Discovering Sci Fi on Film

From the Classic Movie Docs library- Discovering, celebrates the lives of those who soared the highest. From Marlon Brando to Elizabeth Taylor, we uncover what drove them and why the world loved them. This episode focuses on Jean Harlow.

One of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, von Sydow is best known for his long creative partnership with director Ingmar Bergman, whose psychologically probing dramas—including their most famous collaboration, THE SEVENTH SEAL—gave the actor freedom to bare his soul and showcase his unfailingly commanding screen presence. In addition to the string of masterpieces he made with the Swedish auteur, von Sydow embodied a wide range of characters in films by art-house titans such as Jan Troell, Lars von Trier, and Wim Wenders, leaving behind a body of work that spans more than six decades and a dozen different countries. He appeared in more than one hundred and fifty films and television series in multiple languages. Max von Sydow received his French citizenship in 2002 and lived in France for the last two decades of his life.

Chronicles of the lives of Hollywood's biggest stars.

The Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the May events in France, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Prague Spring, the Chicago riots, the Mexico Summer Olympics, the presidential election of Richard Nixon, the Apollo 8 space mission, the hippies and the Yippies, Bullitt and the living dead. Once upon a time the year 1968.

Always the epitome of style, Audrey Hepburn fittingly started out as a model before being spotted by a movie producer. Her first major film, Roman Holiday, won her an Academy Award for Best Actress and catapulted her to stardom. Further performances in Funny Face and Sabrina Fair confirmed her status as one of the most adored actresses around. But it was when she donned a Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's that Audrey Hepburn became an enduring style icon, her name synonymous with playful decadence and grace.

Journey into "Hamlet"-the play and the man-through the experiences of some of the major actors and directors who have brought Shakespeare's great tragedy to life. Christopher Plummer, David Tennant, John Nettles, John Simm, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, Philip Saville, and others explore the enduring appeal of the Prince of Denmark more than 400 years after his stage debut.

Ian Nathan explores the many layers of the world of filmmaking, discussing each episode with filmmakers, cultural commentators, historians, authors and critics; what defines these stories, how they came to be, and who were the creative forces behind them.

The Vietnam War, a series about the Vietnam war.

The Soviet Union was officially formed in 1922, a country, a political experiment, an ideal, a great scar across history. Officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR was a one-party state, governed, controlled, and tormented by a single party rule. That of the Communist Party. Complicated, contradictory figureheads would come and go, men who held this impossible country it seemed by sheer will. Stalin the despot-hero whose cruelty knew few bounds who united a nation to defeat Hitler. Khrushchev the crafty libertarian, who preached reform yet allowed an arms race to escalate. Brezhnev, that unreadable member to the old guard, sending history backwards. And of course Gorbachev, who brought vast change, modernisation, and détente, yet saw the Soviet Union collapse under his rule – the untenable nation. The 20th century was shaped by its convulsions, its purges, its wars, and its leaders.

In 1967 an expressive, colourful musical force painted a backdrop of social change, fashion, love, turmoil and war. The world remembers the Summer of Love in 1967 as one of those moments when a unique and creative explosion of music and popular culture arrived in the UK and USA.

Commemorates 100 years since the release of the German classic, Nosferatu, by FW Murnau, and explores the general fascination of Count Dracula, a figure who resonates with audiences across the literary, art, mythological and historical worlds.

This film explores the era, life and work of William Shakespeare, including his famous lost years and the ways in which his legacy endures today.

Four kings from the House of Stuart sat on the English throne from 1603 to 1688. It was a time of great religious struggle and political instability. The Gunpowder Plot nearly wiped out King James I. The Thirty Years War broke out on the continent. A civil war erupted which led to the public beheading of King Charles I and the birth of a commonwealth headed by Oliver Cromwell. London was ravaged by the plague and the Great Fire of London. Throughout this series we look at the reign of the Stuarts through the powerful Wynn family at Gwydir Castle in North Wales, one of the best time capsules from that era. The story of the Wynn family reflects the turbulent history of this Stuart era. They had close connections with this new royal house and their status would rise and fall with the successes and failures of Stuart rule.

Docuseries that presents the story of June 6th, 1944 in an original and revelatory way.

For this inform­at­ive new one-off, film writer Ian Nathan focuses on the first 60 years of British film, from the inven­tion of cinema and the trans­ition from stage to screen, to the emer­gence of the stu­dios and the first pop­u­lar idols. Nathan takes us through the work of lead­ing Brit­ish film-makers — a tal­ent pool that, like Hol­ly­wood’s, benefited from the influx of refugees flee­ing Europe — includ­ing Alfred Hitch­cock, Pow­ell and Press­bur­ger, and many more besides.