Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8

Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia

November 1943 •English

The fifth film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, revealing the nature and process of the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World War.

Let's Spend the Night Together

October 1982 •English

The Rolling Stones' record-breaking 1981 North American arena tour documented by director Hal Ashby. Featuring the biggest Rolling Stones songs from the first 20 years - in the words of Mick Jagger, "a feel of what it's like to be there", as 20 cameras take you onstage with the band in this groundbreaking, dynamic tour.

Desert Victory

April 1943 •English

A featureless land fit only for war, as the narrator, J. L. Hodson stated in the early scenes: "If war was to be fought then let it begin here". In endless miles of rock-strewn scrub desert, where civilians hardly existed. Desert Victory tells the story of the Allied campaign to drive Germany and Italy from North Africa is analysed, with the major portion of the film examining the battles at El Alamein, including some re-enactment. Won "Best Documentary Feature" at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944.

Anaconda

September 1955 •English

Documentary by Torgny Anderberg

Africa - Part I - From Morocco to Kilimanjaro

June 1952 •Czech

The feature-length film by engineers J. Hanzelka and M. Zikmund captures how the two travelers prepared for their first trip around the world and in documentary footage describes their experiences from the first half of the trip through Africa. You will see for yourself what obstacles they had to overcome on the ravaged roads of Abyssinia and in what danger the fate of the expedition was during the daring passage through the Nubian desert. The film culminates with an ascent to the highest mountain in Africa, the extinct volcano Kilimanjaro, whose peak is covered in ice all year round.

Secret Tibet

January 1943 •German

In 1938 Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler sponsored an expedition to Tibet lead by several Nazi SS scientists to study the regions flora and fauna, and to take scientific measurements of the Earths magnetic fields. The expedition was also sent to find traces of the orgins of the "Aryan" race in Tibet which was where Himmler thought evidence of could be found. This film is a Nazi era documentary of that expedition.

Africa II – From the Equator to Table Mountain

October 1953 •Czech

The second part of the film begins with a journey in the equatorial region, where the travelers managed to capture the most typical images of the original Africa. The journey continues to the forests of the Belgian Congo, where they filmed the smallest people in the world, black dwarfs. From Central Africa, they head south through Victoria Falls and the mysterious ruins of a medieval settlement in Zimbabwe. In Johannesburg, they witness a celebration of black gold diggers. Their journey ends at the southernmost tip of Africa under Table Mountain in Cape Town. The end of the film depicts the birth of a volcano shot from close range.

From Argentina to Mexico

October 1954 •Czech

Travelers Hansel and Zikmund sail from Africa to South America. On their journey to film, they capture clouds of locusts on the plains of Argentina's Chaco, a snake farm in Butantane, skyscrapers in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, a visit to lepers in Paraguay, waterfalls in Iguazu, a daring expedition to the jungles of the Marañon river basin to hunt skull hunters. an Indian settlement in Panama and the journey ends prematurely in Mexico amidst the ruins of ancient Indian temples and pyramid.

Südseeparadies

December 1940 •German

Ludwig van Beethoven

July 1954 •German

Documentary on the master composer, from a GDR point of view.

The Sixth Continent

September 1954 •Italian

This 95-minute, full-color documentary was released in the U.S. as Sixth Continent. That continent is Africa -- or, more specifically, the coast of Ethiopia. Director Folco Quillici takes his cameras deep, deep into the waters near the coastal islands of Dalach, observing the passing parade of sea life on an up-close-and-personal basis. Particularly thrilling is a shark attack and its aftermath, with the cinematographers obviously in the thick of things. Gian Caspare Napolitano provides the narration, while the lush, evocative musical score is the handiwork of Roberto Nicolosi.

The Legendary Strike

November 1978 •Chinese

The plot deals with a search for a valuable pearl, dubbed the Buddha's Relic, which is sold to an unwitting Japanese emissary by a corrupt Ching Dynasty prince who seeks to steal it back for his own purposes.

Modern Times

February 1936 •English

A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time..

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

October 1939 •English

After the death of a United States Senator, idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. Soon, the naive and earnest new senator has to battle political corruption.

Bambi

August 1942 •English

Bambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.

Bicycle Thieves

July 1948 •Italian

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

The Girl and the Oak

February 1955 •

Smilja is a little girl living in Dalmatian Zagora. One day, her mother dies under a small oak tree and she is left without parents. Luckily, she gets adopted and continues to nurture the oak where her mother died. Many years later, Smilja is a handsome woman, but her jealous stepbrother Josip kills her boyfriend Ivan and rapes her. Ivan's brothers swear revenge.

Truxa

January 1937 •German

The famous tightrope artist Truxa is drinking at the Artisan bar in New York. He meets a young man, Husen, and gives him his stage name Truxa. He is to take the real Truxa's place at a circus show in Wintergarten, Berlin.

Journey to the Beginning of Time

August 1955 •Czech

Four schoolboys go on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creatures that have long since vanished from the earth.

The Mark Of The Day

April 1949 •French

In a settlement in the northern mining country. The Marles, Bréhard and Gohelle families wake up and prepare for a new day at work. The young engineer Larzac, newly appointed to the mine, will soon oppose the authoritarian and conservative methods of his superior Dubard. Georges Gohelle would like to marry Marie Bréhard, but housing difficulties thwart their plans. Brezza, a Polish immigrant, who must return to his country, would like to hate his marriage to Louise Gohelle. Roger, Marie's little brother, has just turned 14. He does not want to go down to the mine as his elders have always done. He will however have to resign himself to it. Marles evokes for him the social struggles of 1906. Roger is injured during a landslide. In front of his family and his friend Marles, who had come to the hospital, he announced his decision to continue his profession. Larzac, invited to the Marles, reveals that he refused a quiet position at the Charbonnages de Paris. He too stays.