Had they been contemporaries, one might be forgiven for thinking that Daryll F. Zanuck owed Woodrow Wilson quite a sum of money. The 28th President could hardly have written a more favourable biopic, had he penned it himself. Oscar nominated Alexander Knox is superbly cast, though, in this depiction of the rise of the academic, principled fellow to the White House. Insofar as history in concerned, however - it is pretty factually "loose", somewhat fanciful, and though an interesting assessment of America's leader during the latter stages of WWI - clearly a man of ideals and vision - the only thing it doesn't credit him with is the invention of the wheel. The production looks terrific. especially at the beginning when we are exposed to the hustings of his gubernatorial and then presidential campaigns, when the film is lively and energetic (assisted ably by Alfred Newman's score). Once ensconced in office, the pace slows to that of a snail in a bowl of treacle, and the melodrama of his rather tragic personal life ensures the story just becomes quite dull - more of a rose-tinted chronology. Brief interventions from Sir Cedric Hardwicke as arch-opponent Senator John Cabot Lodge help occasionally, but this is essentially a kindly, very long, retrospective on a man that is pretty much entirely intended for domestic, and sympathetic, consumption.
After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but now must beat Napoleon himself with an Anglo Allied army.
Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.
A fact-riddled behind-the-scenes drama about the stormy partnership of the famed comedy team that came out of burlesque to conquer radio, movies and television.
In Paris in full German occupation in 1942, a Jewish child Isaac escapes a raid organized by the SS. He then took refuge in the Great Mosque of Paris. The imam decides to protect him by passing him off as a Muslim, as well as the other Jewish children that he manages to free with the help of the resistance networks. The French militia and the Gestapo have suspicions... This fiction film is based on the true story of the rector of the Paris mosque, Si Kaddour Benghabrit, who saved several Jews from deportation during the Second World War.
Zubeidaa, an aspiring Muslim actress, marries a Hindu prince to become his second wife. Her tumultuous relationship with her husband, and her inner demons lead her to a decision which has fatal consequences for them all.
3-part biopic of Dante Alighieri made for Italian public television. Mixes reenacted scenes of Dante's public life with readings of his poems, expository narration, footage of modern-day Florence and images of old paintings and documents.
A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.
The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
In a decades-spanning biopic, brilliant mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. makes history in his field as schizophrenia sets in.