1950 Documentary Movies

24 movies found (page 1/1):

Kon-Tiki(1950)

3.8/5 (with 21 votes)

"Kon-Tiki" was the name of a wooden raft used by six Scandinavian scientists, led by Thor Heyerdahl, to make a 101-day journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands. The purpose of the expedition was to prove Heyerdal's theory that the Polynesian Islands were populated from the east- specifically Peru- rather than from the west (Asia) as had been the theory for hundreds of years. Heyerdahl made a study of the winds and tides in the Pacific, and by simulating conditions as closely as possible to those he theorized the Peruvians encountered, set out on the voyage.

Directed by Thor Heyerdahl - With Thor Heyerdahl, Herman Watzinger, Bengt Danielsson, Erik Hesselberg, Knut Haugland, Torstein Raaby, ...

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The Golden Twenties(1950)

1h 8min | Documentary

Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.

The Hollywood Ten(1950)

15min | Documentary

3.3/5 (with 5 votes)

A brief look at The Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors charged with contempt of court after challenging the House Un-American Activities Committee and their controversial and self-incriminatory questions during the red scare. With that act of defiance, they were sentenced to one year in prison simply for speaking their minds and exercising their constitutional rights as concerned citizens. This is their story, their version of the facts, and their opinions.

Directed by John Berry

Mirror of Holland(1950)

9min | Documentary

3.1/5 (with 10 votes)

In this short film Bert Haanstra gives his vision - from the water – of a tranquil Holland. During filming he held the camera upside down and afterwards put the images ‘up right’ again in the film. By doing this, we see the ‘usual’ waterfront, but transformed by the rippling of the water. In this way Mirror of Holland became a modern looking experimental film. However this did not devalue the Dutch sentiment regarding waterfronts that are so trusted to so many.

Directed by Bert Haanstra

Memories of a Mexican(1950)

1h 40min | History, Documentary

3.5/5 (with 7 votes)

Explore the events of the Mexican Revolution as they are recreated through the use of archival material and interviews with participants and scholars.

Directed by Salvador Toscano Barragán, Carmen Toscano

The Titan: Story of Michelangelo(1950)

| 1h 10min | Documentary

3.1/5 (with 3 votes)

The life and works of the great artist Michelangelo Buonarroti are shown against the historical background of his time. It begins with his earliest artworks, and follows his life and career as he achieves lasting fame. The documentary includes detailed looks at some of the artist's most renowned creations.

Directed by Robert J. Flaherty, Richard Lyford, Curt Oertel - With Fredric March

Café Paradis(1950)

1h 37min | Kids & Family, Drama, Comedy

3.5/5 (with 3 votes)

- No description / details available yet. -

Directed by Bodil Ipsen, Lau Lauritzen - With Poul Reichhardt, Ib Schønberg, Inge Hvid-Møller, Karen Marie Løwert, Johannes Meyer, Lau Lauritzen, ...

Beaver Valley(1950)

32min | Documentary

3.4/5 (with 5 votes)

Produced by Walt Disney as part of the "True-Life Adventures" series of nature documentaries (1948–60). The film depicts a young male beaver who must defend his new family against hungry predators, mischievous river otters, and the ever-impending threat of winter.

Directed by James Algar

Guernica(1951)

13min | Documentary, War

3.0/5 (with 11 votes)

Alain Resnais & Robert Hessen use the famous Picasso mural "Guernica" in combination with newspaper headlines in an anti-war cry against the Spanish Civil War. Narration by Jacques Pruvost highlights the Guernica atrocity of April 1937, followed by a poem by Paul Eluard read by María Casares to a discordant score by Guy Bernard.

Directed by Alain Resnais, Robert Hessens - With María Casares

The New China(1951)

1h 45min | Documentary

The New China (Russian: Освобождённый Китай, Osvobozhdyonnyy Kitay) is a 1950 Soviet documentary film directed by Sergei Gerasimov. It was entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

Directed by Sergei Gerasimov

Four Men in Prison(1950)

40min | Documentary

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves.".

Directed by Max Anderson

Grandad of Races(1950)

9min | Documentary

2.5/5 (with 3 votes)

Grandad of Races is a 1950 American short documentary film about the Palio di Siena held in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, directed by André de la Varre. It won an Oscar at the 23rd Academy Awards in 1951 for Best Short Subject.

Directed by André de la Varre - With Art Gilmore

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Afrique 50(1950)

17min | Documentary

3.2/5 (with 11 votes)

Afrique 50 is a 1950 French documentary film directed by René Vautier. The first French anti-colonialist film, the film derived from an assignment in which the director was to cover educational activities by the French League of Schooling in West Africa. Vautier later filmed what he saw, a "lack of teachers and doctors, the crimes committed by the French Army in the name of France, the instrumentalization of the colonized peoples". For his role in the film Vautier was imprisoned over several months. The film was not permitted to be shown for more than 40 years.

Directed by René Vautier

Life Begins Tomorrow(1950)

1h 26min | Documentary, Drama

2.5/5 (with 2 votes)

Documentary filmmaker Nicole Vedre's first semi-fictional feature was released in France in 1949 as La Vie Commence Demain. The film made it to the U.S. in 1952 as Life Begins Tomorrow. Made in cooperation with UNESCO, the film speculates on the future of mankind after the advent of Atomic Energy. Many prominent French artists and intellects contribute to the narration: Jean-Pierre Aumont plays The Man of Today, Andre Labarthe is the Man of Tomorrow, and Jean-Paul Sartre, Daniel Agache, Jean Rostand, Le Corbusier, Pablo Picasso and Andre Gide are respectively seen as "The Existentialist," "The Psychiatrist,' "The Biologist," "The Architect," "The Artist" and "The Author" (talk about typecasting!) Film clips of hospitals, schoolrooms, scientific laboratories, and even nightclubs are woven into Vedre's fascinating tapestry.

Directed by Nicole Védrès - With Jean-Pierre Aumont

The Funicular of Mount Faloria(1950)

6min | Documentary

3.3/5 (with 1 vote)

The short documentary film takes the viewer on a vertiginous cable-car ride in the Italian Dolomites. There is also a 4 minutes version titled "Vertigine".

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

With These Hands(1950)

52min | Drama

2.5/5 (with 1 vote)

Produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the film used actors to recreate the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and compare working conditions of the early 20th century to that of the 1950s.

Directed by Jack Arnold - With Sam Levene, Arlene Francis, Joseph Wiseman, Alexander Scourby, Jack Arnold

Der Weg nach oben(1950)

1h 21min | Documentary

The economic and cultural improvements of the Soviet Occupied Sector are documented with scenes from the years 1945 to 1950. The film deals with the land reform, the founding of the Socialist Unity Party, the expropriation of war criminals, the founding of the GDR and the first Five Year Plan in July 1950. Special attention is dedicated to the setup of the steel industry. All this is shown in contrast to the new Federal Republic of Germany, where unemployment, slums and the West Berlin airlift prevail. The Cold War of those years is reflected in the film as well as a part of the development of post-war Germany.

Directed by Andrew Thorndike

Immer bereit(1950)

1h 6min | Documentary

5.0/5 (with 1 vote)

Documentary (in colour) about the first youth meeting (Deutschlandtreffen der Jugend) in East Berlin in 1950.

Directed by Kurt Maetzig, Feodor Pappe

Why Korea?(1951)

30min | Documentary

2.5/5 (with 2 votes)

This film examines the reasons why the United States decided to engage in the Korean War. Scenes describe Russia's attempt to gain power following World War II (Korea included), and its refusal to allow free elections in the country. Footage shows Soviet-backed North Korean troops' movement into South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United Nations' response, and the armed struggle against both North Korean and later Chinese troops led by General Douglas MacArthur.

Directed by Edmund Reek

The Crime Of Korea(1950)

15min | Documentary, War

A 1950 propaganda film produced by the US Army Signal Corps mainly concerning the war crimes committed by the North Koreans.

No Strangers Here(1950)

49min | Documentary

No Strangers Here is a fictionalised account of a family of "new Australians" arriving in their new home town. The family (mum, dad, girl and boy) are displaced persons from Northern and Eastern Europe. Produced for the Department of Immigration during the migrant boom that followed World War Two, the film's essential message is "We want them. We need them". It presents an idealised Australia, "a happy, smiling land" where people are generally friendly and accepting despite some xenophobia, and echoes the government policies of decentralisation and assimilation.

With John Fernside

Congolaise(1950)

| 1h 18min | Documentary

2.0/5 (with 1 vote)

The expedition that shot this film was sponsored by the French Government and the Museum of Man, for the purpose of making a lasting record of the native tribes in French Equatorial Africa.

Directed by Jacques Dupont

Blaze Busters(1950)

10min | Documentary

2.8/5 (with 2 votes)

A documentary about firemen and some of the spectacular blazes they fight.

Directed by Robert Youngson

The Fight: Science Against Cancer(1950)

21min

2.9/5 (with 2 votes)

This Oscar-nominated short explores the genesis of cancerous cells and the mid-20th century state of research into the fight against cancer. The film questions the differences between normal cell growth in the human body and the subversive growth of cancerous cells. Cures have been found for a succession of once invincible diseases, but cancer still presented an enigma at the time of the making of this film—and continues to do so today. The collaboration of a global network of scientists is portrayed in the film, as they painstakingly following every clue that may lead to an eventual solution.

Directed by Morten Parker