The Last Days of Pompeii

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opt...

Runtime

1h 21m

Director

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Cast

Maria Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley

The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership ...

Runtime

3h 17m

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Cast

Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Runtime

3h 17m

Director

D.W. Griffith

Cast

Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Robert Harron

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius Axilla, a good-hearted Roman spy, and his powerful slave, Maciste. The trio are broken up as Cabiria is entrusted to a woman of noble birth. With Cabiria's fate unknown, Maciste punished for his...

Runtime

2h 28m

Director

Giovanni Pastrone

Cast

Carolina Catena, Lidia Quaranta, Gina Marangoni

Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, ...

Runtime

1h 10m

Director

Charles Tait

Cast

Elizabeth Tait, John Tait

Prague, Czechoslovakia, during the inter-war period. Jan Dítě, a young and clever waiter who wants to become a millionaire, comes to the conclusion that to achieve his ambitious goal he must be diligent, listen and observe as much as he can, be always discreet and use what he learns to his own advantage; but the turbulent tides of hist...

Runtime

1h 55m

Director

Jiří Menzel

Cast

Ivan Barnev, Oldřich Kaiser, Julia Jentsch

The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík...

Runtime

1h 38m

Director

Jiří Menzel

Cast

János Bán, Marián Labuda, Zdeněk Svěrák

In post-WWII Communist Czechoslovakia, several characters considered bourgeois are sentenced to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation. Among them is a young man who pines for a female convict.

Runtime

1h 34m

Director

Jiří Menzel

Cast

Rudolf Hrušínský, Václav Neckář, Jitka Zelenohorská

Francin, manager of a small-town brewery, has a charming wife whose abundant blonde locks are an adornment to the town. Maryska looks ethereal but loves meat and beer, while Francin is an ascetic. The strict members of the brewery board of directors come to audit the accounts, but are diverted from concentrating on Francin's detailed r...

Runtime

1h 33m

Director

Jiří Menzel

Cast

Magda Vášáryová, Rudolf Hrušínský, Petr Čepek

An episodic film about the inhabitants of Kersko, their hardships and their joys, most prominently hunting. A lyrical and humorous adaptation of writings by Bohumil Hrabal.

Runtime

1h 23m

Director

Jiří Menzel

Cast

Rudolf Hrušínský, Jaromír Hanzlík, Josef Somr