17

2018
7
It’s 2017 in Bisbee, Arizona, an old copper-mining town just miles from the Mexican border. The town’s close-knit community prepares to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bisbee’s darkest hour: the infamous Bisbee Deportation of 1917, during which 1,200 striking miners were violently taken from their homes, banished to the middle of the desert, and left to die. Townspeople confront this violent, misunderstood past by staging dramatic recreations of the escalating strike. These dramatized scenes are based on subjective versions of the story and “directed,” in a sense, by residents with conflicting views of the event. Deeply personal segments torn from family history build toward a massive restaging of the deportation itself on the exact day of its 100th anniversary.
Alive and Kicking

2017

Alive and Kicking

2017
6.9
Alive and Kicking gives the audience an intimate, insider’s view into the culture of the current swing dance world while shedding light on issues facing modern American society.
German Concentration Camps Factual Survey

2017

German Concentration Camps Factual Survey

2017
7.3
On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).
Chicago 10

2008

Chicago 10

2008
6
Archival footage, animation and music are used to look back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
The Avenger

1962

The Avenger

1962
6.6
Aeneas leads escapees from the Trojan war to new land in Italy, and must deal with new threats to his people.
Constantine and the Cross

1961

Constantine and the Cross

1961
4.8
Constantine is fighting against Barbarians with his father when he is called to Rome. In his way to Rome, he falls in an ambush planned by Maxence, who wants to become emperor.
David and Goliath

1960

David and Goliath

1960
3.6
When the Philistines attack, the Israelites are hopeless against the fierce giant Goliath and don't know what to do. King Saul takes the advice of the prophets and sends an adolescent shepherd, David, into battle to conquer the oversized Philistine. David is victorious and becomes the King of Israel.
The Adventures of Werner Holt

1965

The Adventures of Werner Holt

1965
7.8
Two 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier; but at the front, Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war.
Genocide

1982

Genocide

1982
7.4
The mass murder of Jewish people by the Nazi regime is chronicled, with a warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise and the events of the Holocaust could happen again. The history of European Jewish culture and events before and during the Holocaust are seen in newsreels, photographs, and animated segments. The words of the victims of the era are read, and footage from the liberation os a concentration camp is shown.
Legend of a Fighter

1982

Legend of a Fighter

1982
6.3
This is a powerful, yet fictionalized life story of Huo Yuan Chia, a real kung fu master in Southern China who brought respect to the populace and allowed kung fu to be taught to all Chinese during a time of revolt and low morale in the country's history.
Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro

2016

Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro

2016
7.3
The remarkable story of WWII infantryman and photographer Tony Vaccaro, who created one of the most comprehensive, haunting and intimate photographic records of the war using a smuggled $47 camera while developing the negatives in his helmet at night.
Escape from Germany

2024

Escape from Germany

2024
4.6
1939, Hitler's army was closing borders, and 85 American missionaries were in Germany serving their church. The escape of these missionaries from Nazi Germany is one of the most dramatic events to occur in modern LDS history.