Free Resources of Rare Movies
Posts tagged Biography
The Elephant Man (1980)
Nov 12th
Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves, Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak.
The Long Riders (1980)
Nov 12th
The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the Jesse James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of of revenge.
My Best Friend, General Vasili, the Son of Joseph Stalin (1991)
Apr 23rd
Vasili Stalin was Lieut. General of the
Yemelyan Pugachev (1978)
Apr 23rd
Emelyan Don Cossack Pugachev says goodbye to his wife and children and “running out” on the run. Filaret elder blesses him lead the revolt under the name of Tsar Peter Fedorovich. Brutally crushes the rebels from the feudal. Queen sends troops against the rebels. Traitors issue Emelian, and now he was being taken across Russia in an iron cage.
The Mirror (1975)
Apr 23rd
A man in his forties is going to die and remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, the people who helped his family in the difficult postwar period.
Taming of the Fire (1972)
Apr 23rd
Epic film based on a true story of creation and development of Russian space and missile industry and it’s founder Sergei P. Korolev (as the leading character Andrei Bashkirtsev). Before the WWII he develops the first rocket launch center in Central Russia and makes the Katyusha” weapon. In spite of his arrest and imprisonment, he continues working on rocket design. He is released from prison upon his request to fight in the front-line against the Nazis. After the WWII he makes a new rocket system for the nuclear missiles program, and a new rocket that launched “Sputnik” in 1957 from Baykonur Kosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Next achievement is the first man in space and other human space missions. Korolev’s uncompromising character causes him many problems with Soviet politicians, and he dies from a heart attack. His mission is carried on by his colleagues.
Franz Liszt. Dreams of love (1970)
Apr 23rd
Pianist and composer Liszt was giving performances all over Europe and made his famous concert tour to St. Petersburg, Russia. Liszt’s brilliant piano playing impressed the Russian royalty and aristocracy. In Russia Liszt met the beautiful princess Carolyne, who soon left her husband for Liszt . She became his last love, and he composed the Dream of Love”, dedicated to her. But the Church did not allow Liszt to marry princess Caroline, because she could not terminate her first marriage. Being loved by the public, Liszt was never really happy in his personal life, and he expressed himself making beautiful music.”
Road to Life (1955)
Apr 23rd
1920. By ravaged by war and revolution Russia wander thousand disadvantaged children. In the first difficult years of Soviet power teacher Anton Makarenko is taken for the education of juvenile delinquents. Orphans look down on the instructions of teachers, whose usual approaches are not able to overcome the hostility and resentment in the hardened hearts of teenagers. But one day, without losing hope of success, Anton S. makes a very risky step. Bold action brings him prestige among the desperate brats. And soon, along with the teachers on the foundation of the destroyed colony transgressors are starting to build their new home and new life.
Mussorgsky (1950)
Apr 23rd
A group of composers known as The Five meet at Balakirev’s, Saint Petersburg. Young Modest Mussorgsky, both a civil servant and a musician, has become a fixture there. When he goes to the country and discovers the lowly conditions of the peasants and the bloody conflicts with the rich land owners. He works on Gogol’s ‘The Marriage’, trying to render into music the natural accents of the play’s naturalistic dialogue. But his efforts do not pan out. On the other hand, he starts writing his opera on the story of Boris Godunov. The Marinsky Theatre refuses to stage the work. The Five, and Mussorgsky among them, are libeled and the group starts disintegrating.
Ray (2004)
Feb 19th
The true life story of legendary blues singer Ray Charles from loosing his eyesight in early childhood, to his rising career during the 1950s and 1960s, and his problems with racism, drug abuse, failed relationships and his ideas to change the pace music by combining soul and gospel music.
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Feb 19th
Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother, desperate to find a job, but is having no luck. This losing streak even extends to a failed lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in. With no alternative, she successfully browbeats her lawyer to give her a job in compensation for the loss. While no one takes her seriously, with her trashy clothes and earthy manners, that soon changes when she begins to investigate a suspicious real estate case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. What she discovers is that the company is trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the area. As she digs deeper, Erin finds herself leading point in a series of events that would involve her lawfirm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Silkwood (1983)
Feb 19th
Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate.
Rudy (1993)
Feb 19th
Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.
Reds (1981)
Feb 19th
This movie tells the true story of John Reed, a radical American journalist around the time of World War I. He soon meets Louise Bryant, a respectable married woman, who dumps her husband for Reed and becomes an important feminist and radical in her own right. After involvement with labor and political disputes in the US, they go to Russia in time for the October Revolution in 1917, when the Communists siezed power. Inspired, they return to the US, hoping to lead a similar revolution. A particularly fascinating aspect of the movie is the inclusion of interviews with “witnesses”, the real-life surviving participants in the events of the movie.
Out of Africa (1985)
Feb 19th
Karen Blixen, a Danish woman, marries a friend for the title of Baroness and they move to Africa and start a coffee plantation. Things unfold when her husband begins cheating on her and is away on business often, so she’s at home alone, working on the farm and bonding with two men she met in her first day in Africa. She eventually falls in love with the one, Denys Finch-Hatton and goes on safari and whatnot with him. Later, she begins to want more from him than the simple friendship/relationship they have and pushes marriage, but Denys still wants his freedom. By the end, she’s gained a much better understanding and respect for the African culture than when she came.
Goodfellas (1990)
Feb 19th
The story of Irish-Italian American, Henry Hill, and how he lives day-to-day life as a member of the Mafia. Based on a true story, the plot revolves around Henry and his two unstable friends Jimmy and Tommy as they gradually climb the ladder from petty crime to violent murders.
Raging Bull (1980)
Feb 19th
When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opponent, he’s a prizefighter. But when he treats his family and friends the same way, he’s a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family’s love, something always seems to come between them. Perhaps it’s his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he winds up in the ring alone.
Schindler’s List (1993)
Feb 19th
“Schindler’s List” is the based-on-truth story of Nazi Czech business man Oskar Schindler, who uses Jewish labor to start a factory in occupied Poland. As World War II progresses, and the fate of the Jews becomes more and more clear, Schindler’s motivations switch from profit to human sympathy and he is able to save over 1100 Jews from death in the gas chambers.
