The Story That Couldn't Be Printed

This entry in MGM's Passing Parade series looks at the meaning of dreams, including one by Abraham Lincoln that foretold his death.

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short highlights the film preservation efforts of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Several scenes from early newsreels are shown.

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, a look is taken at the problems of film preservation efforts in the 1930s and early 1940s.

This dramatized short film describes the historical mystery of France's "man in the iron mask". King Louis XIV imprisoned a man who was never identified, but who was forced to wear an iron mask for the length of his captivity, which ended only in his death. Several candidates for the identity of the man are investigated.

This MGM Passing Parade series short presents how separate events led to the creation of three provisions - freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and prohibition of the infliction of cruel and unusual punishments - in the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights.

This MGM Passing Parade series short tells the story of Julian Poydras, whose encounter with a girl at Mardi Gras had a profound effect on his later life.

This Passing Parade series short chronicles the political life of Francisco Madero, who tried to bring democracy and land reform to Mexico.

Historical short showing how Eli Whitney (best known for the invention of the cotton gin) played a significant role in the introduction of mass production techniques to the USA in the late 18th century.

OBAIDA, a short film by Matthew Cassel, explores a Palestinian child’s experience of Israeli military arrest. Each year, some 700 Palestinian children undergo military detention in a system where ill-treatment is widespread and institutionalized. For these young detainees, few rights are guaranteed, even on paper. After release, the experience of detention continues to shape and mark former child prisoners’ path forward.

This MGM Passing Parade series short tells the story of Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross.

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, and later established the Nobel Prize.

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short takes a look at the typical American barbershop throughout the years.

This MGM John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series short tells the story of how a Mauser pistol used on the battlefield by Germans during WWII makes its way into the hands of an American gangster.

On the 10th anniversary of his band Rall Tide’s debut album, artist Peter Kotas takes you on a flowering multimedia tour of Detroit musicians trying to survive in a world where you can’t even enjoy a baseball game without supporting The Bay of Pigs. Along the way he shows you how the band’s abrupt break-up led to his career as a political journalist peeking behind the curtains of Kansas to find diplomatic wizard Mike Pompeo, Trump’s CIA Director and Secretary of State, wears no clothes. Iowa Writer’s Workshop hero Kurt Vonnegut (or some entity that knows all about his life) hosts this documentary as the ideal human from his 1985 novel Galapagos: a penguin with flippers unable to pull triggers or press buttons to bomb and kill people.

The film is set in 1521 Antwerp, in a Europe ravaged by religious wars, and during the early years of the Reformation. It tells the story of the twelve year old, Falko Voeten – a printer’s son. When Falko’s father, Klaas Voeten, a printer of forbidden literature, is caught by the Inquisition for printing a letter written by Maarten Luther; Falko is unwittingly propelled into helping his father and into searching for the letter. Threatened by the Inquisition but aided by Marieke, a Catholic orphan girl from the underground sewers, Falko is faced with a race against time if he is to save his father from being executed for heresy.

This short film presents the story of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, who came under scrutiny for his pioneering of surgical practices.

Made just before America would be forced into the Second World War, this short subject is a brief dramatized history of American democracy. It targets a perceived threat to democracy from board room and soapbox fascists who advocated a government based upon contemporaneous European models.

This Passing Parade entry tells the story of Dr. Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929), a Hungarian immigrant who devoted his life to finding the cause of pellagra, a disease that killed hundreds of thousands in the southern United States. Although the medical community believed that the condition was caused by a virus, Goldberger proved that a healthy diet was the cure.

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of 18th Century French physician Dr. Philippe Pinel, who initiated enlightened, humane treatment of the mentally ill.

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short explores the origins of various customs such as shaking hands, kissing, and why ships are christened.