History Movies
Westward Ho (1935)
Ballard’s trail jumpers attack the Wyatt Company wagon train, killing young John’s parents and kidnaping his brother, Jim. In post-Civil War California, John Wyatt, now a man, pulls together a…
Abdul the Damned (1935)
In 1908, Sultan Abdul Hamid rules the Turkish Empire, but he is faced with the threat of revolt by the Young Turk party. He allows Hilmi Pasha, the leader of…
The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
In the carnival in Spain in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the exiled republican Antonio Galvan comes from Paris masquerade to enjoy the party and visit his friend Capt….
Les Misérables (1935)
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men’s lives, and soon Valjean finds himself…
Clive of India (1935)
Fort St. David, Cuddalore, southern India, 1748. While colonial empires battle to seize an enormous territory, rich in spices and precious metals beyond the wildest dreams, and try to gain…
Cleopatra (1934)
The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.
Nell Gwyn (1934)
King Charles II first meets Nell Gwyn after seeing her do a turn at Drury Lane. They soon become close, the King preferring her feisty irreverent company to that of…
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
During the 18th century, German noblewoman Sophia Frederica, who would later become Catherine the Great, travels to Moscow to marry the dimwitted Grand Duke Peter, the heir to the Russian…
Waltzes from Vienna (1934)
Johann Strauss Jr. is forced by his father to forget music and to work in a bakery, where he falls in love with Resi, the baker’s daughter. The girl gets…
The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)
The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments…
Queen Christina (1933)
Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second wife, executed on charges of treason, King Henry weds…
Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
The story of corrupt, power-hungry, manipulative Grigori Rasputin’s influence on members of the Russian Imperial family and others, and what resulted.
The Sign of the Cross (1932)
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
The Conquerors (1932)
A newlywed couple journeys west to make their fortune, and begins a banking empire.
Shanghai Express (1932)
A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.
The Congress Dances (1931)
Vienna glove-sales-lady Christel falls in love with Russian Czar Alexander. Austrian Prince Metternich tries to use this and other pleasant diversions to keep him out of the negotiation conferences of…
Abraham Lincoln (1930)
A biopic dramatizing Abraham Lincoln’s life through a series of vignettes depicting its defining chapters: his romance with Ann Rutledge; his early years as a country lawyer; his marriage to…
The Iron Mask (1929)
King Louis XIII of France is thrilled to have born to him a son – an heir to the throne. But when the queen delivers a twin, Cardinal Richelieu sees…
Storm Over Asia (1928)
In 1918 a young and simple Mongol herdsman and trapper is cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a European capitalist fur trader. Ostracized from the trading post, he…
The Last Command (1928)
A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
The King of Kings (1927)
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history,…
The Beloved Rogue (1927)
François Villon, in his lifetime the most renowned poet in France, is also a prankster, an occasional criminal, and an ardent patriot.
Old Ironsides (1926)
An embellished account of the 1803 expedition by famed frigate U.S.S. Constitution–a.k.a. “Old Ironsides”–against the Barbary pirates then terrorizing American shipping, focusing on the crew and passengers of a fictional…
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the…
The Iron Horse (1925)
Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave…
The Spanish Dancer (1923)
The Spanish Dancer is the story of Maritana, a Romani girl who dances in courtyards and even tells people’s fortunes. Despite her lowly position, Maritana wishes to be a Countess….
Häxan (1922)
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle…
Orphans of the Storm (1921)
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents’ lives causes Louise’s blindness, they decide…
Anniversary of the Revolution (1918)
A chronicle of the Russian Revolution of 1917, from the bourgeois democratic February Revolution to the great socialist October Revolution and the final triumph.
Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916)
Fenella, a poor Italian girl, falls in love with a Spanish nobleman, but their affair triggers a revolution and national catastrophe.