This is a story about exciting events that occurred in the life of the smallest soldier - the hero of the Great Patriotic War, six-year-old Sergei Aleshkov. He lost all his relatives and got into the army. With a six-year-old boy, they started playing the soldier game in order to preserve his childhood, and he, in order to comply with this honorary title, became a real defender of the Motherland.
Narrated by Connick himself in a candid look at his own life and career, the program features interviews with jazz greats Branford and Wynton Marsalis and their father, Ellis Marsalis.
A struggling donkey unexpectedly wins Azad City's first election after the ruler abdicates. He becomes "The Donkey King," leading the nation in an unusual turn of events and proving that though by looks he is a donkey, by heart he is a hero.
A retrospective of the life and career of actor Cary Grant, including clips from his films and interviews with his friends and co-workers.
He went from street-wise tough to art-collector liberal-activist, from circus-acrobat hunk to Academy Award winner. Burton Stephen Lancaster — later Burt Lancaster — was one of five children of a New York City postal worker. By eighteen, Burt was 6'2" and blessed with the athletic physique and dynamic good looks that helped make him famous. A stint in the Army introduced Burt to acting and led him to Hollywood where his first release, "The Killers" (1946), propelled him to stardom at age 32. He took control of his own career and seldom faltered.
This fascinating documentary takes us in Tolkien's footsteps and investigates the landscapes and buildings, the places and names that helped shape Middle Earth. Sir Ian Holm narrates this fascinating exploration into an imaginary world.
Abandoned by his father, he was a reform school kid with nothing going for him and a giant chip on his shoulder. He joined the Marines but never stayed far from trouble. Then he discovered acting — and the woman who would be with him for most of his meteoric career. He was Steve McQueen, one of Hollywood's highest paid stars — and one of its most difficult, most rebellious and, when he wished, most charming.
In the 1942 film "This Gun For Hire," he was only a supporting actor. But his portrayal of a cold, ruthless killer with a core of gentle sadness had an impact on audiences everywhere. Teamed with diminutive Veronica Lake, he became an immediately saleable commodity, and in the process helped launch the age of film noir. By 1954, Photoplay Magazine voted him the world's most popular male film star; his fellow award-winner was Marilyn Monroe. But Alan Ladd's fabulous success already contained within it the mechanism to self-destruct.
Shirley MacLaine was the product of a strict middle-class background from which she and her brother, the future actor Warren Beatty, escaped into the fantasy world of show-biz. Her ballet training and her long-legged pixie charm led to rapid success on Broadway in musical comedy. Inevitably, Hollywood called and by 1955 Shirley was cast in Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry." It wasn't too long before the fine dramatic roles also came to her opposite the most popular leading men of the time, like Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum.
A retrospective on the career of Robert Mitchum through interviews with friends and co-workers, scenes from his films and the actor himself.
Jack Lemmon made over 60 films and received numerous awards, including eight Academy Award Nominations and two Oscars. Later in life, his achievement was enriched by new challenges in which he exposed the vulnerability and emotion of the later years as few had dared. He reveled in his ongoing screen partnerships with directors like Billy Wilder and stars like Walter Matthau. Narrated on-camera by Jack Lemmon, this documentary includes interviews with Lemmon's son, the actor Chris Lemmon. Also appearing are such legends as Jack's life-long friend, the writer and director Billy Wilder, writer-director Garson Kanin, drama teacher Uta Hagen and actor Gregory Peck.
Her story is well-known — the lonely child who yearned for affection and approval which she finally seemed to find as Hollywood's greatest love goddess. But even though she scaled heights few could even dream of, she was one of the loneliest of stars.
Known for his personification of the Western Hero, it was Montana-born Gary Cooper's horse-riding skills that first brought him bit parts in movies. And he never lost his love of the great American outdoors. Though he rarely played a villain and was an adept comedian, Cooper is best remembered for his strong, silent heroes. With his lanky country boy looks and shy hesitancy he created a unique screen presence, though his real life was one of sophisticated elegance.
A Cincinnati public school fights to break the cycle of poverty in its Urban Appalachian neighborhood, where senior Raven Gribbins aims to become the first in her troubled family to graduate and go to college. When Principal Craig Hockenberry's job is threatened, it becomes clear it's a make-or-break year for both of them.
Don Vito Leoni, the Godfather, is clinically depressed. The world has changed and he hasn't. He'd like to retire, but if he left the "family business" to his two idiot sons, they'd be dead in a minute. So he decides to go legit, which convinces everyone that he must be completely off the deep end. To preserve their cushy lives, his dysfuntional family conspires to get him some psycho-therepy. So his boys kidnap a "piasan" shrink and order him to "fix" their father. This film, which premired on Showtime, pre-dated the very similarly plotted "Analyze This" by over a year.
A look at the life and career of actor/director Clint Eastwood, including scenes from his past film and television work and interviews with friends, fellow actors and crew members who have worked with him over the years.
Audrey Hepburn was one of the movies' best-loved stars, blessed with beauty, talent, an elegant sophistication and an enduring aura of youthful innocence. As Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, she spoke for the world's suffering children and families, earning an affection and admiration that only increased with news of her untimely death. From the star herself we learn of her career and the family and friendships that were her priority.
The story of actor Roger Moore, including clips from his movies, television shows and interviews with the actor, his family and acquaintances.
A biography of American actress Grace Kelly from her early days as an aspiring actress to her death as Princess of Monaco.
Sorority tells the story of two sisters, Harriet (Sophie Kennedy Clark) and Sarah (Emily Haigh). When both women find themselves heading in opposite directions in life, they must first come to terms with their tragic past and reconcile with their estranged mother Val (Kate Dickie), before looking ahead to a brighter future.
