In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman (Jessica Lundberg) remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.
Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.
Recorded live at Germeringer Jazztage, 1996 Program: Mi Nino Curro, El Panuelo, Alcazar de Sevilla, Playa del Carmen, Zyryab, Buena Buana King Kong
Thelonious Monk entered a long phase of introspection and cancelled his concert schedule after 1968. He disbanded his quartet with Charlie Rouse, stopped recording for a while, and only performed sporadically. This complete 1969 performance at the famous Salle Pleyel in Paris is one of his last concerts ever with Charlie Rouse. Contents (Paris-Black & White): I Mean You - Ruby, My Dear - Straight, No Chaser - Nutty - Blue Monk - Bright Mississippi - Light Blue - Epistrophy - Don'T Blame Me - 3 O'Clock In The Morning - Interview With Thelonious Monk - Crepuscule With Nellie. Bonus Tracks: Monk Solo in Berlin November 6, 1969 (Color): Sophisticated Lady - Caravan - Solitude. Thelonious Monk-Piano; Charlie Rouse-Tenor Sax; Nate Hygelund-Bass; Paris Wright-Drums; Philly Joe Jones-Drums on 4 and 5 Only.
This Final Performance Tribute began on Les Paul's 90th birthday when luminaries from the musical world gathered to celebrate at New York's historic Iridium Jazz Club. Les and friends jammed every Monday for the next four years until the legend left us. Great moments from many of those cool sessions are presented in this tribute to the man who created a sonic boom with the solid-body electric guitar. About the Collector's Edition: Les jams live with special guests like Keith Richards, Steve Miller, and José Feliciano. Musical luminaries Bonnie Raitt, Tony Bennett, Sonya Hensley and others share their thoughts on Les. Includes 23 songs played by Les, like "Tennessee Waltz", "Route 66", "Back Home Again in Indiana", and the original rendition of "How High the Moon" with wife Mary Ford.
While Al Capone works his way up from top-dog street gang thug captain in Chicago to U.S. crime king, his brother Jimmy Capone chooses the righteous way, actually with father's blessing, leaving Illinois for small town Harmony in Nebraska, where he adopts the alias Richard Hart, marries teacher Kathleen, has offspring and becomes its incorruptible town marshal, with a loyal Indian deputy. When his efficient fight against Al's illegal alcohol trade starts to bite financially, the gang's top lawyer is sent to buy 'Hart' or order his death, but recognizes Jimmy and arranges a fraternal reunion in Chicago. Yet money nor threats can turn Jimmy bad...
Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.
Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.
Barcelona, Spain, 1921. A tough cop from Madrid arrives in the city to locate, under the suspicious scrutiny of corrupt local police officers, a significant amount of military weaponry stolen from a train, allegedly by revolutionary anarchists.
Sydney, Australia, 1920. A burnt female body is discovered. There is almost no evidence at the crime scene, but Commissioner Dick thinks that a homicide has been committed. Meanwhile, Eugène, a sailor, alone at his hotel room, immerses himself in his memories: the disappearance of his wife Annie is one of them.
Shipwrecked African-American slaves arrive in the midst of Bakumatsu-era Japan; they soon carve out a niche in the market with their musical talents.
In the 1920s, two names dominated the world's long-distance running rankings. Paavo Nurmi was a legend in his own lifetime, but Ville Ritola is remembered by only a few. These biggest rivals to each other were different in almost every way, but they both shared a passion for winning.
It's 1959 in a seedy bar in Philadelphia, and Billie Holiday is giving one of her last performances interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music 4 months before her death.
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.
Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.
Živá voda
Johnny Rooney is a fast-stepping young politician and Molly Taylor is an even faster-stepping showgirl in "George White's Scandals" in a tale of New York City's theatrical and political life during prohibition and the jazz-age.