World Class Documentaries (6 Films) - 7-DVD Box Set ( The Celluloid Closet / Grey Gardens / The Times of Harvey Milk / Little Dieter Needs to Fly / Burden of Dreams / The Sorrow and the Pity (Le chagrin et la pitié) )

World Class Documentaries (6 Films) - 7-DVD Box Set (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: The Celluloid Closet / Grey Gardens / The Times of Harvey Milk / Little Dieter Needs to Fly / Burden of Dreams / The Sorrow and the Pity (Le chagrin et la pitié)
Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
706 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Biographies
Box Set
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Commentary
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Multi-DVD Set
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1969 - 1997 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
Switzerland ( Germany, Central Europe )
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
Ellen Hovde
Albert Maysles
Werner Herzog
Les Blank
Marcel Ophüls

Written By:
Vito Russo
Rob Epstein
David Maysles
Muffie Meyer
Judith Coburn
Carter Wilson
Werner Herzog
Michael Goodwin
André Harris
Marcel Ophüls

Actors:
Lily Tomlin ..... Narrator
Tony Curtis ..... Himself
Susie Bright ..... Herself
Arthur Laurents ..... Himself
Armistead Maupin ..... Himself
Whoopi Goldberg ..... Herself
Jan Oxenberg ..... Herself
Harvey Fierstein ..... Himself
Quentin Crisp ..... Himself
Richard Dyer ..... Himself
Jay Presson Allen ..... Herself
Mrs. Gustav Ketterer ..... Herself
Gore Vidal ..... Himself
Will H. Hays ..... Himself (archive footage)
Farley Granger ..... Himself
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale ..... Herself
Edith Bouvier Beale ..... Herself
Brooks Hyers ..... Herself
Norman Vincent Peale ..... Herself
Harvey Milk ..... Himself (archive footage)
Harvey Fierstein ..... Narrator
Anne Kronenberg ..... Herself
Tory Hartmann ..... Herself
Tom Ammiano ..... Himself
Jim Elliot ..... Himself
Henry Der ..... Himself
Jeannine Yeomans ..... Herself
Bill Kraus ..... Himself
Sally M. Gearhart ..... Herself
John Briggs ..... Himself (archive footage)
Jerry Brown ..... Himself (archive footage)
Jimmy Carter ..... Himself (archive footage)
Dianne Feinstein ..... Herself (archive footage)
David Fowler ..... Himself - TV Interviewer of Dan White (archive footage)
Joseph Freitas ..... Himself (archive footage)
Terence Hallinan ..... Himself (archive footage)
George Moscone ..... Himself (archive footage)
Dan White ..... Himself (archive footage)
Dieter Dengler ..... Himself
Werner Herzog ..... Himself / Narrator
Eugene Deatrick ..... Himself
Werner Herzog ..... Himself
Klaus Kinski ..... Fitzcarraldo
Claudia Cardinale ..... Molly / Herself
Jason Robards ..... Fitzcarraldo
Mick Jagger ..... Wilbur
Alfredo De Rio Tambo ..... Himself
Ángela Reina ..... Herself
Carmen Correa ..... Herself
Elia De Rio Ene ..... Himself
David Pérez Espinosa ..... Himself
Miguel Ángel Fuentes ..... Himself
Mariano Gagnon ..... Himself
Paul Hittscher ..... Himself
Huerequeque Enrique Bohorquez ..... Himself
Evaristo Nunkuag Ikanan ..... Himself
Georges Bidault ..... Himself
Matthäus Bleibinger ..... Himself - Wehrmacht Soldier in the Auvergne
Charles Braun ..... Himself - Former Head of the British Underground
Maurice Buckmaster ..... Himself - Former Head of the Auvergne Maquis
Emile Coulaudon ..... Himself - Founder of the Liberation Movement
Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie ..... Himself - International Lawyer
René de Chambrun ..... Himself - Aristocratic Former Nazi
Christian de la Mazière ..... Himself - Handshake with Heydrich (archive footage)
Darquier de Pellepoix ..... Himself - Head of the French Popular Party, 1942 (archive footage)
Jacques Doriot ..... Himself - Head of the Resistance Movement
R. Du Jonchay ..... Himself - Former Secretary of the Clandestine Communist Party
Jacques Duclos ..... (also archive footage)
Anthony Eden ..... Himself - Director of the Combat Movement
Sgt. Evans ..... Himself - Champion Professional Cyclist
Marcel Fouche-Degliame ..... Himself - Resistance Fighter
Raphael Geminiani ..... Himself - Minister of Youth, 1941-43
Alexis Grave ..... Himself - French Minister of State (archive footage)
Louis Grave ..... Himself - Theater Owner
Marius Klein ..... Himself - Former Mayor of Combronde
Georges Lamirand ..... Himself - Author and Biologist
Pierre Laval ..... Himself - Former Prime Minister of France
Pierre Le Calvez ..... Himself - Hotelier in Royat
Mr. Leiris ..... Interviewer
Claude Levy ..... Himself - British Secret Agent
Pierre Mendès-France ..... Himself - Defense Lawyer
Cmdt. Menut ..... Herself - Beautician
Elmar Michel ..... Himself
Mr. Mioche ..... Himself - Former Wehrmacht Captain
Marcel Ophüls
Denis Rake
Henri Rochat
Paul Schmidt
Mme. Solange
Edward Spears
Helmut Tausend
Roger Tounze
Marcel Verdier
Walter Warlimont

Synopsis:

***ATTENTION***All films contain English audio, except Sorrow and the Pitty, which contains French audio with English subtitles***
The Celluloid Closet (1995)
A documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.
Grey Gardens (1975)
An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
A documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay councilor.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
German-American Dieter Dengler discusses his service as an American naval pilot in the Vietnam War. Dengler also revisits the sites of his capture and eventual escape from the hands of the Vietcong, recreating many events for the camera.
Burden of Dreams (1982)
An extraordinary feature-length documentary about the messianic German director Werner Herzog struggling against desperate odds in the Amazon basin to make his epic feature, Fitzcarraldo.
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
From the moment it was first released at a tiny Left Bank theatre in Paris, this epic account of France under the occupation of the Nazi regime during World War II has been acclaimed as one of the most moving and influential films of all time.

The Celluloid Closet (1995)
A comprehensive documentary of the history of gays and lesbians in cinema, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters and the troubles of actors and actresses.
Grey Gardens (1975)
The Maysles brothers pay visits to Edith Bouvier Beale, nearing 80, and her daughter Edie. Reclusive, the pair live with cats and raccoons in Grey Gardens, a crumbling mansion in East Hampton. Edith is dry and quick-witted - a singer, married but later separated, a member of high society. Edie is voluble, dresses - as she puts it - for combat in tight ensembles that include scarves wrapped around her head. There are hints that Edie came home 24 years before to be cared for rather than to care for her mother. The women address the camera, talking over each other, moving from the present to events years before. They're odd, with flinty affection for each other.
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
2 Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Harvey Milk & San Francisco Mayor, 'George Moscone (I)' were assassinated by recently resigned Supervisor Dan White on Monday, November 27th, 1978, approximately 8:45 AM to 9:15 AM. Milk's life leading up to his election, his successful efforts to politically represent San Francisco's gay community, and the city's reaction to the assassinations are documented with extensive news film and personal recollections.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?
Burden of Dreams (1982)
A documentary on the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's epic Fitzcarraldo (1982), showing how the film managed to get made despite problems that would have floored a less obsessively driven director. Not only does he have major casting problems, losing both Jason Robards (health) and Mick Jagger (other commitments) halfway through shooting, but the crew gets caught up in a war between Peru and Ecuador, there are problems with the weather and the morale of cast and crew is falling rapidly.
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
From 1940 to 1944, France's Vichy government collaborated with Nazi Germany. Marcel Ophüls mixes archival footage with 1969 interviews of a German officer and of collaborators and resistance fighters from Clermont-Ferrand. They comment on the nature, details and reasons for the collaboration, from anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and fear of Bolsheviks, to simple caution. Part one, "The Collapse," includes an extended interview with Pierre Mendès-France, jailed for anti-Vichy action and later France's Prime Minister. At the heart of part two, "The Choice," is an interview with Christian de la Mazière, one of 7,000 French youth to fight on the eastern front wearing German uniforms.

Bringing together six brilliant documentaries from the Distinction Series, World Class Documentaries features some of the greatest stories from every corner of the globe.
CELLULOID CLOSET (1995): What That is Entertainment did for movie musicals, The Celluloid Closet, does for Hollywood homosexuality, as this exuberant, eye-opening documentary serves up a dazzling, hundred-year history of the role of gay men and women on the silver screen.
GREY GARDENS (1975): Grey Gardens is the unbelievable but true story of Mrs Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie, the eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (1984): Academy Award winner The Times of Harvey Milk is the dramatic and moving story of the first openly gay person elected to office in California from his triumphant grass roots campaign to his brutal assassination one year later.
LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY (1997): Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a documentary about Dieter Dangler, a German who grew up with a passion for flight and emigrated to the U.S. to join the navy and become a pilot during the Vietnam War. Dieter was shot down, captured and tortured before becoming one of the few American prisoners to escape.
BURDEN OF DREAMS (1982): Burden Of Dreams is an extraordinary feature-length documentary about one mans obsession against desperate odds to follow his dreams and was honoured with a British Academy Award for Best Documentary of 1982.
SORROW AND THE PITY (1969):
It's not fair to say that Marcel Ophüls "interviews" his subjects. He disarms them, then let's them tell their story, quite often a very ugly story, that they'd never admit to without a few glasses of wine in them. Marcel understands that this is one of those stories you'll only hear out of the mouths of the actual players. From Prime Ministers to farmers to German officers, everyone gets the treatment. With a handful of exceptions, the story is one of willful collaboration, and... is it really fair to call shipping Jews to death camps "antisemitism"? Let's just say that all families have their secrets, and France's collective secret is that they embraced the Nazi's with vigor.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 25 February, 2015.