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NarcoticAs the opening scroll tells us, Narcotic was "presented in the hope that the public may become aware of the terrific struggle to rid the world of drug addiction." The movie itself is a salacious plunge into a world of sordid pleasures. It tells us the story of Dr. William G. Davies, an infamous snake-oil salesman who started his career as a promising medical student. In the opening sequence he saves an unborn baby by performing a cesarean operation after the mother was killed in an automobile accident. Stock medical footage shows a woman's stomach being sliced open like a ripe watermelon and the baby popping out like a jack-in-a-box. But the allure of opium proves too strong for the doctor to resist. After a single night of relaxation in a Chinatown opium den, Davies becomes a slave to drugs. As his medical practice deteriorates, he shifts his attention to "selling medicine by demonstration." He says to his nurse/fiancee, "I can't see anything wrong if my preparation has merit." However, his "preparation" is one of the great quack cure-alls: "Tiger-Fat." Davies soon becomes one of the leading sideshow attractions for a carnival. His success as a carnival huckster initially allows him to run with a fast crowd. In the movie's most shocking episode, Davies and his ritzy friends retire to a hotel room together for a drug party. "We're gonna get lit," says a woman. A buffet of drugs is spread out on a table and each guest takes their drug of choice. "It takes a needle for me to get a bang," says a woman. As each participant indulges, the party quickly turns into an orgy of excesses, one woman hikes up her skirts, another laughs hysterically, a man pontificates, another man becomes paranoid. The movie provides a litany of different reactions to drugs. Ultimately, Davies' drug addiction leaves him gaunt and stooped, living in a hovel with no hope of returning to his previous life.
Genre: Biography, Drama
| Nicky's FamilyNicholas Winton, an Englishman (today 102 years old) organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, hadn't found a suitcase in the attic, full of documents and transport plans. Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. He was knighted by the Queen Elisabeth II and the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 583 recognizing his remarkable deed. Winton's story is a very emotional one, and thousands of children in many countries have decided to follow in his footsteps and do something important. They think up various charity projects and even help in the saving of lives of undernourished and sick children in Cambodia and Africa. 120,000 children in the Czech Republic signed a petition to award Nicholas Winton the Nobel Prize for Peace. Dozens of Winton's "children" have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves. It is incredible that all these people live due to the heroic deeds of one man - Sir Nicholas Winton.
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Drama
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Never Say Never The Deidre Hall StoryThe agony of infertility. The desperate attempts to be a mother. And the woman who gave her that chance.
Genre: Biography, Drama
| Norman Wisdom His StoryThe life story of Sir Norman Wisdom, who went from street urchin to become one of the UK's most bankable and loved film stars of the 1950-60s. The documentary pays tribute to his life, featuring family, friends and colleagues.
Genre: Biography
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Not for Ourselves Alone The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B AnthonyInitial Capxperience the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony—at home or in the classroom. Track key events in the suffrage movement, delve into historic documents and essays, and take a look at where women are today.
Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
| New York Beat MovieThe film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into. He finally manages to sell his painting to a wealthy female admirer, but he's paid by check. Low on cash, he spends the evening wandering from club to club, looking for a beautiful girl he had met earlier, so he'll have a place to spend the night. Downtown 81 not only captures one of the most interesting and lively artists of the twentieth century as he is poised for fame, but it is a slice of life from one of the most exciting periods in American culture, with the emergence of new wave music, new painting, hip hop and graffiti.
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
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Nannerl la soeur de MozartBeginning in 1763, the film follows the Mozart family's exhausting life on the road, traveling by coach from one royal court to the next, where the nobility marvel at young Wolfgang's prodigious talent. But accomplished singer, harpsichordist, violinist Nannerl, Wolfgang's elder by five years, first held forth as the family's infant prodigy. At the film begins, she is still performing, though overshadowed and sidelined as accompanist by Wolfgang's growing fame. Her father bows to social strictures "for her own good," refusing to let her continue with the violin or compose, while privately conceding Nannerl's talent to his wife. No longer a precocious tot, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed by her gender and frets about her prospects.
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
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Nurse Edith CavellEnglish nurse Edith Cavell is matron in a small private hospital in German-occupied Brussels during WWI. When the son of a recently deceased patient escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp, Cavell aids him to reach Holland and safety. This leads to Cavell, a local noblewoman, the grandmother of the escaped prisoner-of-war, and others to form an organization to help Belgian, French, English and other soldiers escape as well. Eventually the Germans become aware of what's happening and take action.
Genre: Biography, Drama, War
| Nelson FreireDocumentary about Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, and his relationship with music.
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Music
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