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Tower of Lust
🇫🇷 France The 14th CenturyFrance, the beginning of the XIV century. Every night, Queen Margaret of Burgundy and her two sisters arrange orgies, to which beautiful nobles are invited. The young men were brought blindfolded, and after a night of love they were killed and their corpses thrown into the river, because the queen was afraid that her husband would learn about her adventures. One of her lovers managed to escape death. He knows the secrets of the queen, knows that she once gave birth to a son from him, claims that he has evidence that Margarita wanted to kill her father and blackmails her.
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Princess Yang Kwei Fei
🇨🇳 China The 8th CenturyIn eighth century China, the Emperor is grieving over the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their influence over the court. General An Lushan finds a distant relative working in their kitchen whom they groom to present to the Emperor. The Emperor falls in love with her and she becomes the Princess Yang Kwei-fei. The Yangs are then appointed important ministers, though An Lushan is not given the court position he covets. The ministers misuse their power so much that there is a popular revolt against the Yangs, fueled by An Lushan.
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The Far Horizons
Oregon Montana North Dakota Iowa Nebraska Missouri The 1800sVirginia, 1803. After the United States of America acquires the inmense Louisiana territory from France, a great expedition, led by William Lewis and Meriwether Clark, is sent to survey the new lands and go where no white man has gone before.
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Lady Godiva of Coventry
The 11th CenturyFictionalized account of events leading up the famous nude ride (alas, her hair covers everything) of the militant Saxon lady.
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Captain Lightfoot
🇮🇪 Ireland The 1810sAn unforgettably beautiful love story — A boggy swashbuckler of Irish freedom-fighter Michael Martin.
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That Lady
The 16th CenturyAna, the Princess of Eboli, wears a black patch over her right eye, where she was blinded as a youth when fighting a duel in defense of her king, the despotic Philip. Thereafter she and the monarch were close friends, although his passion for her was never consummated. She marries one of Philip's ministers, bore him a son, and soon became a widow. Now Philip calls upon her to assist in coaching a commoner, Antonio Perez, for the office of first secretary to the crown.The result is more than Philip bargained for as Ana and Antonio become lovers and create a scandal in court, always the scene of perpetual intrigue. Philip has Antonio arrested on a drummed-up charge of murder, and when Ana refuses to leave Madrid, she too is arrested. After spending time in jail, she is transferred to her home and held in check. Antonio escapes and makes his way to Ana, who persuades him to leave the country and take her son.
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Jan Hus
The 15th CenturyJan Hus is a 1954 Czechoslovak film directed by Otakar Vávra. It is the first part of the "Hussite Revolutionary Trilogy", one of the most famous works of the Czechoslovak director, completed with Jan Žižka (1955) and Proti všem (Against All Odds, 1957).
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Heroes of Shipka
🇧🇬 Bulgaria The 1870sHeroes of Shipka was the first solo effort for Soviet director Sergei Vasilyev, who had previously collaborated with his late brother Georgi. As head of the Leningrad Film Studios, Vasilyev was obliged to traffic in propaganda, but he never forgot how to make his material entertaining. The film is set in 1887 during the pivotal battle between the Russians and the Turks at the Shipka Pass. Stressing the solidarity of the Soviet states, tribute is paid to the courageous Bulgarian volunteers who helped the Russians fend off their mutual enemy. American critics were impressed by Heroes of Shipka, but felt that the film would have been twice as effective had it been lensed in Cinemascope rather than "standard aspect."
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The Plot to Assassinate Hitler
🇩🇪 Germany The 1940sA disillusioned Wehrmacht officer named Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.
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The Scarlet Coat
New York The 18th CenturyBehind the story of Benedict Arnold were secrets until recently unknown — A Colonial major (Cornel Wilde) turns traitor to catch a British spy (Michael Wilding) plotting with Benedict Arnold.
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Hanussen
🇩🇪 Germany The 1930sIn Germany during World War II, a well-known psychic decides to collaborate with the Nazis.
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Sarajewo
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina The 1910s -
Salt of the Earth
New MexicoBased on an actual strike against the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico, the film deals with the prejudice against the Mexican-American workers, who struck to attain wage parity with Anglo workers in other mines and to be treated with dignity by the bosses.
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Senso
🇮🇹 Italy The 1860sA troubled and neurotic Italian Countess betrays her entire country for a self-destructive love affair with an Austrian Lieutenant.
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Beau Brummell
England The 1810sSoldier, poet, adventurer, rogue, gambler, lover ! — Lavishly told story of George Bryan Brummel, a commoner born in the era of Napoleon who uses wit, brilliance and sartorial flair to align himself with the future King George IV. Lush settings in authentic locations and Taylor in Regency …
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The Story of Vickie
England The 1830sVickie, short for Victoria, is crowned Queen of England and as such needs to learn the responsibilities of her new post.
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King Richard and the Crusaders
The 12th CenturyBased on Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman, this is the story of the romantic adventures of Christians and Muslims during the battle for the Holy Land in the time of King Richard the Lionheart.
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The Silver Chalice
🇮🇹 Italy 🇮🇱 Israel The 1st CenturyI bid you seek the lost silver cup... for sin is rising like the swollen rivers... — A Greek artisan is commissioned to cast the cup of Christ in silver and sculpt around its rim the faces of the disciples and Jesus himself. He travels to Jerusalem and eventually to Rome to complete the task. Meanwhile, a nefarious interloper is trying to convince the crowds that he is the new Messiah by using nothing more than cheap parlor tricks.
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Royal Affairs in Versailles
🇫🇷 France The 18th CenturyThe history of the palace of Versailles from it's founding to the present. — 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.
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Joan of Arc at the Stake
The 15th CenturyGiovanna d'Arco al rogo (English: Joan of Arc at the Stake) is a 1954 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman, which shows a live performance on December 1953 at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. The film takes place mostly in a surrealistic fantasy around the time of the execution of Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc, played by Ingrid Bergman, is being burned alive for heresy. In a kind of dream state, she departs from her body and begins to look back upon her life. She begins this journey in a depressed and demoralized state. However, a priest appears to help guide her. First, he shows her those that accused her in the guise of animal characters, in order to show her their true nature. Then, he shows her the good that she has performed for people. In the end, she is proud of what she has done and is ready to face the flames.
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Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse
🇩🇪 Germany The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910sFirst of two propaganda films about German communist leader Ernst Thälmann that follows him from the Western Front in 1918 through the Hamburg Uprising of 1923.
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Sign of the Pagan
🇮🇹 Italy The 5th CenturyThe Story of Attila the Hun! — Roman centurion Marcian is captured by Attila the Hun en route to Constantinople, but escapes. On arrival, he finds the eastern Roman emperor Theodosius plotting with Attila to look the other way while the latter marches against Rome. But Marcian gains the favor of Pulcheria, lovely sister of Theodosius, who favors a united Empire.
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The Life of Surgeon Sauerbruch
🇩🇪 Germany The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910s The 1900sAfter the autobiography of the famous surgeon. — Young Olga Ahrendt almost succeeded in attempting suicide. She had thrown herself in front of a tram out of desperation about her miserable life, a desperation she shared with many in the post-war period. Fortunately, Privy Councillor Sauerbruch is at the scene of the incident, ordering her to be admitted to his clinic after a brief examination. Sauerbruch works both as a university lecturer and as a surgeon, a famous doctor who not only helps his patients physically but also gives them spiritual comfort. After he has taken Olga Ahrendt to his hospital, he discovers during an examination that her suicide attempt is due to a serious physical illness. He intensively takes care of her without forgetting about his other patients, to whom he can give a new will to live, even if only through a small story. And he will also treat Olga Ahrendt successfully...
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The Contessa's Secret
The 1850sThe lover of an Italian revolutionary offers herself to Napoleon in exchange for her sweetheart's life.
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John Wesley
England The 18th CenturyWhen young John Wesley is saved from the flames burning his family's home, he believes God has chosen him for a higher mission. He grows up to become a minister in the Church of England but disapproves of concern within the church over the social position of the clergy. He concerns himself more with the common people and with individual religious experiences. He tries to accomplish his purposes by remaining within the church but the methodical way in which he and his followers go about their duties soon sets them apart as a special group jeeringly called Methodists.
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The Frigid Sea
The 18th CenturySeveral commercial fishermen were attacked by sea pirates and were forced to spend more than one year on a desert island. Many considered them dead - but almost all of them managed to survive ...
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Julius Caesar
🇮🇹 Italy The 1st Century BCMGM's acclaimed production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. — The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for the idealist and the republic.
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The Robe
🇮🇹 ItalyThe first motion picture in CinemaScope--the modern miracle you see without glasses! — Marcellus is a tribune in the time of Christ. He is in charge of the group that is assigned to crucify Jesus. Drunk, he wins Jesus' homespun robe after the crucifixion. He is tormented by nightmares and delusions after the event. Hoping to find a way to live with what he has done, and still not believing in Jesus, he returns to Palestine to try and learn what he can of the man he killed.
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Houdini
The 1920s The 1910s The 1900s The 1890sHis feats of magic were GREAT! The magic of their love was GREATER! — By the early 1900s, the extraordinary Houdini earned an international reputation for his theatrical tricks and daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, handcuffs and... Scotland Yard's jails.
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Gate of Hell
🇯🇵 Japan The 12th CenturyThe most honored screen import in a decade! — Japan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.
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Young Bess
England The 16th CenturyA Great and Spectacular Drama! — The mother died under the executioner's axe; the daughter rose to become England's greatest monarch -- the brilliant and cunning Queen Elizabeth I. Jean Simmons portrays young Bess in this rich tapestry of a film that traces the tumultuous, danger-fraught years from Elizabeth's birth to her unexpected ascension to the throne at a mere 25. Charles Laughton reprises his Academy Award®-winning* role as her formidable father Henry VIII. Deborah Kerr plays her last stepmother (and Henry's last of six wives), gentle Catherine Parr. And Simmons' then real-life husband, Stewart Granger, adds heroics as Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour. In a resplendent world of adventure, romance and court intrigue, Young Bess reigns.
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The Sword and the Rose
🇫🇷 France The 16th CenturyA Forbidden Love That Threatened Two Kingdoms! — Tells the story of Mary Tudor and her troubled path to true love. Henry VIII, for political reasons, determines to wed her to the King of France. She tries to flee to America with her love but is captured when she is "un-hatted" on board ship. In return for her consent to the marriage with France, Henry agrees to let her choose her second husband. When King Louis of France dies, Mary is kidnaped by the Duke of Buckingham. He tries to force her to marry him but she is rescued by her love in an exciting battle on the beach.
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Malta Story
🇲🇹 Malta The 1940sIn 1942 Britain was clinging to the island of Malta since it was critical to keeping Allied supply lines open. The Axis also wanted it for their own supply lines. Plenty of realistic reenactments and archival combat footage as the British are beseiged and try to fight off the Luftwaffe. Against this background, a RAF reconnaissance photographer's romance with a local girl is endangered as he tries to plot enemy movements.
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The Conquest of Everest
Tibet The 1950sA documentary of the first successful expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay climb Mount Everest in 1953.
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Captain John Smith and Pocahontas
Virginia England The 17th CenturyThe story of, well, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. Jamestown. Early 1600s.
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The Great Warrior Skanderbeg
The 15th CenturyI did not bring you freedom, but I already found here among all of you. — The Great Warrior Skanderbeg (Albanian: Skenderbeu, Russian: Velikiy voin Albanii Skanderbeg) is a 1953 Albanian-Soviet drama film directed by Sergei Yutkevich. It was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival where it earned the International Prize. Yutkevich also earned the Special Mention award for his direction. The film is a biography of George Kastriot Skanderbeg (1405 – 1468), widely known as Skanderbeg, a 15th-century Albanian lord who defended his land against the Ottoman Empire for more than two decades.
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Hiroshima
Hiroshima PrefectureThe film shows the bombing of Hiroshima and the horrific aftermath following the detonation of an atomic bomb on humans for the first time in history.
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Jhansi Ki Rani
🇮🇳 India The 1850sSet in the 19th century against the backdrop of the Mutiny of 1857, the film is about the bravery of queen Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi, who took up arms and led her army against the British.
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The Sea has Risen
🇭🇺 Hungary The 19th CenturyMarch 15, 1848; the revolution breaks out in the town of Pest. Yet at café Pilvax, in among he revolutionary youth, there is the informer of the imperial court as well. Hearing the news of the attack led by Jellasics, the inhabitants of the villages pour into the national army, and Hajdú Gyurka also escapes from his landlord. Petőfi is there at the camp of the revolutionaries, raising them to enthusiasm with his poetry.
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Forbidden Games
🇫🇷 France The 1940sWar ... and how it affects the lives of our children — Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette, a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel, an older peasant boy, and the two quickly become close. Together, they try to make sense of the chaotic and crumbling world around them, attempting to cope with death as they create a burial ground for Paulette's deceased pet dog. Eventually, however, Paulette's stay with Michel's family is threatened by the harsh realities of wartime.
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The Golden Coach
🇵🇪 Peru The 18th CenturyA viceroy, a nobleman and a bullfighter court a comedy-troupe actress in 16th-century Peru.
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Plymouth Adventure
Massachusetts England The 17th CenturyMGM presents The Great TECHNICOLOR Drama of the Sea ! — The story of the voyage of the "Mayflower" in its historic voyage across the Atlantic to the New World. The passenger list includes John Alden and Priscilla Mullins among those who made the 96-day storm-filled crossing. Along the way the Captain has an ill-starred romance with the wife of a religious fanatic that ends in a sudden, dramatic way off the coast of Cape Cod.
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The Iron Mistress
Louisiana The 1820sJIM BOWIE...a man with his name on a knife - and a woman with a weapon all her own! — In this biopic, Jim Bowie goes to New Orleans, where he falls for Judalon and befriends her brother, Narcisse. Soon, Jim is forced to avenge Narcisse's murder, but Judalon takes up with another man. Jim eventually has another romantic interlude with Judalon and is forced to kill one of her suitors in self-defense. Jim leaves town, and falls for the daughter of a Texas politician, but his entanglement with Judalon continues to bedevil him.
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Les Miserables
🇫🇷 France The 19th CenturyVictor Hugo's Immortal Classic! — Jean Valjean, a Frenchman of good character, has nevertheless been convicted for the minor crime of stealing bread. A minor infraction leads to his pursuit by the relentless policeman Javert, a pursuit that consumes both men's lives for many years.
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Young Chopin
The 1830s The 1820sAs directed by Aleksander Ford in 1952, this Polish-language period drama chronicles the life, times and accomplishments of revered Warsaw-born Romantic composer Frederic Chopin, here played by Czeslaw Wollejko (Danton). The feature focuses exclusively on the youth of Chopin (who died at age 39), spanning his 15th year (c. 1825) through his 21st year (c. 1831); it also depicts Chopin as both prodigiously gifted and one filled with a tremendous spirit of Polish nationalism. Ford concludes with the onset of the illness that eventually killed Ford, set against the backdrop of the famous November Uprising in 1830.
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