World History

AMAZING WONDERS OF THE WORLD:  FROM EGYPT TO ISRAEL (30532)
1999, Color, 52 minutes, NR.
Your journey to the most remarkable destinations in the Middle East.

ANNE FRANK:  THE WHOLE STORY (32983 plus)
2001. Color, 189 minutes, Rated PG-13. 
Starring Hannah Taylor Gordon, Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn, and Tatjana Blacher.
Based on Melissa Muller’s book Anne Frank:  A Biography, this film covers young Anne Frank’s life from her childhood before the war in Amsterdam, through the harsh war years covered in her diary, to her final days leading up to her death in a Nazi concentration camp.

THE ATTIC: THE HIDING OF ANNE FRANK (SV13147)
95 minutes.
True story of Miep Gies (Mary Steenburgen), a woman who risked everything she has to protect the lives of almost a dozen Dutch Jews, including the young Anne Frank.  Set in Amsterdam during World War II, The Attic is Gies’ powerful true story.

CATHERINE THE GREAT (32073 plus)
2000, Color, 100 minutes, NR. 
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau, and Hannes Jaenicke.
Portrayal of the legendary German princess.  In 1744, young Sophia is crowned Catherine II, wife of Peter, a horrible despot and ruler of Russia.  Soon Catherine rises above her oppressive environment to become the famed Czarina of Russia.

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (18417)
1959, B&W, 170 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Richard Beymer, and Joseph Schildkraut.
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s play is translated to film in this gripping account of WWII Jewish refugees hiding in occupied Amsterdam.  Anne Frank’s celebrated diary of the harrowing experience reveals her flourishing spirit in one of the darkest of our times.

FORGET ME NOT: THE ANNE FRANK STORY (SV24283)
1996, color
Mat Fritzlinger is a schoolboy enamored by the Neo-Nazi movement.  One day, while on a field trip to a Holocaust museum, Mat finds himself in a mysterious, magical library.  From there he is spun into the streets of -occupied Amsterdam in the year 1944 – as a Jew.  There he meets Anne Frank and discovers the true meaning of the word ”hero.”

THE GEOGRAPHY TOUR

• Vol. 8:  The Five Themes of Geography
  1995, Color, 17 minutes, NR.
  This volume answers questions that students ask concerning “The Five Themes of Geography.”  Examples are:  What are the Five Themes of Geography? What is Absolute Location?  What is Relative Location? What are Human or Cultural Place Characteristics?  What is an Environment?  What are Physical Place Characteristics?  What is a Region?

THE HINDENBURG, part 1 & 2 (THE HISTORY CHANNEL) (31031)
1996, Color, 100 minutes, NR.
This documentary brings you the complete story of the world’s largest airship, from the struggles of its visionary creator, to the theory that a terrorist bomb caused its destruction.  Features extraordinary interviews with survivors, historians, and eyewitnesses.

HINDENBURG’S FIERY SECRET (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC) (31024)
1999, Color, 60 minutes, NR.
The most celebrated and magnificent flying machine ever built.  See the unforgettable story of heroes and horror, and how one ill-fated flight put an end to history’s golden age of passenger airships.  Includes rare, never-before-released footage.

HOLOCAUST part 1, 2, & 3 (8094)
1988, Color, 428 minutes, NR. 
Starring Michael Moriarty, Meryl Streep, and James Wood.
Recognized as one of the most powerful and extraordinary docudramas ever made.  It was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards and was the winner of eight. (Special Rental $3)

INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS: STORIES OF KINDERTRANSPORT (34241)
2000, Color and B&W, 117 minutes, Rated PG.
This Academy Award winning documentary chronicles one of the lesser-known stories of the Holocaust: that of the kindertransport, which saved the lives of 10,000 Jewish children.

ISRAEL  VS. THE PLO: THE INVASION OF LEBANON (SV8089)
1989, Color, 60 minutes, NR.
The story of Israel's 1982 attempt to obliterate a formidable enemy; the bloody attack on Beirut; the innocent civilians caught tragically in the crossfire; and the horrible price paid when Israel changed from David to Goliath.

MANDELA:  THE MAN AND HIS COUNTRY (SV8313)
1990, Color, 50 minutes, NR. 
Starring Nelson Mandela.
An intensely emotional examination of Nelson Mandela, the symbolic head of the anti-apartheid movement, who was recently freed from prison after 27 years by the South African government.  Included are exclusive interviews with Jesse Jackson and James Michener.  Plus, unforgettable footage shot right after Mandela's release.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC:  AFGHANISTAN REVEALED:  THE UNTOLD STORY OF A LAND AND ITS PEOPLE (SV34421)
2001, Color, 45 minutes, NR. 
In an unprecedented event, National Geographic goes deep into Afghanistan to bring back a vivid portrait of the tumultuous country that is not longer accessible to journalists and filmmakers.  Features in-depth interviews with the late Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shad Massoud, who was assassinated two days before the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States; includes exclusive interviews with Taliban soldiers being held by the Northern Alliance; looks at refugees who speak plainly of their suffering fro the effects of Taliban rule and the decrees that are especially harsh for women. 

NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA (SV898)
1971, Color, 183 minutes, Rated PG. 
Starring Michael Jayston.
The visual epic of the Russian Revolution and the end of Russian Czars.  The sets and costumes are excellent, and the film is historically correct.

SCHINDLER’S LIST (17717 plus)
1994, Color and B&W, 197 minutes, Rated R. 
Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, and Caroline Goodall.
Black and white monumental film based on the true story of Oskar Schindler.  Schindler is a businessman in World War II Poland who uses Jews as cheap labor in his factory.  After his workers are sent to a concentration camp run by a demonic Nazi soldier, Schindler and his accountant devise a plan to save 1,100 Jews by sending them to his factory in Czechoslavakia.

THE STORY OF ISLAM (SV9909)
1990, Color and B&W, 120 minutes, NR.
This brilliantly produced film takes us on a journey through the history of Islam, from its humble beginnings to its place in the world today.

SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST (SV21558 plus)
1995, Color and B&W, 70 minutes, NR.
This film provides just the briefest glimpse of the many stories the Shoah Foundation has collected.  The video is broken into thirds by year, so we learn of life before the Holocaust, during internment in concentration camps, and after liberation.  The testimonies are powerful, and at times overwhelming.  The photos and film clips are frequently horrifying and may be too much for younger viewers.

WONDERS OF THE AFRICAN WORLD WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.:  BLACK KINGDOMS OF THE NILE (32497)
1999, Color, 60 minutes, NR.
This film explores the ancient world of Kush, home of the Nubian people, and of Egypt – a site of continuing controversy, as Gates notes, regarding the race of its inhabitants – and goes on to introduce Nubia’s modern descendents, its culture and traditions.