Films on American History and Culture

Ordinary middle-class teenagers are forces by the Great Depression's travails to take to "riding the rails" seeking employment and getting into trouble.

This film is about an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes a friend of two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl. The film has been praised for its realistic depiction of warfare, and it heavily influenced a great many subsequent war films, especially All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). The Big Parade is regarded as one of the greatest films made about World War I, and in 1992 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress

An encomiastic biography of Woodrow Wilson. In 1909, Wilson is the President of Princeton University and the author of several books on the democratic process. The local Democratic Party political machine convinces him to run for Governor of New Jersey; after he wins the election in 1910, Wilson proves himself independent of the machine and its interests, fighting for progressive causes. The U.S. is going through a progressive change in national politics and a split is developing in the Republican Party, providing a chance for Wilson to win on the Democratic ticket. He receives the party's nomination and wins the Presidency in 1912. He pushes through a series of programs, called 'The New Freedom'. When World War I breaks out in Europe in 1914, Wilson tries to keep the U.S. neutral. At the same time, his wife Ellen dies of Bright's disease. Early in 1915, at around the same time of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, he meets Edith Bolling Galt, a Washington D.C. widow, whom he marries in December 1915. He wins reelection in 1916, and as he starts his second term, the war finally comes to America. In 1918, the Allies defeat the Central Powers, and Wilson travels to France to have a hand in the Paris Peace Conference. He intends to establish his long-promised League of Nations, but many Republican senators, including Henry Cabot Lodge, feel the President is leaving the United States vulnerable to future wars, and decide to veto whatever treaty he brings back. President Wilson takes the issue to the people in a multi-state tour, but his health fails and days after returning to Washington, he suffers a stroke. Edith shields the President and screens visitors, leading some to question how powerful she is and how much Wilson is truly acting as President. In the end, Wilson recovers enough to see the election of Republican Warren G. Harding, who has promised to keep the country out of the League of Nations; as his administration ends, he laments his failure but remains hopeful that the League will, in some form or another, be successful in the future.

Life and times of Serbian-American Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day. Tesla arrives in the US in the 1880s. He tries to convince his new employer, Thomas Edison, to adopt his newly invented electric induction motor running on an alternating current (AC) system but Edison claims direct current (DC) is better and turns him down. Robert Underwood Johnson and his wife Katharine, who were at the meeting, later find Tesla digging a ditch, having quit his job at Edison. Tesla strikes a business deal with two investors to finance development of his motor. He shows off his AC system at meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers but Edison, in the audience, claims it is impractical. After the reporters, and even Tesla's own investors, turn away from him George Westinghouse convinces Tesla to sell him his AC patents and offers a contract to pay Tesla a royalty on his motor design. They end up in a public battle trying to demonstrate the their system is not unsafe (as Edison claims) and is actually better than DC. J.P. Morgan, pulling the strings in the background, calls Tesla and Edison into a meeting and, unhappy with Edison's progress electrifying his factories, tells Tesla he can try to prove AC would work better. At a banquet celebrating the building of an alternating current power plant at Niagara Falls Tesla confuses the audience with his futuristic ideas about his high frequency wireless AC transmission system and then tells someone he is off to Europe to see his family (who he has been having flashbacks about). On that trip he visits his bed-ridden mother who dies in his arms. He then wanders out in the country side having flash backs about his childhood and the death of his brother, all punctuated by visions of falling water and lightning. Westinghouse and Katharine visit Tesla back at his New York lab where the inventor tears up his royalty contract to save Westinghouse from financial ruin. Tesla goes on to develop his wireless power system, making several reports to Morgan on his progress. Morgan tells Tesla he is unhappy with wild stories about the inventor but keeps backing him. Westinghouse warns Tesla (who is now building his Morgan financed Wardenclyffe wireless power station) to watch out for Morgan's motives and Katharine tells the inventor how she wished they could have had more of a relationship together. Tesla learns from Morgan that Guglielmo Marconi has stolen his wireless patents and that Albert Einstein has new theories about matter and energy. Tesla tells Morgan these new theories are a "crime against nature" and tries to get Morgan to back his free wireless power system before it is too late. After Tesla leaves Morgan says he won't back a system that would put him out of business and orders all further interaction with Tesla cut off. Tesla looks over his demolished Wardenclyffe station and complains, at the end of his life in a world choked with smog, that he wished Morgan had listened to him.

A fictionalized a account of Chicago through the lives of the O'Leary family up to the great fire of 1871.

A secret group of Irish immigrant miners known as the Molly Maguires fights against the cruelty of the mining company with sabotage and murder.

A dramatization of the 1865 war-crimes trial of Henry Wirz, commandant of the notorious Confederate POW camp at Andersonville, Georgia. It is an American television adaptation of a 1959 hit Broadway play.

This film covering several decades of Westward expansion, from 1839 to 1889 through the lives four generations of one family from the Erie Canal to Arizona. It features episodes on river pirates, mountain men, covered wagons, the California Gold Rush including the Gold Rush, the Civil War, the Railroad, Cavalry and Indians, and lawmen and desperados.

Runaway tailor's apprentice Andrew Johnson wanders into the Tennessee town of Greeneville. He is persuaded to settle there. He barters his services to the librarian, Eliza McCardle, in return for her teaching him to read and write, and eventually marries her. Stung by the injustice of the monopoly of power by the landowners and with the encouragement of his wife, Johnson starts organizing political meetings. One is broken up by the powers that be; in the resulting fighting, one of Johnson's friends is killed. He dissuades the others from resorting to violence. Instead, he is talked into running for sheriff and is elected. By 1860, the eve of the American Civil War, he has risen to the United States Senate. When war breaks out, Johnson breaks with his state and stays loyal to the Union. As a general, he becomes a hero defending Nashville against a siege. Abraham Lincoln chooses him for his vice president in part because they share similar views on reconciling with the South after the war is won, unlike powerful, vengeful Congressman Thaddeus Stevens . When Lincoln is assassinated, Johnson succeeds to the presidency. After he refuses to accept a deal offered by Stevens, the latter starts impeachment proceedings against the president, with himself as chief prosecutor. Johnson stays away from the trial on the advice of men who fear he would lose his temper. With his cabinet members denied the right to testify, however, Johnson appears at the very end and makes a stirring speech—an event which never actually occurred. The vote is close, with 35 judging him guilty and 18 not, but Senator Huyler is unconscious and unable to vote. Stevens, who is counting on him, delays the final verdict until Huyler can be roused and brought in for the deciding vote. To his dismay, Huyler votes not guilty. The film ends with Johnson, his term as president over, triumphantly returning to the Senate.

The film is about the construction of the American first transcontinental railroad. It depicts Irish, Italian, and Chinese immigrants, as well as African Americans, as the men who did the backbreaking work that made this feat possible. The primary villain is an unscrupulous businessman who masquerades as a renegade Cheyenne. It culminates with the scene of driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869.

A two-part television film film about the life and career of the African American abolitionist and slave escape leader, Harriet Tubman.

In 1862, a regiment of the Union Army is encamped near the Rappahannock River in Virginia. Orders direct the regiment to move up river to engage the enemy. Private Henry Fleming tells his comrades he is not afraid. On patrol, Henry exchanges words with an unseen Confederate soldier stationed across the river who tells Henry to watch out for the "red badge," meaning a battle wound. The regiment confidently sets out, but Henry is pensive. As the regiment engages in battle, Henry's buddy, Tom Wilson, tells Henry to give his watch to his parents if he is killed. During the battle, Henry deserts his regiment. He learns his outfit won the battle, but he fears derision if he returns. Henry sees his wounded comrades coming from battle, and wishes he, too, had a "red badge of courage." Henry slips back into the regiment as they march. One of his comrades, Jim Conklin, is delusional from his injuries and dies. Henry sees another Union regiment retreating and he is knocked unconscious by a soldier who refuses to tell Henry the reason for the retreat. Regaining consciousness, Henry meets a soldier who escorts him to his regiment. Henry falsely tells Tom his head injury was received in battle. Henry tells Tom about Jim's death. Tom tells Henry his absence was not noticed due to the heavy casualties suffered. The next day, Henry talks as if he, too, engaged in the battle. The regiment faces another battle. This time, Henry wildly charges toward the enemy with passion until he is ordered back into ranks. Henry and Tom fetch water at a creek and overhear the General planning an attack. They report the news to the regiment. The regiment attacks. As some of his comrades fall, Henry charges forward yelling for his outfit to keep moving as he carries the flag. Henry meets the flag bearer for the Confederate troops, who falls dead. Henry briefly holds both flags as the regiment secures the defeated rebels. A soldier tells Henry and the regiment that he overheard their commanding officers lauding Henry's bravery. Henry admits to Tom that he deserted the day before, and that his shame made him return. Tom admits he deserted, too, but was caught and forced back into the battle. The regiment marches on as Henry contemplates the hope of a peaceful future.

A Soviet-Cuban western in Russian with English subtitles which recounts a supposed legend of early Texas. The film takes place in 1850. Louise, the daughter of the wealthy plantation owner Poindexter, master of the hacienda Casa del Corvo, falls in love with a poor mustanger Maurice Gerald. The night their secret rendezvous happens, her brother Henry disappears. Suspicion in murder falls on Gerald, who was found covered in blood, with signs of struggle on the body and on Henry's cloak. One more minute, and an angry crowd would have Gerald lynched, but then the mysterious Headless Horseman appears...At Gerald's trial, when it seems that the execution is inevitable, the main witness of crime suddenly appears.

This film Dramatizes important and significant events in the life of Fremont--cartographer, explorer, military general, presidential candidate and territorial governor. Begins with Fremont's government work as explorer and mapmaker in the Mississippi Valley and the West. Calls attention to his association with Kit Carson, and his part in the Mexican and Civil Wars. Recalls his defeats for the Presidency and his eventual appointment as territorial Governor of Arizona.

EL CEMENTINERIO DE LAS AQUILAS (in Spanish with rough English subtitles) gives a different perspective to the Mexican American War. Two men live in love with an aristocratic woman (Margarita Mora), during the war between Mexico and the United States. When the American invasion begins and the landing of troops in 1847, both decide to return to the military school and fight heroically in the defense of Mexico, knowing that they may never see his beloved again.

This episode of THE GREAT ADVENTURE, entitled "Go Down Moses", deals with the escaped slave Harriet Tubman and her attempts to rescue enslaved family members and friends through the pre-Civil War Underground Railroad.

This episode, based on a chapter of the book by John F. Kennedy dealing with FREDERICK DOUGLASS, , an escaped slave who fled to the North in the days before the Civil War. Douglass decided to use his writing and oratorical skills to lead the fight to abolish slavery, a risky move because the Fugitive Slave Act allowed an escaped slave to be captured anywhere in the US and returned to his owners in the South.

This episode, based on a chapter of the book by John F. Kennedy dealing with PRUDENCE CRANDALL, who In 1833, runs a girls boarding school in Canterbury CT. Trouble ensues when she accepts the application of Sarah Anderson, an African American.

This episode of THE GREAT ADVENTURE deals with Nathan Hale, an American Continental soldier turned spy against the British and gave all for a concept called Democracy.

This episode of THE GREAT ADVENTURE deals with Sam Houston. In 1817, Andrew Jackson appoints a young Sam Houston to oversee the forced relocation of the Cherokee from Tennessee. He soon clashes with both Jackson and the US Government over his fair and humane treatment of the Cherokee.

This episode, is based on a chapter of the book by John F. Kennedy dealing with John Quincy Adams. In this film, British warships are raiding US vessels and conscripting US sailors. Thomas Jefferson asks Senator John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts to help pass an embargo that might devastate the economy of the Senator's home state.

This episode, based on a chapter of the book by John F. Kennedy dealing with John Marshall and the Aaron Burr case. In this film, Aaron Burr is on trial for treason in 1807. President Jefferson and the majority of Americans are certain of his guilt. Presiding over the case is Chief Justice John Marshall who wants a fair and constitutional trial for Burr.

This episode, based on a chapter of the book by John F. Kennedy dealing with George Mason. In this film, George Mason refused to sign the US Constitution because it did not contain a Bill Of Rights for individuals. At the Virginia Ratification Convention he spoke against its ratification until it contained a Bill of Rights.

This episode, based on a chapter of the book by John F. Kennedy dealing with John Adams. In this film, as a young lawyer and politician, John Adams takes on the unpopular task of defending in court the British soldiers who fired on a crowd in the so-called Boston Massacre of 1770.