National Board of Review documentaries
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- DirectorPare LorentzStarsMyron McCormickStorrs HaynesWill GeerAn interne witnesses the death of a young mother in a maternity hospital delivery room. Disturbed that he might have overlooked something that could have prevented the death, he goes to a maternity clinic in a city slum in order to learn more about the mortality of motherhood and to find new ways to prevent it.
- DirectorHarry WattStarsJohn CobbRichard PeirsePercy Charles PickardThe planning and implementation of an RAF night raid on Germany in World War II, concentrating on a low level mission by a Wellington bomber on an oil storage facility by the Rhine.
- DirectorHerbert KlineAlexander HammidStarsBurgess MeredithDocumentary examining the conflicts between the coming of modernization and the traditional culture of a small Mexican village.
- DirectorIlya KopalinLeonid VarlamovStarsN. DubravinEdward G. RobinsonJoseph StalinA number of frontline cameramen shot the footage used in this documentary of the Battle of Moscow, between October 1941 and January 1942,in which a people's war against the German invaders, whose atrocities are shown in graphic detail, is begun, with echoes of traditional Russian heroism and an appeal to save the country's religious and cultural monuments.
- DirectorLeo HurwitzPaul StrandStarsPaul RobesonFred JohnsonMary GeorgePaul Robeson narrates a mix of dramatizations and archival footage about the bill of rights being under attack during the 1930s by union busting corporations, their spies and contractors. In dramatizations, we see a Michigan farmer beaten for speaking up at a meeting, a union man murdered in an apartment in Cleveland, two sharecroppers near Fort Smith Arkansas shot by men deputized by the local sheriff, a spy stealing the names of union members, and a dead Chicago union man eulogized. In archival footage we witness police and goons beating lawfully assembled union organizers, and we see men at work and union families at play. The narration celebrates patriotism and democracy.
- DirectorRoy BoultingDavid MacDonaldStarsHarold AlexanderWinston ChurchillAdolf HitlerThe Allied campaign to drive Germany and Italy from North Africa is analysed, with the major portion of the film examining the battles at El Alamein, including a re-enactment.
- DirectorFrank CapraAnatole LitvakStarsAnthony VeillerIon AntonescuNikolay CherkasovDocumentary revealing the nature and process of the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World War.
- DirectorFrank CapraAnatole LitvakStarsWalter HustonVictor Bulwer-LyttonKai-Shek ChiangThe official World War II US Government film statement defining the various enemies of the Allies and why they must be fought.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsStanley WrayRobert MorganJames A. VerinisA documentary on the 25th bombing mission of the Memphis Belle, a B-17 in the US 8th Air Force.
- DirectorJohn BoultingRoy BoultingFrank CapraStarsLeo GennBurgess MeredithBernard MilesDocumentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsChuck BerryKeith RichardsEric ClaptonThis documentary movie covers two concerts at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri, to celebrate Chuck Berry's 60th birthday, and also discusses his life and career.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreRoger B. SmithRhonda BrittonAfter General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
- DirectorFax BahrGeorge HickenlooperEleanor CoppolaStarsDennis HopperMartin SheenMarlon BrandoDocumentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems--nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsDelbert WardRoscoe WardLyman WardThis compelling documentary details the strange-but-true murder trial of Delbert Ward, accused of the mercy killing of his brother in rural upstate NY. This real-life murder mystery won the Audience Award at Sundance.
- DirectorChris HegedusD.A. PennebakerStarsJames CarvilleGeorge StephanopoulosHeather BeckelA documentary of the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign and the organization who ran it.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsWilliam GatesArthur AgeeEmma GatesA film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsRobert CrumbAline Kominsky-CrumbCharles CrumbAn intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsTony BrooksDiana DavisTerry WoodA horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsDave HooverGeorge MendonçaRodney BrooksAn exploration of the careers of four unrelated professionals: a lion tamer, a robotics expert, a topiary gardener, and a naked mole rat specialist.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsWoody AllenLetty AronsonSoon-Yi PrevinAcademy Award-winner Barbara Kopple directs this documentary portrait of Academy Award and Golden Globe-winner Woody Allen, seen traveling with friends and fellow musicians during their New Orleans jazz band's 1996 European tour. Allen's relationship with his wife Soon-Yi Previn is captured on film here for the first time, and others on the European jaunt include Allen's sister Letty Aronson. Followed by press, paparazzi, and gushing admirers, Allen returns home to face a more realistic critical assessment during "the lunch from hell" with his aged parents.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsCompay SegundoIbrahim FerrerRubén GonzálezAging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten following Castro's takeover of Cuba, are brought out of retirement by Ry Cooder, who travelled to Havana in order to bring the musicians together, resulting in triumphant performances of extraordinary music, and resurrecting the musicians' careers.
- DirectorAviva KempnerStarsReeve BrennerHank GreenbergWalter MatthauThe life and career of Hank Greenberg, the first major Jewish baseball star in the Major Leagues.
- DirectorGeorge ButlerStarsLiam NeesonJulian AyerJohn BlackborowIn December, 1914, the Endurance encountered ice packs before reaching 60º South - 400 miles north of Antarctica; an omen. The plan was to land at Vahsel Bay, which had never been done.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.