When six-year-old Ruby Bridges is chosen to be the first African-American to integrate her local elementary school, she is subjected to the true ugliness of racism for the first time.
In 1427, Lady Maria Van Arnstein is informed that her beloved husband Michel Van Arnstein was murdered in a battle against the Hussitas. However he was actually betrayed by his ambitious cousin Hettenhein that wants his lands and castle. The Pope's Great Inquisitor Janus Suppertour meets King König Sigismund and tells that he wants Maria for him.
A movie about the power of thousands, the courage of hundreds and friendship of a few, thanks to whom a change of fate of millions became possible. Poland, lower Silesia, the beginning of a very cold winter 1981. After a series of entrapments by the security service a confrontation between the opposition and the communists seems to be inevitable. Just before the proclamation of martial law a group of young solidarity activists decide to play va banque and organize a rash action to take out 80 million of the union money from one of the Wroclaw’s banks before the account is blocked. Security service officers follow their steps. It’s the beginning of a gripping tournament in which also priests and curb dealers will play their parts. Each side has aces up their sleeve.
Based on the novel by Bernard Cornwell, "Sharpe's Waterloo" brings maverick British officer Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe to his last fight against the French, in June of 1815.
Told his battalion is to be split up due to lack of recruits at home, Sharpe and Harper return to England to investigate. What should have been a simple query turns politically explosive as they come nearer to exposing profiteering on the home front that could jeopardize the Wellington's war.
Spain, 1808. The Napoleonic Army suffers its first defeat at the hands of a single man: a drummer boy who used the Montserrat mountains to echo his drums and send the enemy troops into a panicked retreat. When the news reaches Napoleon, he furiously orders the captain of the Imperial Guard to bring back the head of the young hero responsible for his army's defeat…
Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are followed in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date. A huge cast plays mainly historical persons who appear briefly.
Three naval cadets accidentally get possession of a secret diary that was stolen from Bestuzhev, a vice-chancellor of Russia. If this diary ever gets abroad, the consequences for the country would be grave. The cadets are trying to return the papers to their owner, but there are others who want to get the papers...
South western Pennsylvania area of colonial America, 1760s. Colonial distaste and disapproval of the British government is starting to surface. Many local colonists have been killed by American Indians who are armed with rifles supplied by white traders.
McCord's gang robs the stage carrying money to pay Indians for their land, and the notorious outlaw "The Oklahoma Kid" Jim Kincaid takes the money from McCord. McCord stakes a "sooner" claim on land which is to be used for a new town; in exchange for giving it up, he gets control of gambling and saloons. When Kincaid's father runs for mayor, McCord incites a mob to lynch the old man whom McCord has already framed for murder.
King Henry II keeps his wife Eleanor locked away in the towers because of her frequent attempts to overthrow him. With Eleanor out of the way he can have his dalliances with his young mistress. Needless to say the queen is not pleased, although she still has affection for the king. Working through her sons, she plots the king's demise and the rise of her second and preferred son, Richard, to the throne. The youngest, John, is an overweight buffoon and the only one holding his father's affection is the king's choice after the death of his first son, young Henry. But John is also overly eager for power and is willing to plot his father's demise with middle brother Geoffrey and the young king of France, Phillip. Geoffrey sees his younger brother's weakness and sees that route as his path to power. Political and court intrigue ensues.
Phar Lap, the big bold chestnut reigned as the king of the turf in the depression that gripped Australia of the 1930s. From his humble beginnings the New Zealand bred horse raced on to become the hero of a nation.
Diane is a sophisticated trainee on the New York Stock Exchange who is suddenly kidnapped and held captive in a North African desert hideaway by Selim, an Arab mogul.
World War II was not just the most destructive conflict in humanity, it was also the greatest theft in history: lives, families, communities, property, culture and heritage were all stolen. The story of Nazi Germany's plundering of Europe's great works of art during World War II and Allied efforts to minimize the damage.
Europe, 1709. Russia and Sweden are at war. Two French duelists are exiled by King Louis XIV of France: one to the side of Czar Peter the Great of Russia, the other to the side of King Charles XII of Sweden. Although separated by war and allegiance, fate has not finished with them.