TCM Website
October 14, 1999

Festival of Theatrical Documentaries Takes Viewers on a Journey through the Social, Political and Personal History of the Century in November

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Turner Classic Movies will air A Century of Reality, a month-long festival every Tuesday in November, of great theatrical documentary films, offering a front-row seat to the monumental events of the century. From the Depression-era plains to Hitler's Germany, from the Arctic to the Louisiana Bayou, from the battlefield to the picket line, A Century of Reality will feature some of the most important and influential documentaries ever made. Titles range from NANOOK OF THE NORTH (1922, November 9, 11 p.m.) to HOOP DREAMS (1994, November 30, 2 a.m.) and the festival covers work by the masters of the genre, including Robert Flaherty, Dziga Vertov, Pare Lorentz, Leni Reifenstahl, John Huston and Barbara Kopple. Two documentarians are available for press interviews in conjunction with the festival: Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.) and Robert Drew (CRISIS: BEHIND THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMITMENT, FACES OF NOVEMBER and PRIMARY). Many of the films presented have never been seen on television. Additional screening tapes of these documentaries are also available.

Many of the films in the festival caused shock waves upon their release. Leni Reifenstahl's Nazi propaganda classic TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (1934, November 23, 8 p.m.) served as a wake-up call to the Free World, rallying the Allies to the anti-Hitler cause; Pare Lorentz's THE PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS (1936, November 30, 10 p.m.) alerted Americans to the suffering caused by the Dust Bowl storms; and Barbara Kopple's HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A. (1976, November 30, 12 a.m.) forever changed the way many Americans felt about organized labor.

Highlights of the festival include:

• Robert Drew's groundbreaking cinema-verite trilogy on John F. Kennedy - PRIMARY (1960, November 2, 8 p.m.) CRISIS (1963, November 2, 9 p.m.) and FACES OF NOVEMBER (1963, November 2, 10 p.m.) - which offers a haunting up-close look at the man behind the ever-growing mythology. This is the first time these three films have ever been shown together on television.
• The television premiere of the just-restored SOUTH (1919, November 9, 8 p.m.), which chronicled Sir Ernest Shackleton's dramatic Antarctic expedition, the subject of a highly acclaimed recent exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, as well as an upcoming Hollywood film.
• The television premiere of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack's GRASS (1925, November 9, 9:45 p.m.), which was recently selected to the National Film Registry.
• A night of WWII documentaries including the television premiere of John Huston's harrowing THE BATTLE OF SAN PIETRO (1945, November 16, 8 p.m.).

Additional highlights include a four-film celebration of the 60th anniversary of the National Film Board of Canada; two Soviet avant-garde documentaries of the 1920's, including Dziga Vertov's seminal MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA (1929, November 9, 2 a.m.); and an evening of documentaries exploring the issues faced by working-class Americans, from THE PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS to Steve James' recent classic HOOP DREAMS.

The relationship between documentaries and the history the documentarians choose to record is a complex and fascinating subject. Documentary films have been used as vehicles to educate viewers about exotic locales and peoples (NANOOK OF THE NORTH, GRASS), to create support for a political leader or cause (THE SPANISH EARTH, 1937, November 16, 9 p.m.), to showcase recent history (POINT OF ORDER, 1964, November 2, 10:30 p.m., THE WAR AT HOME, 1979, November 2, 12:30 p.m.) and to allow us to eavesdrop on situations that would normally be held beyond closed doors (PRIMARY, CRISIS). As the century draws to a close and more and more pundits muse on the way the flood of media has changed the way we understand our world and ourselves, it is fascinating to look back on these first uses of film to record and inform our history.

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A Century of Reality
Programming Schedule

Tuesday, November 2

Robert Drew's Kennedy trilogy - a candid history of JFK's journey from young senator to President to fallen hero -- and the beginning of American cinema verite.

• 8 p.m. PRIMARY (Robert Drew, 1960) A landmark record of the John F. Kennedy/Hubert Humphrey campaign for the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination, PRIMARY followed the two candidates non-stop for five days. The film introduced a new type of documentary filmmaking called "cinema verite" in which the sync sound camera moved freely with the characters throughout a breaking story, bringing the viewer into the unfolding drama in a uniquely immediate way. Premiere of newly restored version.
• 9 p.m. CRISIS: BEHIND A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITMENT (Robert Drew, 1963) Kennedy, now President, allowed Drew to film in the White House during his historic showdown with Alabama Governor George Wallace over the integration of the University of Alabama. The film provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Kennedy White House, as children romp while JFK and Attorney General Robert Kennedy hammer out a strategy for dealing with the crisis. Premiere of newly restored version.
• 10 p.m. FACES OF NOVEMBER (Robert Drew, 1963) A short, poignant look at the faces of the participants and onlookers at President Kennedy's funeral. Television Premiere.
• 10:15 p.m. FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER (Mel Stuart, 1964) A documentary about the nation's shock and sorrow after President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

More Political Documentary Classics

• 10:30 p.m. POINT OF ORDER (Emile De Antonio, 1964) The classic documentary culled from the televised 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, during which the rabid Communist witch hunt by senator Joe McCarthy and aide Roy Cohn finally unraveled.
• 12:30 a.m. THE WAR AT HOME (Glenn Silber, 1979) OscarÆ-nominated documentary chronicling American opposition to the Vietnam War, focusing on the rising tide of protest at the University of Wisconsin.

Tuesday, November 9

The Age of Exploration

• 8 p.m. SOUTH (Frank Hurley, 1919) After his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed by polar ice, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his 27-member crew spent nearly two years in the roughest weather on earth, surviving against impossible odds. Yet as Shackleton later wrote, "Not a life lost and we have been through Hell." After six years of spectacular restoration work by the British Film Institute, SOUTH, the film that captured one of the greatest epics of courage and leadership in history, will finally be seen in its intended tinted and toned format.
• 9:45 p.m. GRASS (Merian C. Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack, 1925) A silent documentary from globe-trotting filmmakers Cooper and Schoedsack (who went on to make KING KONG in 1933) chronicles the staggering annual trek of 50,000 Persian nomads as they move their herds across the rugged and dangerous Zardeh Kuh mountains in search of greener pastures.
• 11 p.m. NANOOK OF THE NORTH (Robert Flaherty, 1922) Explorer and prospector Flaherty's portrait of an Eskimo hunter and his family was a commercial and critical success upon its release and remains a classic today.
• 12:30 p.m. LOUISIANA STORY (Robert Flaherty, 1948) A lyrical look at oil exploration in the lush and mysterious Louisiana bayou, seen through the eyes of a young Cajun boy.

Soviet Avant-Garde

• 2 p.m. THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (Dziga Vertov, 1929) Vertov, who described his goal as "the use of the camera as a cinema-eye more perfect than the human eye for exploring the chaos of visual phenomena filling the universe," did just that in this classic depiction of an urban metropolis as seen by a dazzlingly inventive cameraman.
• 3:15 p.m. SALT FOR SVANETIA (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1929) An account of the starkly isolated mountain community of Svanetia and its devastating need for salt.

Tuesday, November 16

World War II Documentaries

• 8 p.m. THE BATTLE OF SAN PIETRO (John Huston, 1945) Huston's timeless classic about the Allies' bloody, courageous battle for an Italian village in WWII was censored by the Army, which commissioned the film, for being too realistic.
• 9 p.m. THE SPANISH EARTH (Joris Ivens, 1937) Funded by a group of American intellectuals, THE SPANISH EARTH is a powerful chronicle of the loyalist struggle against fascism, with narration written and spoken by Ernest Hemingway.
• 10 p.m. CHURCHILL'S ISLAND (Stuart Legg, 1941) The first film to win the Academy AwardÆ for Best Documentary, this Canadian film account of the strategy of the Battle of Britain shows the relationship of the various forces that made up the island's defenses.
• 10:30 p.m. DESERT VICTORY (Roy Boulting, David MacDonald, 1943) This Academy AwardÆ-winning British WWII documentary traces the struggle in Africa between the opposing forces of generals Rommel and Montgomery, from the defeat at El Alemein to the ultimate British victory at Tripoli.
• 11:45 p.m. CAMERAMEN AT WAR (British Ministry of Information, 1943) A short film about the cameramen covering WWII.
• 12 a.m. APPOINTMENT IN TOKYO (Army Pictorial Service, 1946) This documentary features Gen. Douglas MacArthur and covers the entire American Pacific campaign, from the Bataan retreat to the surrender of Japan.
• 1 a.m. DECEMBER 7th (John Ford, 1943) Produced for the US government, DECEMBER 7th is not technically a documentary but instead an amazingly realistic recreation of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. As originally produced, the film was a stern criticism of America's lack of preparedness. The government didn't like this aspect of the film and ordered it edited; the remaining 34-minute docudrama won an Academy AwardÆ. TCM will broadcast the complete, unedited version.

Tuesday, November 23

Leni Reifenstahl Classics

• 8 p.m. TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (Leni Reifenstahl, 1934) Popular actress Leni Reifenstahl was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to film the Nazi Nuremberg Party Rally in 1934. Using 30 cameras and a crews of hundred, the result was TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, perhaps the most brilliant propaganda film of all time. The cameras captured the seemingly countless rows of perfectly aligned Nazi soldiers marching through the streets and, for the first time, the world saw the strength and power of Hitler's hold on Germany. The film served as both a rallying tool for Hitler and as a wake-up call for the Allied nations; it was seeing the "blood-curdling" TRIUMPH OF THE WILL that inspired Frank Capra when called on to make the influential Why We Fight series.
• 10 p.m. OLYMPIA, PART I and PART II (Leni Reifenstahl, 1938) A monumental two-part documentary of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The film is constructed chronologically to capture mounting tension of the competitions and used 45 cameras placed level with the athletes, floated by balloons, in pits dug into the fields and even underwater. Part I covers the track and field events, where American Jesse Owens disproved Hitler's racial theories; Part II is a sensual celebration of physical prowess and strength covering a variety of events.

The Horrors of the Holocaust

• 2 a.m. NIGHT AND FOG (Alain Resnais, 1955) An extraordinary, disturbing film about the Nazi concentration camps that uses B&W historical stills juxtaposed with color footage of the now-empty camps.
• 2:30 a.m. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH (William Shirer, 1968) A film that traces one of history's darkest eras, detailing Hitler's entire life, from his birth in a Bavarian inn to the Berlin Chancellory, where he perished.

Tuesday, November 30

60th Anniversary of the National Film Board of Canada

• 8 p.m. CITY OF GOLD (Wolf Koenig, Colin Low, 1957) A vivid recollection of the Klondike gold rush, which pioneered the use of still photographs. This classic, which inspired modern documentarians including Ken Burns, recreates the agonizing months during which would-be prospectors struggled through steep passes and wintry trails to reach the fabled gold fields 2,000 miles north of civilization.
• 8:30 p.m. UNIVERSE (Roman Krioter, Colin Low, 1960) An awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space, this film was among the sources used by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• 9 p.m. FLAMENCO AT 5:15 (Cynthia Scott, 1983) A visual and emotional thriller, this OscarÆ-winning short is an impressionistic record of a flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain.
• 9:30 p.m. IF YOU LOVE THIS PLANET (Terre Nash, 1982) OscarÆ-winning record of a lecture given to students by outspoken nuclear critic, Dr. Helen Caldicott. Archival film footage of the bombing of Hiroshima and images of its survivors seven months after the attack heighten the urgency of her powerful message.

The Search for the American Dream

• 10 p.m. THE PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS (Pare Lorentz, 1936) Commissioned by the Roosevelt Administration, Lorentz's depression-era classic recounts the loss of productive land through ruinous, short-term policies and showed the horrors of the Dust Bowl to the nation and the world. The film was enormously popular and was seen in thousands of theaters around the country.
• 11 p.m. THE RIVER (Pare Lorentz, 1937) Lorentz's second film commissioned by the government tells the story of the mighty Mississippi and lyrically illustrates the importance of many New Deal concerns, including flood control, hydroelectric power, soil conservation and rural electrification.
• 12 a.m. HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976) OscarÆ-winning portrait of the year-long struggle of a Kentucky coal miners' strike, beginning in the summer of 1973 when men at the Brookside Mine voted to join the United Mine Workers of America. Picket lines, strike breakers, injunctions, arrests and a murder mobilized a community to fight for its rights with both company owners and the union.
• 2 a.m. HOOP DREAMS (Steve James, 1994) This documentary about the aspirations of two high-school basketball players from inner-city Chicago won awards from the Sundance Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle as well as the Academy AwardÆ for Best Editing.