Social & External
Yang Guifei
Tang Xuanzong / Dan Er
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.
As part of the BBC2 50th anniversary celebrations comedians Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were commissioned to produce this spoof history of the channel. It parodies the channel, its content and the history documentary.
On guard! Zhou Fei's sword is created by the essence of his parents: the mother is the blade and the scabbard is the father. Many years ago Zhou Fei's grandfather Li Zhengwei was poisoned to save Duan Jiuniang. The forty-eight fortresses were lost during a surprise attack by the False Emperor. Zhou Fei's mother, Li Jinrong - a young girl at the time - was fierce and reckless, and her sword skills were not yet accomplished. Having lost her family and her father, she went to Liang Shao's strategist Zhou Yitang to ask for help. When Liang Shao refused and Zhou Yitang was ambivalent, Li Jinrong went north alone, determined to assassinate the false emperor.
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.
Edmond Dantés's life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes are shattered when his best friend, Fernand, deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantés escapes with the help of a fellow inmate and plots his revenge, cleverly insinuating himself into the French nobility.
In the latter years of the Korean Empire, Lee In Hwa, disguises herself as a man so she can join a group of young men determined to overthrow the colonial government. They fight together with young national activists presided by Hwal Min and supported by Daewon-gun, the Prince Regent, against Min Gyeom Ho and his peers. But Min and his team perform a surprise attack on Hwal Min and his peers.
Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled, teenage nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.
The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.
Su Jin meets Li'er. As their bond grows, the weight of Su Jin being the crowned prince and Li'er as a cat spirit grows heavy.
Two rival artists at Sivadas Swamigal's drama troupe compete in everything they do. While one of them goes on to become successful, the other fails in life.
A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.
Cree matriarch Aline Spears survives a childhood in Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. She uses her uncanny ability to understand and translate codes into working for a special division of the Canadian Air Force as a Cree code talker in World War II. The story unfolds over 100 years with a cumulative force that propels us into the future.
The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba
Downtrodden wife and mother Nella's life takes an unexpected turn for the better after she joins the Women's Voluntary Service office in Barrow-in-Furness during the Second World War. However, her new-found happiness is shattered when her son Cliff leaves to join the troops - provoking a painful confrontation with her husband Will.
There's a war going on in ancient Kyoto. A war fought in shadows, between the forces of the Shogunate's armed enforcers, the Shinsengumi, and the vampire-like Ronin warriors known as the Rasetsu or Furies. And trapped in the middle is a young woman disguised as a man. Seeking her missing father, Chizuru Yukimura comes to Kyoto only to find her fate forever intertwined with the destinies of Shinsengumi Vice commander Toshizo Hijikata and his elite force of swordsmen. Because Chizuru's father has created a secret elixir that enhances the user's strength, speed and healing, and the furies will do anything and kill anyone in order to control that power!
A story set during the famous WWII air battle between the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe.
Sam is a teenage royal rebel, second in line to the throne of the kingdom of Illyria. Just as her disinterest in the royal way of life is at an all-time high, she discovers she has super-human abilities and is invited to join a secret society of similar extraordinary second-born royals charged with keeping the world safe.
After a mysterious chest opens a gateway through time, teen gamer Jack is transported to an ancient empire terrorized by a cruel barbarian king. Jack will need all of his gaming skills as he battles to defeat the barbarian, protect a beautiful princess, and somehow find his way back home.
An evil sorceress transports the gang back to the age of chivalrous knights, spell-casting wizards, and fire-breathing dragons.
Aspiring composer Jim Sanders is engaged to spoiled rich girl Patty. But the morning after his bachelor party, Jim wakes up to discover a beautiful, broken-winged angel in his pool. When everyone finds out about his heavenly houseguest, Jim must cope with a dangerously jealous fiancée, an exploitive future father-in-law and a group of buddies with an outrageous business plan!
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
Huo An, the commander of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions, was framed by evil forces and becomes enslaved. On the other hand, a Roman general escapes to China after rescuing the Prince. The heroic duo meet in the Western Desert and a thrilling story unfolds.
When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their Old-Fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create something new: The Modern Family.
After a deadly storm, Tom and Jerry find themselves stranded on an unknown island ruled by the evil Wizard of Oz. As they try to find their way back home, they worry for their master Dorothy's safety.
The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.
Two childhood friends now in their thirties must decide whether to follow their heads or their hearts once the man decides to follow his parents' advice and enter into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.
The odd-couple courtship saga continues of wealthy, middle-aged retiree Qin Fen and serious-minded young air hostess Xiaoxiao. After an amusing prelude in which Qin presides over a lavish divorce ceremony for an amicably splitting married couple, he and Xiaoxiao decide to address their own relationship barriers — her youth and beauty, his cynical, childish sense of humor — by entering into a trial marriage while on a trip to the country's tropical southeast.
A stubborn idealist spies a bride on her way to her wedding and immediately falls in love with her.
What was a cunning plan from Lord Edmund Blackadder V to fake a time machine on his gullibly incompetent friends, turns out to be the real thing and hurls him and his imbecile underling, Baldrick, through the course of human history.
A young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out to get their hands on it.
In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.
A pampered cat takes for granted the lucky hand he has been dealt after he is rescued and loved by Rose, a kind-hearted and passionate student. When he loses his ninth life, fate steps in to set him on a transformative journey.
God has had enough of the bad behavior and attitude of humankind, and has decided to start it all over. It is up to a struggling inventor and a bank teller, both with very amateur criminal minds, to save the world by falling in love.
A wildly inventive deconstruction of the romantic comedy built around the question: What would you do if you could travel to your loved ones’ past, heal their traumas, fix their problems, and change them into the perfect partner?
Young Chickenhare is the adopted son of King Peter, a famous adventurer. Part chicken and part hare, he has a really tough time growing up and disguises himself as a hare to avoid the mockeries of his peers. When the day of the Royal Adventurer Society trials comes, Chickenhare, hampered by his disguise, fails miserably. But he is determined to grab a second chance and find the Scepter of the Hamster of Darkness, before his evil Uncle Lapin. The Scepter will give immense power to its holder. If Lapin gets hold of it, he will be unstoppable. Accompanied by his faithful servant Abe, a sarcastic turtle, and Meg, a martial arts expert skunk, he sets of on an epic and initiatory quest.
The classic Roald Dahl tale gets a modern twist when Tom and Jerry enter the amazing world of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.