John Smithson Movies
- 2009
Forensic scientist Dr. Maurizio Seracini uses advanced technology to uncover and verify lost works by Leonardo da Vinci. This Smithsonian production follows the famous investigator as he closely examines the artist's murals and paintings using ultrasound and infrared equipment. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dr. Maurizio Seracini
- 2008
One of the most powerful, personal accounts of World War II ever recorded, The Diary of Anne Frank is adapted for the BBC by director Jon Jones and screenwriter Deborah Moggach. A German-born girl of Jewish descent whose family relocated to Amsterdam in 1933, Frank and her family hid out in her father's office during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, surviving for two years under cramped, crowded living conditions and relying on the kindness of others for basic living needs. During that time, the young girl eloquently documented her harrowing experiences in a diary purchased for her by her father, Otto. When the war was over, Otto was the sole surviving member of the Frank family. Returning to the space where they spent two of their darkest years, he discovered his daughter Anne's diary and decided to share it with the world. A condensed version of the 2008 BBC mini-series that originally ran 145 minutes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
One of the most powerful, personal accounts of World War II ever recorded, The Diary of Anne Frank is adapted for the BBC by director Jon Jones and screenwriter Deborah Moggach. A German-born girl of Jewish descent whose family relocated to Amsterdam in 1933, Frank and her family hid out in her father's office during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, surviving for two years under cramped, crowded living conditions and relying on the kindness of others for basic living needs. During that time, the young girl eloquently documented her harrowing experiences in a diary purchased for her by her father, Otto. When the war was over, Otto was the sole surviving member of the Frank family. Returning to the space where they spent two of their darkest years, he discovered his daughter Anne's diary and decided to share it with the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellie Kendrick
- 2008
Widely regarded as the greatest boxer of his generation -- perhaps the greatest in the history of the sport -- Muhammad Ali lost his license to box in 1967 when he refused to be conscripted into the military, citing religious objections as a Muslim. Ali was out of the boxing game for three years until the State of Georgia allowed him to fight Jerry Quarry (who quit after three rounds due to cuts) in October 1970 and after Ali defeated Oscar Bonavena two months later, the stage was set for Ali to reclaim the world heavyweight title. However, on March 1, 1971, Ali faced Joe Frazier for the first time at New York's Madison Square Garden, and Frazier handed Ali his first professional defeat; if Frazier lacked some of Ali's finesse, his strength and stamina were unmatched, and Frazier's victory came as a surprise to many fight fans. Ali hardly took the defeat graciously; in the hoopla over the "Fight of the Century," he'd called Frazier "ugly," a "gorilla", "ignorant" and an "Uncle Tom," and when the two fighters staged a rematch at Madison Square Garden in January 1974, the stakes seemed as much personal as professional. Ali defeated Frazier in their second match, which lead to "The Thrilla in Manila," a widely hyped final rematch in which Ali and Frazier fought one another for the last time in October 1975. Frazier's trainer refused to allow his fighter to return to the ring after fourteen intense and brutal rounds, but Ali collapsed while claiming his victory and told a reporter the final rounds were "the closest thing to dying I know of." While the Ali-Frazier fights have often been examined from Ali's point of view, filmmaker John Dower gives Joe Frazier a chance to tell his side of the story on The Thriller in Manila, a documentary that explores of the greatest rivalries in the history of professional sport, and how the friendship between the two men became a bitter feud by the time they entered in the ring in the Philippines. The Thriller in Manila received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Co-directors Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell's historical documentary Deep Water chronicles one of the most infamous nautical tragedies of the past several decades. In autumn 1968, Britisher Donald Crowhurst, the proprietor of a down-and-out manufacturing business for marine electrical components, avowed to enter the first Golden Globe sailing competition - a non-stop, one-man circumnavigational race against eight other competitors. In financing the boat via a deal with English entrepreneur Stanley Best, Crowhurst used his house as collateral. Relinquishing the voyage, or failing to complete it, would thus have instantly rendered Crowhurst homeless and driven his family into Chapter 11. But the voyage was doomed from the start: Crowhurst failed to finish building the craft prior to his October 31st departure, but set sail just the same, and thus sealed his own grim fate. Indeed, two weeks after Crowhurst sailed out of Devon, the boat began to leak substantially; recognizing that a trip into the Southern Ocean could spell disaster, a desperate Crowhurst radioed home with indications of phony distances and falsified his logbook; he then made an illegal pit stop in Argentina to repair the boat, and joined up with the rest of the competitors on the opposite side of Cape Horn, in the Atlantic. When Robin Knox-Johnston won the overall competition, Crowhurst and Nigel Tetley went head-to-head to win £5,000 for the fastest voyage; Crowhurst recognized that a victory would yield scrutiny of his logbooks and unveil his deceptions to the world; he thus intended to preserve his reputation by coming in second. He didn't count, however, on Tetley's boat capsizing - which led to Crowhurst's own victory. Foreseeing disaster, Crowhurst decided to end his life by drowning himself. In telling Crowhurst's sad story, Osmond and Rothwell intercut narration from Crowhurst's journals, archival film, and interviews with the sailor's family, friends, and colleagues. What emerges is a portrait of a man sinking rapidly into a pit of despair as he comes face to face with his own darkest nightmares of personal failure. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Crowhurst, Francoise Moitessier de Cazalet, (more)
- 2005
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On December 26, 2004, the world watched in horror as Thailand was devastated by one of the most deadly tsunamis in recorded history. But what was the exact cause of this historical catastrophe? Nearly one year after the fact, the world's top scientists come together and attempt to predict where the next major tsunami may strike, and discuss how to prevent it. As divers descend to the depths of the Indian Ocean to examine a critical seabed that is larger than the Alps mountain range, and suspected to have been a crucial component in creating Asian tsunamis, viewers are offered critical insight into the ways we may be able to prevent a tragedy of such scale from unfolding in the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randall Lee Rose
With dramatic historical reenactments featuring Aidan McArdle (Footprints in the Snow) in the central role as Albert Einstein and Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as his wife, Mileva Maric, NOVA: Einstein's Big Idea climbs inside the most earth-shattering discovery of the 20th Century's most brilliant scientific innovator: that of the connection between matter and energy, encapsulated in his 1905 E=mc2 formula, an equation that ultimately yielded the atom bomb. The program also explores how Einstein's professional discovery rested on the foundational research of three of his contemporaries, all tragic figures - Lise Meitner, Antoine Lavoisier, and Michael Faraday - and how each individual's work, in turn, embodied one further step toward nuclear power. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
In 1985, two adventurous young mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set off to climb the treacherous west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They were experienced climbers, and climbed "Alpine-style," climbing the mountain in "one great push," without setting up ropes or base camps ahead of time. After dealing with a snowstorm and some dangerous climbing over powder formations, they reached the summit (about 21,000 feet) on the third day. The climb down proved to be far more difficult. Simpson fell and broke his leg badly. Yates decided to try to lower Simpson down the mountain, one 300-foot section of rope at a time. The climbers had run out of gas to melt snow, so they couldn't risk stopping as night came, and a violent snowstorm began. Their plodding, painful journey hit a snag when Yates inadvertently lowered Simpson over the edge of a cliff. In the storm, the men couldn't hear each other's cries, and, Yates, uncertain as to Simpson's position, and gradually sliding down the slope himself, decided to cut the rope that connected them, sending Simpson plummeting to certain death. Miraculously, Simpson survived the fall, and was faced with the prospect of getting off the mountain alone with no food, no water, and a broken leg. In Touching the Void, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) tells their story, based on Simpson's book, using contemporary interviews with the two men, and a reenactment of their climb and descent, featuring Brendan Mackey as Simpson and Nicholas Aaron as Yates. Touching the Void was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron, (more)
- 1999
This episode of Survival in the Sky follows a team of crash detectives. Viewers will confront the problems these experts face every day in their quest to glean some insight from a pile of smoking wreckage. Also, these investigators recall the development of their profession through a series of interviews. Those with an interest in aviation history will likely find this tape of interest. ~ Rob Ferrier, All Movie Guide
The wife of a British army officer falls in love with an African American G.I. in this made-for-cable World War II drama. When her unfaithful husband (Ciaran Hinds) goes off to war, small-town homemaker Maggie Leyland (Kerry Fox) spends her time caring for her young son (Rory Jennings) and helping with the war effort. She's therefore present at a dance the locals throw for a newly arrived platoon of black soldiers from the United States. Despite Maggie's prim and proper demeanor, an unlikely friendship develops between her and Travis Holloway (Courtney B. Vance), a private who works as an army cook and dreams of actually fighting in the trenches for his country. Although the townspeople give the black G.I.'s a pleasant reception, the American brass frets about fraternization between their African-American soldiers and the local lasses. The white soldiers stationed nearby bitterly resent the competition, causing trouble for both participants in any interracial romance. Nonetheless, as the friendship between Travis and Maggie deepens, they're unable to suppress their feelings for one another. Into this clandestine relationship steps Maggie's husband, who returns unexpectedly and promptly accuses Travis of rape when he discovers the couple making love. Based on true events, The Affair was filmed by House of Cards director Paul Seed for HBO. Malcolm X's Leland Gantt co-stars as one of Travis' fellow soldiers who also pays dearly for a romance with a British woman. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Courtney Vance, Kerry Fox, (more)
- 1975
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Thought by many fans to be the most exciting boxing match (and certainly one of the most violent punch-fests) in sports history, this almost-primal fight in the Philippines, arranged by flamboyant promoter Don King, featured longtime rivals Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, who had many basic ideological differences and were manifestly not the best of friends. The fight, attended by a number of celebrities, went on at high intensity for 14 vivid, grueling rounds. As Ali said: "It'll be a chilla, and a killa, and a thrilla, when I get the gorilla in Manila." The documentary is introduced by veteran sports commentator Jim Lampley, contains the entire fight, and includes on-scene commentary from former champion Ken Norton, the legendary "Voice of Boxing" Don Dunphy, comedian Flip Wilson, and actor Hugh O'Brian. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
