The life story of the famed rocket scientist Dr. Werner von Braun, one of the most brilliant and controversial figures of the space age. Dr. von Braun helped pioneer man’s adventure into space through his rocket experiments; his was the brain behind the V-2 rockets which blasted London in World War II; his was also the brain which led America into the development and the launching of space satellites.
Tag: 1960s
In February of 1941, South African troops are in action against the Italian forces on the northern frontier of Kenya. An Italian invasion, aimed at pushing the Allied Forces out of Central and East Africa, is imminent. The South African Command realizes it has no forces at its disposal capable of stopping the Italian objective. The Command resorts to a grand bluff, designed to mislead the Italians into believing that heavy concentrations of South African troops are placed at strategic points—thus making the planned advanced impossible.
In London’s Soho, Johnny Solo runs the Pink Flamingo Club. He’s tough to intimidate. So when he starts getting threats and demands for protection, he fights back. Behind the takeover plot is a competitor, Diamonds Dielli. Midnight Franklin, who’s Johnny’s girlfriend and one of the club’s headliners, wants to get Johnny out of the business. In the background are a sadistic client, an underage chorus girl, a wisecracking siren who’s not averse to rough trade, a visiting journalist, and a dancer who guards her past. Can Johnny win the struggle with Diamonds, and can Midnight get him out of harm’s way?
Material was cut in as it came out of the camera, embarrassing moments intact. 100′ rolls timed well with music on old 78s. I was interested in immediacy, a sense of ease, and an art where suffering was acknowledged but not trivialized with dramatics. Whimsy was our achievement, as well as breaking out of step. – Ken Jacobs.
A sensitive, low-key portrait of the East Bay Activity Center, a school in Oakland, California, started in the 1950s to help emotionally disturbed children. The atmospheric documentary opens with hilly East Bay streets shrouded in fog. The mist lifts as the film moves to children at play. Often shown in unobtrusive close-up, the youngsters appear as thinking individuals, enjoying the swings, puzzling out problems, or interacting with their teacher in the classroom.
A Year in the Life of Franek W. is a 1967 Polish documentary film directed by and based on a screenplay by Kazimierz Karabasz. The film depicts a year in the life of a twenty-year-old boy from a small village, Franciszek Wróbel, who emigrates to large industrial Silesia to join the Voluntary Labor Corps. Karabasz’s method was based on careful and impartial observation of the protagonist’s fate; the only commentary was provided by letters read by Wróbel himself.
Roger Graef and The Thaldomide Society’s groundbreaking film about Brett, a boy born without arms, introduced the plight of Thalidomide children to the world. We see touching and personal scenes from his home life – rough and tumble with his brothers, meal times and other practical activities, revealing Brett’s extraordinary dexterity with his feet and his determination. Brett’s mother’s deeply personal narration describes how family life has been affected and how hurtful people’s comments can be – both to her, as a mother who took thalidomide, and in relation to Brett’s physical appearance.
The humour and irony-laden art criticism of György Kovásznai’s previous films is further developed in this short. Each of the three episodes acquired a different visual presentation. The first episode makes fun of the cinema (and its overstimulating effect), the second of the theatre (and its hypocrisy) and the third of the classical music (and its snobbism).