Diederich Heßling is scared of everything and everyone. But as he grows up, he comes to realize that he has to offer his services to the powers-that-be if he wants to wield power himself. His life motto now runs: bow to those at the top and tread on those below. In this way, he always succeeds: as a student in a duel-fighting student fraternity and as a businessman in a paper factory. He cajoles the obese district administrative president Von Wulkow and wins his favor. He slanders his financial rivals and hatches a plot with the social democrats in the town council. On his honeymoon with his rich wife Guste, he finally finds a chance to do his beloved Kaiser a favor. And when a memorial to the Kaiser is unveiled in the town where Diederich lives and works, he delivers the address. He stands behind the lectern in the pouring rain, saluting his Kaiser. The crowd is dispersed. Everything is laid in ruins...
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.
Jeff, a mental health patient in a clinic high in the Swiss Alps, escapes to his only friend Morton, while Prisha, the daughter of Indian guru Majula, mysteriously enters Jeff’s life. After an argument with Morton at his bakery where the fugitive wanted to start over, Jeff moves on and visits a monk who gives workshops for enlightenment in the Balkan mountains, in search and full of hope for redemption. Still haunted by his past, Jeff must run again and travels with Prisha, who secretly followed him, to India to find a new life and to get her father’s blessing for the two now in love. Can he fulfil his dream?
Jim Jacobs and Nick Carlton, childhood friends, are CIA operatives on a sting operation in Chechnya. The raid of a rebel militia group goes bad and the entire teams gets wiped out except for Jim and Nick, who manages to save them both. Five years later, they are out of the CIA game.
After greedy men have Edmound Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to revenge himself on them.
Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.
In 1848, the freedom-loving Hungarian people, led by Ludwig Kossuth, rose up against the hated rule of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. In its expansionist policy, the Austrian monarchy had long relied on Hungarian feudal lords who betrayed the interests of their people. The anger of the rebels was directed against the Austrian oppressors and their Hungarian supporters. Against the backdrop of these historical events, the personal fate of the Hungarian patriot Maria Ilona is shown.
The story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1900, a clan attempts to strike a deal with a Chicago industrialist to get him to build cotton mills in their Deep South town.
In India, Toomai, a young mahout, helps lead the British on a large expedition to round up wild elephants.
A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relationships.
An aging opera singer looks back on her long life, including her relationships with her vocal teacher and a student.
Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.
The early days of the French Revolution, as seen through the eyes of the ordinary citizens in Marseille and the royal court, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with the invention of an early form of the stock market ticker.
Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.
Young love is poisoned by a generations long feud between two noble families.
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.
An alcoholic woman was charged and tried for murder and a young defense attorney, unaware that she is his mother, takes the assignment to defend her in court.