Ordinary Men: The "Forgotten Holocaust"

Six million Jews died during World War II, both in the extermination camps and murdered by the mobile commandos of the Einsatzgruppen and police battalions, whose members shot men, women and children, day after day, obediently, as if it were a normal job, a fact that is hardly known today. Who were these men and how could they commit such crimes?

Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo

The story of Estelle Ishigo, one of the few Caucasians interned with Japanese Americans during World War II. The wife of a Japanese American, Ishigo refused to be separated from her husband and was interned along with him. Based on the personal papers of Estelle Ishigo and her novel Lone Heart Mountain.

The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai

Made famous by the 1957 Hollywood movie, the bridges of the River Kwai emblematize one of the most misunderstood events in history. Contrary to the romanticized film version, the structures represent a period of terror, desperation, and death for over 16,000 POWs and 100,00 local slaves. The Thailand - Burma Railway was the vision of the Japanese Imperial Army: a 250-mile track cut through dense jungle that would connect Bangkok and Rangoon. To accomplish this nearly impossible feat, the fanatical and ruthless Japanese engineers used POWs and local slaves as manpower. Candid interviews with men who lived through the atrocity - including Dutch, Australian, British, and American POWs - illuminate the violence and horror of their three-and-a-half-year internment. From Britain's surrender of Singapore the enduring force of friendship, The True Story Of The Bridge On The River Kwai narrates a moving and unforgettable account of a period in history that must be remembered.

The Blitzed Cities of Bristol and Bath

Vivid colour footage of the wartime devastation wreaked on Bristol and Bath - and the barely affected village of Chew Magna.

Bread and a Blanket

On December 13 of 1943 the Nazi occupation army in Greece executed all the male population of the town of Kalavryta while burning it to the ground. Three men who witnessed these events as kids remember.

Pétain, such a popular hero

On October 24, 1940, Philippe Pétain met Adolf Hitler in Montoire and led the French into collaboration with the Nazis. A black page in the history of France, written by a man whom many then considered a hero: the winner of Verdun.

Voices of the Battle of Britain

Based on the book of the same title by best-selling author Henry Buckton, this film is enhanced by a fascinating series of interviews with a wide variety of people who played a vital role in Britain’s ‘finest hour’. Included are the captivating accounts of six fighter pilots who risked their lives day after day to combat the Luftwaffe, which was at that time greatly more experienced in aerial warfare. Their memories are enhanced by the recollections of a gunner, two members of the 400,000-strong ground crew who kept as many aircraft flying as possible, a barrage balloon operator and men who helped to build Spitfires.

Attack and Capture: The Story of U-Boat 505

On June 4, 1944 Captain Daniel Gallery and his men of the U.S. Naval Task Force 22.3 did the nearly impossible - they captured a German U-boat. It was the first enemy vessel-of-war captured in battle on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since 1815. Climb aboard the historic U-505 and relive its journey from a powerhouse of the German fleet to a display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Witness archival footage and rare interviews with both German and American crew members involved in the capture of the U-505. And view even rarer footage of Captains Daniel Gallery and Harold Lange, captain of the 505 at the time of its capture..

Príbehy z Kališťa

German Concentration Camps Factual Survey

On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).

Paris on the Seine

A history of the bridges of Paris, through modern views and historical engravings.

Return to Guam

Return to Guam is a 1944 short propaganda film produced by the US Navy about the taking and recapture of the island of Guam. The film starts when a convoy of ships nearing the island sees strange lights flashing from the island in Morse code "information". After cautiously investigating the signal, they find that it was made by a white man, George Tweed, the last survivor of the original garrison at Guam. Tweed relates his harrowing story of how he survived in the bush for 31 months with the help of the natives, Chamorros.

V.J. Day Celebrations

Soon after the VE Day celebrations, there is a second chance to let the hair down, and these dancers make the most of it with much humour.

Pearl Harbor: Waking The Sleeping Giant

On the morning of December 7, 1941, aircraft and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began a surprise attack on the U.S. Despite long standing assertions that this attack could have been predicted and prevented by the U.S. military, the U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor appeared to be utterly unprepared. This is the story of the attack that drew the U.S. into World War II. This exclusively licensed series contains a plethora of compelling images and film footage from before and after this historic battle.

Two Forces

Docudrama about the Soviet occupation of a Finnish village in the fall before the Winter War.

The Blue Hills

A documentary on the volunteer Estonian Army's defense against the Soviet Army in 1944 with an emphasis on its last stand in the region known as the Blue Hills of Estonia.