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Dover
England The 1940sDocumentary short featuring a visit by American newsman Edward R. Murrow to the English town of Dover during the Second World War.
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Words for Battle
England The 1940sPoetry by Rudyard Kipling, John Milton, and William Blake, and excerpts from speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, all read by Laurence Olivier, illuminate documentary footage of England during its defense against the Nazi blitz in World War II. This short film serves as both propaganda and as a rallying cry to the British people.
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The Forgotten Village
The 1940sDocumentary examining the conflicts between the coming of modernization and the traditional culture of a small Mexican village.
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Main Street on the March!
The 1940sThis Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the Nazi occupation of the Benelux countries, and ends immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It chronicles how the people of "Main Street America", the country's military forces, and its industrial base were completely transformed when the decision was made to gear up for war. Original footage is interspersed with contemporary newsreels and stock footage.
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Churchill's Island
England The 1940sThe people of Britain resist the German air force and navy with help from North America.
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Kukan: The Battle Cry of China
🇨🇳 China The 1930s The 1940sRey Scott received an Honorary Academy Award for this documentary "For his extraordinary achievement in producing Kukan, the film record of China's struggle, including its photography with a 16mm camera under the most difficult and dangerous conditions."
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London Can Take It!
England The 1940sA tribute to the courage and resiliency of Britons during the darkest days of the London Blitz.
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Atlantic Patrol
Atlantic OceanThis short documentary about the Canadian seamen who manned Canada's eastern ports during WWII is the first film in the Canada Carries On series. The film depicts the work of the Royal Canadian marines who accompanied convoys of military supplies to the Allied Forces and those who remained on the eastern coast to defend against the Germans.
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The Lion Has Wings
The 1940sThis early, influential propaganda film blends documentary and studio footage to show the valiant efforts of the Royal Air Force to defend the British people against the Nazis.
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L'Espagne vivra
The 1930sIn July 1936, the Spanish people resist the offensive by Franco’s army, backed by Italian and German fascists, aimed at conquering the country's major cities. Although many of the recruits to the new Republican Army are well trained, weapons and ammunition remain in short supply due to the non-intervention agreement initiated by France and signed by Italy and Germany. Yet the latter two countries continue to provide Franco’s army with military support and commit their troops on Spanish soil, while the fighters of the International Brigades return home.
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Legion Condor
🇪🇸 Spain -
Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations
🇩🇪 Germany The 1930sThe First part of Olympia, a documentary about the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin by German Director Leni Riefenstahl. The film played in theaters in 1938 and again in 1952 after the fall of the Nazi Regime.
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Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty
The 1930sThe Second part of Olympia, a documentary about the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin by German Director Leni Riefenstahl. The film played in theaters in 1938 and again in 1952 after the fall of the Nazi Regime.
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The Spanish Earth
🇪🇸 Spain The 1930sA propaganda film made during the Spanish Civil War in support of the Republican government against the rebellion by Gen. Francisco Franco's forces who were backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The film would have been seen by those making it as a documentary.
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People of the Cumberland
Tennessee The 1930sThe film takes place in rural Tennessee, where communities have experienced economic and environmental devastation created by the coal mining industry. The introduction of the Highlander Folk School in 1931 by educator Myles Horton and the movement to bring labor union representation to the region are shown as means of empowering the population. Efforts are made to stop the union activities with the murder of a local organizer, but eventually the union movement is able to take root with the local workforce.
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En pays neufs
QuebecThe film tells the story of the development of the Abitibi at the beginning of the 20th century.
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Night Mail
Scotland EnglandThis documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.
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Youth of the World
🇩🇪 Germany The 1930sThis Nazi propaganda film covers the 1936 Winter Olympics that were held in Germany.
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Royal Cavalcade
England The 1930s The 1920s The 1910sMade in commemoration and celebration of the Jubilee of King George V, this is the story of the first twenty-five years of his reign, told through the many travels of a penny that was minted in the year of his accession: 1910. Through a series of individual stories, Royal Cavalcade covers a period of striking change in every area of life – from the suffragette movement to the trenches of World War One, the effects of the Depression to single events such as the first ever Royal Command Performance, featuring Anna Pavlova and George Robey.
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A Night of Storytelling
🇮🇪 IrelandA well known storyteller, Tomas O' Diorain tells tales of the sea around a fire in an old Irish cottage. His storytelling is juxtaposed with images of the sea. This film, thought lost was rediscovered by Houghton Library curators during a cataloging update in 2013.
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Hei Tiki
🇳🇿 New ZealandA Weird Maori Drama — Hei Tiki, also known as Primitive Passions and Hei Tiki: A Saga of the Maoris, is a 1935 American mock-documentary film made in New Zealand by the eccentric Alexander Markey and released (with sound added) in America. The film gained notoriety in America for having scenes of nudity cut in various states. It is one of four films (with The Devil's Pit, Down on the Farm, and On the Friendly Road) which claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie", although the claim is dubious in this case as the sound was added in America.
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Man of Aran
🇮🇪 IrelandA documentary on the life of the people of the Aran Islands, who were believed to contain the essence of the ancient Irish life, represented by a pure uncorrupted peasant existence centred around the struggle between man and his hostile but magnificent surroundings. A blend of documentary and fictional narrative, the film captures the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands.
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Hitler's Reign of Terror
The 1930sEarly anti-nazi documentary. — A documentary meant to show Americans what had been going on in Germany since Hitler's rise, centered on a fact finding trip by Cornelius Vanderbilt, with newsreel footage of book burnings and such.
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In the Wake of the Bounty
The 18th CenturyThe film explores the story of the Bounty and is based on the 1932 novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.
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The Yellow Cruise
The 1930sThe film tells the expedition leaving Beirut in Lebanon to rally China through the ancient Silk Road with half-tracks vehicles, between 1931 and 1932.
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Samarang
🇮🇩 IndonesiaWith all the natural beauty of the South Seas! — A pseudo-documentary, “Samarang” tells the story of lowly Ahmang (Captain A.V. Cockle) and his socially superior love, Sai-Yu (Theresa Seth). Both live in the village of Samarang in the Indian Ocean. Because Sai-Yu is the daughter of a chief and Ahmang is but a poor fisherman, he needs to increase his wealth before asking for her hand. Thus he accepts the perilous offer of the wily Chang-Fu, who seeks pearl divers. Ahmang must brave the treacherous waters of the Forbidden Lagoon of Sakai, home to bloodthirsty cannibals, killer sharks, and a monstrous grasping octopus. Sai-Yu and Ahmang’s younger brother Ko-Hai come along for kicks, too. Ahmang finds his pearl, but he and Sai-Yu are stranded on the island, where they befriend a local orangutan. When they return to the boat, a shark kills Ko-Hai, and Ahmang must get revenge.
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India Speaks
🇮🇳 India 🇰🇭 CambodiaA virgin chosen to bear a living GOD! — A documentary of explorer Richard Halliburton's travels on the Indian sub-continent, featuring a mix of real and staged footage.
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À propos de Nice
🇫🇷 FranceWhat starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Côte d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
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Aimless Walk
🇨🇿 CzechiaThis first true Czech avant-garde film turns away from a purely celebratory approach to the city. The camera follows a detached protagonist on his wanderings, as his highly subjective journey becomes a fragmented visualization of urban landscapes.
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Africa Speaks!
Africa - General The 1920sThe sound camera makes the dark continent give up its most amazing and closely-guarded secrets. — Explorer Paul Hoefler leads a safari into central Africa and what was then called the Belgian Congo, in the regions inhabited by the Wassara and the famous Ubangi tribes.
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Man with a Movie Camera
🇺🇦 Ukraine 🇷🇺 Russia The 1920sA cameraman wanders around Moscow, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
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Under The Southern Cross
🇳🇿 New ZealandNeither tribal custom, danger nor the sacred ban of 'tapu' could overcome the strength of his love. — Under the Southern Cross also known as The Devil's Pit or Taranga, is a 1929 American drama film set in New Zealand, directed by Lew Collins for Universal Studios, who also wrote the screenplay. Originally titled Taranga by the original director Alexander Markey, but was completed by Collins and released as Under the Southern Cross in 1929, then with the introduction of sound was given a soundtrack and retitled The Devil’s Pit in 1930. The film was shot on White Island, which has an active volcano. It is one of four films (with Down on the Farm, Hei Tiki and On the Friendly Road) which lay claim to be the first "New Zealand talkie", although dubious as the sound was added to the 1930 release in the United States. Only fragments of out-takes are left. The film probably has no connection with the 1927 British film of the same name, directed by Gustav Pauli.
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Verdun: Visions of History
The 1910sA dramatized re-enactment and documentary of the Battle of Verdun as seen by both French and German soldiers, shot on site of the actual battle.
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Simba: The King of the Beasts
Africa - GeneralSimba: The King of the Beasts is an 1928 American black-and-white silent documentary film, directed by Martin and Osa Johnson, which features the couple's four-year expedition to track the lion across Kenyan veld to his lair.
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Moana
🇼🇸 SamoaRobert J. Flaherty's South Seas follow-up to Nanook of the North is a Gauguin idyll moved by "pride of beauty... pride of strength."
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When Naples Sings
🇮🇹 ItalyMost likely made for the large Neapolitan immigrant population in the States, Roberto Leone Roberti’s love poem to Naples more than captures the heartache of the countless émigrés who were forced by economic circumstances to leave their homeland.
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Mons
🇫🇷 France The 1910sA reconstruction of the arrival of the British Army in France in August 1914, and of the retreat from Mons.
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Our Heavenly Bodies
The Moon Mars The 1920sWunder der Schöpfung is an extraordinary, fascinating Kulturfilm trying to explain the whole human knowledge of the 1920s about the world and the universe. 15 special effects experts and 9 cameramen were involved in the production of this film which combines documentary scenes, historical documents, fiction elements, animation scenes and educational impact. It its beautifully colored, using tinting and toning in a very elaborated way. Some visual ideas in the sequences with a space shuttle visiting different planets in the universe seem to have to be the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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The Epic of Everest
Tibet The 1920sThe official record of Mallory and Irvine's 1924 expedition. When George Mallory and Sandy Irvine attempted to reach the summit of Everest in 1924 they came closer than any previous attempt. Inspired by the work of Herbert Ponting (The Great White Silence) Captain Noel filmed in the harshest of conditions, with specially adapted equipment, to capture the drama of the fateful expedition.
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Nanook of the North
QuebecA story of life and love in the actual Arctic. — This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
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Häxan
The 14th CenturyGrave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.
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Manhatta
New YorkMorning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.
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Heroes All
The 1910sFilms shot by newsreel companies and army cameramen are featured to tell the story of what it was like for soldiers during World War I.
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The Battle of the Somme
The 1910sA documentary and propaganda film which shows the British Army's preparations for, and the early stages of, the battle of the Somme.
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El Drama del 15 de Octubre
The 1910sReconstruction one year later of the assassination of liberal leader Rafael Uribe Uribe; with the participation of the perpetrators: Messrs Galarza and Carvajal.
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