Kevin Brownlow

During the Crimean War between Britain and Russia in the 1850s, a British cavalry division, led by the overbearing Lord Cardigan, engages in an infamously reckless strategic debacle against a Russian artillery battery.

A despondent young woman travels home to the North of England.

World War II, 1940. When the Nazi hordes invade and occupy Great Britain, the English citizens are soon divided between those who choose to submissively collaborate and those who are willing to fight.

An original documentary from Turner Classic Movies, Garbo offers an intimate look at the life and career of the movies' most luminous, reclusive and mystifying star. A portrait of Garbo the woman is drawn through interviews with biographers and admirers, plus many of the friends, relatives and associates who came closest to penetrating the lonely star's veil of solitude.

It's New Year's Eve in Thatcher's de-industrialising Britain. The scene is set at a seedy bar in Liverpool where a group of Irish Protestant and Irish Catholic pensioners will gather to clash and bash the new year in.

Documentary about the legendary American film director from his introduction to the film industry in its early years to his death in 1959.

Lon Chaney, the silent movie star and makeup artist, renowned for his various characterizations and celebrated for his horror films, becomes the subject of this documentary.

Composed of three shorts – Ride of the Valkyrie, The White Bus, and Red and Blue – from three of Britain’s most-celebrated directors - Lindsay Anderson, Peter Brook, and Tony Richardson. Comic legend Zero Mostel stars as an opera singer (in full costume) navigating the London transport network as he attempts to reach Covent Garden in 'Ride of the Valkyrie'. Scripted by Shelagh Delaney, 'The White Bus' blends realism, drama, and poetry as a despondent young woman travels home to the North of England. And Vanessa Redgrave stars in Tony Richardson’s romantic reverie and musical featurette 'Red and Blue'. Produced in 1967, but ultimately shelved.

A documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 1940s.

Documentary presenting Alan Parker’s view of British cinema with comments from Richard Lester and others and location report from King’s Lynn on the making of Hugh Hudson’s Revolution, starring Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, and Nastassja Kinski.

Loïe Fuller, stage name of Marie Louise Fuller: the American actress and dancer trained in burlesque, circuses and variety shows who, in the 1890s, signed by the Folies Bergère of Paris, became a star. She was portrayed by Toulouse-Lautrec, loved by the symbolists, the inspiration for Art Nouveau, in her shows she combined dance, spirals of fabric and light, reflected from behind or from below through the glass floor that she had created. She transformed into the "Fairy of Light", was taken up (especially in her Serpentine Dance) by Georges Méliès and Alice Guy and influenced René Clair's early films.

A film about the career and methods of the master silent comedy filmmaker.

This documentary explores the incredible life of Merian C. Cooper, from his time as a soldier and pilot in three different wars, to his exploits in Hollywood, as a director, producer and cinematic innovator.

Gerrard Winstanley is the leader of a 17th Century religious group that believes the land should be owned communally. His convictions bring him into conflict with both the state and the church.

A look at the parallel lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler and how they crossed with the creation of the film “The Great Dictator,” released in 1940.

Part of the "American Masters" series; this documentary shows the career of filmmaking pioneer D.W. Griffith

The life of an old man, John Cartner Ronson, living alone in a huge block of flats in London since his wife died nine years earlier.

A documentary looking at the life, films, and troubled times of America's first sex symbol, screen actress Clara Bow, featuring interviews and archive footage. It takes a look at why she is considered the 'Lost Screen Goddess'.

A Turner Classic Movies (TCM) documentary about Keaton's discontented relationship with MGM and the events that eventually led to his career downfall.

Travelogue of two film historians Nikolay Izvolov and Sergey Kapterev who visit world film archives around the globe in search of a lost sound version of one famous Soviet cartoon. It's "The Post" made by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky in 1929 and based on a poem by Samuil Marshak. At first "The Post" has been released in a silent form and later Tsekhanovsky remade it with experimental music and narration by Daniil Kharms. At that moment it was the first Soviet sound cartoon and it was a success all over the world. Russian film studies consider "The Post" to be of great importance and artistic value but unfortunately it's still lost. Only the silent version and the 1964 remake are still known and available.

Film editing initially began as a woman's art in France. As veteran film editor, Dede Allen, tell it, "They thought that women were good at little details, like sewing." Before editing became a craft, women were the earliest technicians. Today, the long tradition of women editors carries on.

The tram system of Glasgow and the last weekend of the service.

BBC documentary on the long and flamboyant career of French filmmaker Abel Gance.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at the basic features of detergency using animated diagrams and live action photography.

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture.

A documentary series examining the film making methods and techniques of Charles Chaplin. Featuring previously unseen footage from Chaplin's private film archive.

A series about the life, career and works of the movie comedy genius.

The origin of European cinema, from its infancy as a novelty created by French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumière to its flourishing as the pinnacle of film-making in the silent era and as a serious commercial contender against America.