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Assignment: Venezuela
🇻🇪 VenezuelaAn American goes to work in the booming oil industry of Venuzuela.
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Heartbreak Ridge
🇰🇷 South Korea The 1950sGarcet, a young French officer just out of military school, joins the French Batallion of the United Nations Forces fighting in Korea.
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Cinerama Holiday
New York Nevada District of Columbia California Louisiana 🇫🇷 France 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandThe 2nd Cinerama presentation — Two couples, one from St. Louis and one from Switzerland each go to the other's country and travel around.
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The Back of Beyond
South Australia QueenslandHe's an outback legend - a tough, dogged giant of a man . . . and this is his story. — This 1954 classic follows an outback mailman as he travels along the Birdsville Track.
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Corral
AlbertaCorral is a 1954 National Film Board of Canada documentary by Colin Low, partly shot in the Cochrane Ranch in what is now Cochrane, Alberta. In the film, a cowboy rounds up wild horses, lassoing one of the high-spirited animals in the corral, then going on a ride across the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta.
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Song of the Rivers
🇪🇬 Egypt 🇮🇳 India 🇨🇳 ChinaThe Song of the Rivers, or Das Lied der Ströme, is a 1954 documentary production by the East Germany's Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA). Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens was the leading director. The sprawling film celebrates international workers movements along six major rivers: the Volga, Mississippi, Ganges, Nile, Amazon and the Yangtze. Shot in many countries by different film crews, and later edited by Ivens, Song of the Rivers begins with a lyrical montage of landscapes and laborers and proceeds to glorify labor and modern industrial machinery. The musical score is by Dmitri Shostakovich, with lyrics written by Berthold Brecht, and songs performed by German communism's star Ernst Busch and famous American actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson who also narrates. Song of the Rivers is an ode to international solidarity.
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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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Cease Fire!
🇰🇷 South Korea The 1950sA sometimes uncomfortable marriage between fact and fiction, this film is part documentary and part drama, mixing actual war footage with reenactments in which real veterans of the Korean War portray members of a platoon sent out on a reconnaissance mission near the end of the conflict. Though peace is imminent, violence unexpectedly erupts. A day that begins with the calm and mundane is transformed into a heated battle that typifies the cruel and unpredictable nature of war.
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Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor
The 14th CenturyOverture to The Merry Wives of Windsor [also known as The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture] is a 1953 American short musical film produced by Johnny Green. The film consists of the MGM Symphony Orchestra playing the Overture to Otto Nicolai's opera The Merry Wives of Windsor, also conducted by Johnny Green. It won an Oscar in 1954 for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.
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Herring Hunt
British ColumbiaThe operations of a herring boat, and of her crew, are typical of the ships and crews that dot the coastal waters of British Columbia. This film goes out to sea to tell the story of the trawler Western Girl, of her skipper and his men, and their race to get their catch before the quota is taken and the fishing area closed. We see the cooperation necessary in an enterprise that has a great element of risk, for though there is big money in herring when the catch is good, competition is keen and the outlay heavy; one man's mistake may mean severe loss.
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Navajo
ArizonaHe has his eyes on your heart! — A young Navajo Indian boy is caught up in the conflict of cultures when he rejects the white man's school. Told in semi-documentary style.
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This Is Korea!
🇰🇷 South Korea The 1950sJohn Ford's documentary about the early battles of the Korean War, shot in color.
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David
WalesTold with authenticity and perception, David looks back on the life of a school caretaker in a Welsh mining town, from the marriage and birth of his son to the trauma of a pit accident. David was the first film produced by the BFI, in 1951, and the Welsh selection for the same year’s Festival of Britain screenings in London.
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Kon-Tiki
South Pacific - GeneralThe Amazing Adventure Of Six Men On A Raft Across The Pacific! True! Thrilling! — "Kon-Tiki" was the name of a wooden raft used by six Scandinavian scientists, led by Thor Heyerdahl, to make a 101-day journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands. The purpose of the expedition was to prove Heyerdal's theory that the Polynesian Islands were populated from the east- specifically Peru- rather than from the west (Asia) as had been the theory for hundreds of years. Heyerdahl made a study of the winds and tides in the Pacific, and by simulating conditions as closely as possible to those he theorized the Peruvians encountered, set out on the voyage.
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1848
The 1840sThe film explains the French Revolution of 1848. Bernard Blier's narration is supported by pictures once drawn by contemporary artists including Honoré Daumier.
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The Golden Twenties
The 1920sThe fabulous decade when we came of age! — Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.
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Four Men in Prison
EnglandPart of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."
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Daybreak in Udi
🇳🇬 NigeriaAn African tribe in the Eastern Nigerian village of Umana work to build a maternity hospital, with the aid of government officials, and against the opposition of some tribal members.
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Seal Island
AlaskaTrue-Life Adventures — Seal Island is a 1948 American documentary film directed by James Algar. It won an Academy Award in 1949 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).
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Make Mine Freedom
The 1890sCold War; Animation: Advertising; Capitalism — This Cold War-era cartoon uses humor to tout the dangers of Communism and the benefits of capitalism.
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Thunderbolt
The 1940sDocumentary about the U.S. Air Force's P-47 Thunderbolt bomber's role in the Italian Campaign.
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Design for Death
The 1940sEnemy War-Makers Unmasked! — Documentary Feature winner "Design for Death" (1947) examines Japanese culture and how it led to Japan's role in WWII.
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Symphony of a City
🇸🇪 SwedenShort documentary from Sweden that won an Oscar in the category "Best Short Subject, One-reel."
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The Sixth of June at Dawn
The 1940sThe film starts by a visit to bucolic Normandy before the events. This peaceful atmosphere is shattered by Operation Overlord, minutely described in the second part of the documentary. The landing on D-Day and the ensuing battles and bombings martyr the peaceful area giving the earth thousands of body instead of seeds. In the last part, the dreadful aftermath of the steel storm is shown both with sympathy for the victims and hope for the future, since all these sacrifices, whether military or civilians, have not been in vain.
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School For Danger
🇫🇷 France The 1940sSchool for Danger is a semi-documentary film depicting how Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) provided trained agents, arms and other assistance to the European resistance groups fighting against Hitler. The "stars" of the film are two actual British agents, Captain Harry Rée DSO, OBE, Croix De Guerre, Médaille de la Résistance, and Jacqueline Nearne, MBE. As agents "Felix" and "Cat", they recreate some of their adventures in France. This film is also known as Now It Can Be Told
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A Defeated People
🇩🇪 Germany The 1940sA Defeated People is a 1946 British documentary short film made by the Crown Film Unit, directed by Humphrey Jennings and narrated by William Hartnell. The film depicts the shattered state of Germany, both physically and as a society, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The narration explains what is being done – and what needs to be done – both by the occupying Allied forces and the German people themselves to build a better Germany from the ruins.
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Nuremberg Trials
🇩🇪 GermanyThis riveting Russian documentary takes you inside the trials of the notorious German war criminals, brought to trial to account for their actions. The footage includes excerpts from the trials of many of the senior Nazis including Goebels and Goring.
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The True Glory
The 1940sThe story of YOUR victory... told by YOUR guys who won it! — A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the assembled allied forces plan and train for the D-Day invasion at bases in Great Britain and covers all the major events of the war in Europe from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin.
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To the Shores of Iwo Jima
The 1940sDocumentary short film depicting the American assault on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima and the massive battle that raged on that key island in the Allied advance on Japan. Four cameramen died bringing this footage to the public
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San Pietro
The 1940sThis documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans.
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Know Your Enemy: Japan
🇯🇵 JapanFrank Capra-directed propaganda film produced at the onset of World War II depicting the United States' new enemy: Japan
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Gateway to Asia
British ColumbiaThis short film highlights the province of British Columbia and its position after World War II. Located on the Pacific Coast, it is the gateway for those travelling to Asia and Russia and a vital link between the rest of Canada and its neighbours in the Far East. The film looks at British Columbia's population, natural resources and industries along with some of its social issues.
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Why We Fight: The Battle of China
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sThe sixth film illustrates Japan's occupation of China, including Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's stirring address before congress, the rape of Naking, the great 2,000 mile migration, and Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.
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The Fighting Lady
The 1940sPhotographed in Zones of Combat by Men of U.S. Navy — Oscar winner William Wyler directed this 1944 "newsdrama," narrated by Lieut. Robert Taylor, USNR (Bataan), and photographed in zones of combat by the U.S. Navy. The film follows one of the many new aircraft carriers built since Pearl Harbor, known as THE FIGHTING LADY in honor of all American carriers, as it goes into action against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean in 1943. See the ship and its pilots undergo their baptism of fire, attacking the Japanese base on Marcus Island.
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Tunisian Victory
The 1940sDocumentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps after the North African campaign.
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Jungle Patrol
🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea"This is how you go to war..." — This black and white film was made by the Australian government to show Australia's contribution to the New Guinea campaign, for which they thought there had not been sufficient acknowledgement. Jungle Patrol follows the daily experiences of the soldiers, from their initial deployment in Port Moresby, then flying over the Owen Stanley Ranges on board the troop carrier 'Honeymoon Express', to their slog through jungle and steep terrain battling rain, mosquitoes and mud as they march from the Ramu 'Death' Valley up to rejoin their battalion at an outpost on Shaggy Ridge in the Finisterre Range.
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Return to Guam
🇬🇺 GuamOfficial World War II documentary about the pacific Theatre.
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Victory Through Air Power
The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910s The 1900sThis is a unique film in Disney Production's history. This film is essentially a propaganda film selling Major Alexander de Seversky's theories about the practical uses of long range strategic bombing. Using a combination of animation humorously telling about the development of air warfare, the film switches to the Major illustrating his ideas could win the war for the allies.
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Report from the Aleutians
Alaska The 1940sA documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
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Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain
England The 1940sExciting newsreel footage highlights this award-winning documentary of Britain's gallant stand against the encroaching Nazi horde. As the British people fight bravely, Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to begin the London Blitz in the hope of bringing England to her knees.
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The Silent Village
🇨🇿 Czechia The 1940sThe true story of the massacre of a small Czech village by the Nazis is retold as if it happened in Wales.
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Ukraine in Flames
🇺🇦 Ukraine The 1940sA 1943 Soviet documentary war film by Ukrainian director Alexander Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva. It is Dovzhenko's second World War II documentary, and dealt with the Battle of Kharkov. The film incorporates German footage of the invasion of Ukraine, which was later captured by the Soviets.
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Proudly She Marches
🇨🇦 Canada The 1940sThis film from the Second World War is a report on how Canadian women were trained to handle many kinds of work in the Canadian Women's Army Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service. Basic training, everyday life in the forces and the contribution of women to Canada's fighting strength are illustrated.
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My Japan
🇯🇵 JapanAn odd bit of WWII propaganda in which an obviously Caucasian actor, using a fake Japanese accent, talks about the beauty of his homeland and how "his" people are different (and superior) to naive American soldiers. According to the narrator of the film, a US invasion of Japan would not succeed due to the superior fighting power of the Japanese people who, if forced, would retreat from the island and take up refuge in caves on mainland China.
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Why We Fight: Prelude to War
The 1940sThe US government puts the finger on the United Nations. — Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
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Listen to Britain
England The 1940sA depiction of life in wartime England during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.
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