Sunrise at Campobello (1960), Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (2002), The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), Mahler (1975), Cleopatra (1934), Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone (2007), Jing wu ying xiong (1994), Modigliani (2004) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Historical Figure movies.
Storyline: On his deathbed Tudor-king Henry VIII remembers his long reign and especially the crucial part his six marriages played in it, without producing the male heir he desired most to prevent civil wars for the succession as England suffered before his father's ascent. His first queen, Spanish princess Kathryn of Aragon, had one fatal flaw: her children died, except daughter Mary, so he pressed Rome for an annulment, and when that failed out went cardinal Wolsey as chief minister and Henry made himself head of the Church of England instead of the papacy and married Anne Boleyn. When she too failed to produce a male heir, just princess Elisabeth, he had her head roll for 'infidelity'. The third queen, gentle Jane Seymour, died giving birth to sickly prince Edward. For diplomatic reasons Henry married minor princess Anne of Cleves, whose utter lack of female charms causes another annulment and the fall of Thomas Cromwell, who recommended her. Fifth is the lovely Catherine Howard, cousin of Anne Boleyn, but again childless and found to have been carnal with servants before and after her royal marriage, so also decapitated. Finally Catherine Parr, a young widow, stands at his deathbed.—KGF Vissers
Plot Keywords: history, biography, drama, british, royalty, political intrigue, power struggle ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The young Emperor Franz Joseph is on his way to his summer residence at Ischl, where his birthday will be celebrated with a big party. His mother, Archduchess Sophie, has decided that he shall marry her niece Princess Helene of Bayern, and that the engagement shall be proclaimed at the ball. Franz Joseph doesn't know Helene yet, but his mother has already prepared everything. To avoid suspicions of what is going on, her sister, Duchess Ludovika of Bavaria, brings not only Princess Helene, called Néné, to the ball, but also the somewhat younger Princess Elisabeth, called Sissi. Archduchess Sophie is particular about strict etiquette at the court, and dislikes her niece Sissi, who is a free spirit, just as her father, Duke Max of Bavaria. To keep Sissi inactive, her room in Ischl is locked from outside, but Sissi escapes through a window. She goes to the wood, and when she is fishing in a river, the Emperor Franz Joseph passes by in his royal carriage. He is immediately enamored by Sissi, who doesn't reveal her true identity. When Franz Joseph recognizes Sissi at the ball the same evening, he defies his mother, and proclaims that Sissi will become his wife and the new Empress of Austria.—Maths Jesperson {maths.jesperson1@comhem.se}
Plot Keywords: historical, biographical, romantic, drama, royalty, austria, 19th century ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The newly-named Emperor Maximillian, the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire, arrives in Mexico in the early 1860s with his wife Carlotta to face popular sentiment favoring Benito Juarez and popular demand for democracy. With an elite group of Mexican monarchists, Maximillian tries to appease the democratic Mexicans but he fails. Abraham Lincoln continues to support Juarez and asks the French to withdraw support for Maximilian. Carlotta goes to France to plead with Napoleon III, to no avail.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: history, biography, drama, mexico, revolution, politics, war ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Wronke Prison, 1916. Social democrat Rosa Luxemburg faces a mock execution. Twenty years earlier, Rosa's political gifts are acknowledged by everyone, as she struggles for democratic government in Germany and revolution in Poland. There she works closely with Leo Jogiches. Their political activity creates some difficulty for their personal relationship - As international tensions rise, Rosa makes speeches denouncing war and militarism. She seems too radical for her fellow Socialists. She meets Karl Liebknecht. When World War I begins, Rosa and Karl are united in opposition.—David Carless
Plot Keywords: biography, history, drama, political, revolution, germany, feminism ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.—Marg Baskin <marg@asd.raytheon.ca>
Plot Keywords: historical, war, biography, british, 17th century, political, revolution ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This biographical account of Martin Luther's actions that eventually created the Lutheran and Protestant denominations was filmed in conjunction with the Lutheran Church. Niall MacGinnis portrays the friar whose nailing of the ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg created such a stir that it shook the foundations of the medieval Church. This movie shows the struggle between Luther and Rome, and how the medieval Church did not fully explain things he questioned, which led to him to be labelled a heretic.
Plot Keywords: historical, biographical, religious, 16th century, germany, faith, church ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Two armies clash in ancient war-torn China; none survive but a young general from a royal house and a farmer foot soldier who binds the fallen leader to take him home and claim a reward. Many stand in their way: an abandoned songstress, the noble's own murderous younger brother, desperate beggars, rough slavers, and the pair's own differing agendas. Through it all, a bond forms between the two, and what will happen at journey's end becomes anyone's guess.
Plot Keywords: war, history, action, drama, military, 2010s, revolution ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Inventor Thomas Edison's boyhood is chronicled and shows him as a lad whose early inventions and scientific experiments usually end up causing disastrous results. As a result, the towns folk all think Tom is crazy, and creating a strained relationship between Tom and his father. Toms only solace is his understanding mother who believes he's headed to do great things.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
Plot Keywords: biography, history, drama, family, inspirational, american, black and white ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: For the most part, the documentaries of Emile De Antonio tend to be abstract and withdrawn from any sense of personal expression or feeling. Point of Order and In the Year of the Pig may have dialectic meanings that show the radical left wing politics of De Antonio, but the viewer never actually sees the soul of De himself. After a brilliant and subversive career, De died in 1989, but he first completed his final act to the play of his life- Mr. Hoover and I. Mr. Hoover and I is an autobiography, there is no way around that, but it is a different form of autobiography. It is a biography of images and explanations all told behind the backdrop of the life of J.Edgar Hoover and why not. It is Hoover and the establishment that he represents that De fought for so many years against. Although De's life had taken many different shapes- from art patron to radical filmmaker- one thing always haunted him- the spectre of the establishment, an establishment that personified itself through Hoover. Where the attacks of In the Year of the Pig and Point of Order arise from an intellectual sense of montage- the attacks in Hoover are direct. This is De telling us what he believes, not relying on a montage of found army footage. Hoover presents the side of De we never see- the man- the man who loves his wife (wives), has his haircut, likes to poke fun at himself ("anyone who knows me, knows that the only time I empty my wallet is at a bar" on charges that he donated money to Soviet causes), and most of all is a many of passion for what he believes in. Knowing that De passed away only months after finishing Hoover, it almost brings tears to the eyes of harden De fans for it wasn't until he left us that we got to see the real Emile De Antonio.
Plot Keywords: documentary, usa, politics, history, fbi, interview, cold war ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.
Plot Keywords: biography, history, drama, art, painter, british, 19th century ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: George Bryan Brummel, a British military officer, loves Lady Margery, the betrothed of Lord Alvanley. Despite her own desperate love for Brummel, she submits to family pressure and marries Lord Alvanley. Brummel, broken-hearted, embarks upon a life of revelry. He befriends the Prince of Wales and leaves the army, becoming subsequently the best-known rake and decider of fashion in Europe. As his affairs flourish, so does his disdain for his benefactor, the Prince. Eventually Brummel falls into disfavor, and it is only Lady Margery who has any chance of helping him.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: historical drama, biography, romance, 19th century, fashion, social class, silent film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Adm. Michiel de Ruyter (Frank Lammers) commands the Dutch fleet against the English navy in the 17th century.
Plot Keywords: history, war, navy, biography, russia, action, adventure ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: As Europe looms on the edge of war in 1913, the family and members of the court of the Russian czar Nicholas come under the sway of a mysterious mystic named Rasputin. When Rasputin miraculously appears to cure the czar's son Alyosha of his hemophilia, the monk's reputation is cemented, particularly in the mind of the princess Natasha. Natasha's fiancé (and, later, husband) Prince Paul Chegodieff, however, suspects Rasputin is a charlatan who will cause the downfall of the royal family and perhaps of Russia itself.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: history, biography, drama, russia, royalty, conspiracy, power struggle ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This is a movie based on the life of Gertrude Lawrence (Dame Julie Andrews), on and off-stage. It takes the opportunity to feature extravagant musical production numbers with Andrews acting, singing, and dancing.—Stewart M. Clamen <clamen@cs.cmu.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, biography, hollywood, period drama, song and dance, theatrical adaptation, lavish costumes ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Writer and philosopher Voltaire, loyal to his king, Louis XV of France, nonetheless writes scathingly of the king's disdain for the rights and needs of his people. Louis admires Voltaire but is increasingly influenced against him by his minister, the Count de Sarnac. Louis's mistress, the courtesan Madame de Pompadour, is Voltaire's protector and advocate, but even she has difficulty preserving his welfare when Voltaire publicly excoriates the king for the wrongful execution of one of his subjects, Calas. Voltaire gives refuge to Calas's daughter and endeavors to show the king the error of his ways. But the Count de Sarnac, with an agenda of intrigue and disloyalty, determines to do away with the troublesome Voltaire.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: biography, historical, drama, france, writer, politics, religion ...
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