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Ansel Adams - A Documentary Film

Actors: Josh Hamilton, Barbara Feldon, Eli Wallach, David Ogden Stiers, Ansel Adams
ASIN : B00007G1YJ
Sales Rank : 59617
Director : Ric Burns
Studio : Pbs Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780639393
ISBN : 0780639391
UPC : 794054870220
Release Date : December 14, 2003
Publisher : Pbs Home Video
Manufacturer : Pbs Home Video
Label : Pbs Home Video
Running Time : 100

Description

Written, directed and produced by Ric Burns and timed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ansel Adams's birth, Ansel Adams is an elegant, moving and lyrical portrait of one of the most eloquent and quintessentially American photographers. At the heart of the film are the themes that absorbed Adams throughout his career: the beauty and fragility of "the American earth," the inseparable bond between man and nature and the moral obligations that the present owes to the future. Ansel Adams was co-produced by the Sierra Club and attracted 5 million broadcast viewers upon its initial airing on PBS.

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Ric Burns's documentary for the American Experience series winningly persuades one to think of Ansel Adams as not only the greatest American photographer of the 20th century, but also one of its most treasured artists. Using the familiar formula of New York (and his brother Ken's documentaries), Burns vividly brings Adams's world to life. Narrator David Ogden Stiers is used minimally after the initial set-up, leaving the words to curators, authors, and family members who knew Adams's life and art best (Adams's own letters are also voiced). The film, sponsored by the Sierra Club to mark the 100th anniversary of the photographer's birth, makes a passionate plea for this man "who helped transfer the meaning of wilderness and what people thought about it." There is plenty of time for his magnificent pictures to be shown, often nicely accompanied by modern-day color films of the area. It's a must-see for any fan of Adams. --Doug Thomas

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Ken Burns America Collection - Huey Long

Actors: Huey Long, Russell Long, David McCullough, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I.F. Stone
ASIN : B000BITUHK
Sales Rank : 22682
Director : Ken Burns
Studio : PBS Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0841887051309
UPC : 841887051309
Release Date : December 28, 2004
Publisher : PBS Paramount
Manufacturer : PBS Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : PBS Paramount
Running Time : 88

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The story of Huey Long is the quintessential drama of power and ethics. To his constituents, he was a populist hero. To his critics, he was the unscrupulous "dictator of Louisiana" who didn't break the law, but used the law to achieve his own ends. A towering figure on the political landscape, Louisiana's infamous governor and United States senator may well have wound up in the White House, had he not been felled by an assassin's bullet in 1935. Long was the inspiration for Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men (a film version of which earned Broderick Crawford an Academy Award). As this fascinating documentary by Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz) vividly illustrates, truth is even more compelling than fiction. Originally broadcast on the award-winning PBS series The American Experience, Huey Long painstakingly charts Long's inexorable rise to power. Archival footage and interviews with Louisiana natives, politicians, family members, historians, and political colleagues bring Long to thundering and bombastic life. --Donald Liebenson

New Price: $25.01

Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Actors: Jack Johnson (VIII), Keith David, Samuel L. Jackson, Adam Arkin, Philip Bosco
ASIN : B0006FO8IY
Sales Rank : 19070
Director : Ken Burns
Studio : Pbs Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Black & White, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781415707449
ISBN : 1415707448
UPC : 097368874541
Release Date : December 11, 2005
Publisher : Pbs Paramount
Manufacturer : Pbs Paramount
Label : Pbs Paramount
Running Time : 220

Description

From the celebrated director of Academy Award-nominated "Brooklyn Bridge" and "Statue of Liberty," UNFORGIVABLE BLACKNESS: THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON follows Jack Johnson's remarkable journey from his humble beginnings in Galveston, Texas, as the son of former slaves, into the brutal world of professional boxing, where, in turn-of-the century Jim Crow America, the heavyweight champion was an exclusively "white title." Despite the odds, Johnson was able to batter his way up through the professional ranks, and in 1908 he became the first African-American to earn the title Heavyweight Champion of the World.

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Ken Burns's documentary style is so unencumbered; the subject matter is effortlessly presented. His regular mix of photos, subtle sound effects, excellent musical score, and actor readings of historical text hasn't changed since his breakthrough of The Civil War. And it doesn't need to. Even though this 220-minute production is a biography--on heavyweight champion Jack Johnson--the film resonates about the how race was dealt with in the early part of the 20th century. Four decades after the Emancipation, the American black was still struggling to find elementary terms of equality. Along came a strong and headstrong man who took on sport decades before Jackie Robinson and became the key figure in heavyweight fighting, a champion against the longest odds.

Samuel L. Jackson voices Johnson's words with great verve and helps create an absorbing picture of Johnson along with various historians and boxing experts laying down the tale of the tape. Here's a man so smart and patient in the ring who took great liberties in his day-to-day life, unafraid to showcase his success, and ruffle the morals of the time (including, most scandalously, marrying a white woman). Viewing film of his prizefights, the amateur eye can understand Johnson's style and bravura. Burns's certainly takes his time and, as usual, has a vast awry of facts of how the world reacted to news of Johnson's success and the conspiracy which led to his downfall. The highlight, natch, are two of Johnson's epic fights near the end of his reign as champ (and the search for a "Great White Hope"). The appearance of James Earl Jones (who won a Tony for his portrayal of Johnson in 1959) and Wynton Marsalis's musical score are grand touches. --Doug Thomas

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Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation

Actors: Mel Blanc, Ken Burns, Linda Jones Clough, Joe Dante, Roger Ebert
ASIN : B00006JDV4
Sales Rank : 18438
Director : Chuck Jones, Margaret Selby
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Live, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780639591
ISBN : 0780639596
UPC : 085391885825
Release Date : December 22, 2002
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 85

Description

The most famous animated characters and the stars who love them unite to celebrate Chuck Jones, the living legend of animation. Showcases all of your favorite characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote and more. Celebrity appearances by WHOOPI GOLDBERG, MATT GROENIG, RON HOWARD, JOHN LASSETER, LEONARD MALTIN, STEVEN SPIELBERG, ROBIN WILLIAMS and more! Year: 2000

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There is more pure, unadulterated joy in just the opening montage of classic moments and characters from Chuck Jones cartoons than in most recent feature films. Jones is the best known of the Warner Bros. stable of legendary animators. He is certainly the most honored. After winning three Oscars, the Academy in 1996 bestowed upon him its Lifetime Achievement Award. With impeccable comic timing and design, Jones redefined "character animation," creating the definitive screen personas of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck. He also unleashed on the world the Road Runner and amorous skunk Pepe Le Pew. This documentary--all-too-brief at 85 minutes--contains a generous sampling of clips that span Jones's career, from his early "aggressively cute" Disneyesque cartoons ("Sniffles Takes a Trip") to the masterpieces ("Duck Amuck," "One Froggy Evening"--hailed here by no less than Steven Spielberg as "the Citizen Kane of animated shorts") to the post-Warners book adaptations, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and the Oscar-winning "The Dot and the Line." But that's not all, folks. Jones reflects on his work and the method to his madness. There are also insightful appreciations by animators (Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Toy Story director John Lasseter), historians (Leonard Maltin), and some of Jones's biggest fans (Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams). This portrait of the man who would be Bugs (but who admits he is more akin to Daffy) was presented on the PBS series Great Performances, but perhaps American Masters would have been more fitting. "Chuck Jones is a given in our culture," Groening remarks. "You wake up in the morning and you know Bugs Bunny is out there doing something." --Donald Liebenson

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Mark Twain - A Film Directed by Ken Burns

Actors: Keith David, Kevin Conway, Blythe Danner, Philip Bosco, Tim Clark
ASIN : B00005RDB0
Sales Rank : 53066
Director : Ken Burns
Studio : Pbs Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780637153
ISBN : 0780637151
UPC : 794054860825
Release Date : December 08, 2002
Publisher : Pbs Home Video
Manufacturer : Pbs Home Video
Label : Pbs Home Video
Running Time : 225

Description

He was considered, in his time, to be the funniest man on Earth. Mark Twain is the fifth film in Ken Burns's popular American Lives series and features interviews with Hal Holbrook, Arthur Miller and leading Twain scholars.

A popular humorist, philosopher and social satirist, Mark Twain was the well-known nom-de-plume of writer Samuel Clemens, the nation's first literary celebrity. One of the most quoted men of his time, he was born in 1835, the year Haley's Comet passed over, and vowed that he would not die until he saw the famous comet. He died in 1910 -- the day after the comet's return. Tracing Twain's rise from his humble birth in Missouri to his prosperous life in Connecticut as the nation's best-selling author, Mark Twain reveals a compelling portrait of the father of American literature.

Nearly three years in the making and drawing from 63 hours of material, thousands of archival photographs and nearly 20 interviews with top writers and Twain scholars, Mark Twain is the story of an extraordinary life-one full of rollicking adventure, stupendous success and crushing defeat, hilarious comedy and unbearable tragedy. Told primarily through the words of Twain himself and narrated by Keith David (the voice of Jazz), viewers of all ages will be personally introduced to this compelling yet contradictory genius, who said with some justification, "I am not an American, I am the American."

The DVD-18 edition of Mark Twain contains interview outtakes, twelve great Twain quotes and photographs, a "Making of" interview with Ken Burns and the short documentaries Ken Burns: Making History and A Conversation with Ken Burns.

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Given the legendary life of its subject, it's not surprising that Mark Twain is perhaps the most entertaining documentary Ken Burns has made. The creator of The Civil War and Jazz achieves reverent harmony with the magnificent story of Missouri-born author Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain), encompassing legend and fact with an exhilarating sense of adventure. Hailed by Hemingway as the originator of American literature, Twain (a nom de plume taken from a riverboat pilot's term for "safe waters") viewed himself as the American. Burns's film backs that claim as it follows Clemens's literary odyssey around the globe, from unrivaled acclaim as a writer to near destitution and the devastating deaths of his wife and three children. As usual, eloquent writers and scholars (including longtime Twain performer Hal Holbrook) provide a wondrous flow of anecdotes and observations, recounting Twain's remarkable humor while acknowledging a darker side that felt anger toward an indifferent god. Like all of Burns's films, Mark Twain is must-see viewing. --Jeff Shannon

New Price: $119.99

Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns

Actors: Hank Aaron, Bud Abbott, Roger Angell, Arthur Ashe, Red Barber
ASIN : 0780630459
Sales Rank : 63484
Studio : Pbs Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780630451
ISBN : 0780630459
UPC : 794054531824
Release Date : December 17, 2000
Publisher : Pbs Home Video
Manufacturer : Pbs Home Video
Label : Pbs Home Video
Running Time : 1500

Description

Ken Burns tops himself with this epic of American history, told in "nine innings," with a skilled narration by John Chancellor and the voices of Paul Newman, Jason Robards, Billy Crystal, and other stars. The series spans 150 years, starting with the myth-debunking tale of baseball's true beginnings -- when it was a game "one degree above mayhem." Then follow the growth of America's National Pastime through the decades of glory and record-setting achievements, as well as the scandals, the bigotry, and the big money. The series portrays the game as a mirror of America itself -- the passions, prejudices, and ambitions that have shape the country.

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After the national success of his 11-hour epic, The Civil War--the highest-rated miniseries in public-television history--many wondered if Ken Burns could capture the same energy and passion with smaller subjects. His reply, the 18-hour history of America's greatest sport, Baseball, not only quieted these worries, it also perhaps surpassed his prior achievement. Massive in scope (it covers more than 100 years), exhausting in detail, and filled with celebrities, journalists, politicians, historians, and the men who played the game, Burns's romantic love letter to the game achieves the impossible: even those who hate baseball can't help but become immersed in it. This is because Burns doesn't just detail the great players and the memorable plays and games; he also presents baseball as a cultural and social mirror, reflecting the beauty and hypocrisy of the nation that created it. Divided into nine innings, two hours each in length, the video examines complex social issues such as segregation, racial inequality (its section on Jackie Robinson, baseball's first African American player, should be required school viewing), labor battles between owners and players, politics, technology and gender conflicts, among others. Then, of course, there's fascinating footage and biographies on the players--troubled icons such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, heroes such as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, and tragic figures such as Pete Rose and Lou Gehrig--the men who, despite a rocky and often hypocritical history, constructed baseball's tradition and preserved its invincibility. --Dave McCoy

New Price: $23.81

Not for Ourselves Alone - The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony

Actors: Sally Kellerman, Ronnie Gilbert, Julie Harris, Amy Madigan, Keith David
ASIN : B0002JP518
Sales Rank : 73734
Director : Ken Burns
Studio : Pbs Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781415702543
ISBN : 1415702543
UPC : 097368858947
Release Date : December 28, 2004
Publisher : Pbs Paramount
Manufacturer : Pbs Paramount
Label : Pbs Paramount
Running Time : 180

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Feminism is a problematic word: to some it means the ongoing struggle for the equal rights of women; for others the connotations are derogatory, the word conjuring images of emasculating woman. And for still others, mostly the younger generation who grew up with mothers in the workforce, the term is outdated, referring to a movement whose relevance is diminishing. Postfeminism, antifeminism, the feminist backlash--these terms are wielded with little understanding of the context in which the feminist movement was born. Luckily, Ken Burns and Paul Barnes have created this superb documentary, Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, to remind us of the roots of the women's movement and to show just how far we have come in such a short period of time.

In the 19th century, Susan B. Anthony had few choices for her life: to live with a husband as "a doll or a drudge" (marry a poor man, she explains, and you spend your life doing housework as a drudge; marry a rich man, and you spend your life prettying yourself up and looking like a doll), to work as a schoolteacher, or to live with her family as an "old maid." And while she chose the life of the spinster to retain her independence, she didn't resign herself to a life of leisure. Born into a Quaker family devoted to abolition, Anthony championed the reform movement and dedicated herself to the suffragette life. In contrast, Elizabeth Cady Stanton married and had many children, yet this did not stop her from seeking the vote for women. A friendship with Lucretia Mott sparked a desire in this abolitionist to work for the cause of women, and Stanton and Anthony eventually teamed up to fire up the revolution of women in the United States.

This documentary, in the now-well-known Burns style--actors reading the works of Stanton and Anthony, archival footage and photos, commentary from historians--highlights not just the work of these women, but their friendship and their lives. Stanton and Anthony didn't live long enough to cast votes themselves, but their legacies and their struggles live today. Not for Ourselves Alone is a stunning testimonial to what's been accomplished and brings to life the two women to whom every female in the U.S. owes a tremendous debt. --Jenny Brown

New Price: $19.50

American Experience - The Donner Party

Actors: David McCullough, J.D. Cannon, Timothy Hutton, Gene Jones, Amy Madigan
ASIN : B00007G1YL
Sales Rank : 40194
Director : Ric Burns
Studio : PBS Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780780641297
ISBN : 0780641299
UPC : 794054880229
Release Date : December 14, 2003
Publisher : PBS Home Video
Manufacturer : PBS Home Video
Label : PBS Home Video
Running Time : 90

Description

Of all the 19th-century pioneer stories, none exerts such a powerful hold on the American imagination as the tale of the Donner Party in the high Sierra Nevadas in the winter of 1846. The excursion became a terrifying tale of misery, death, madness, and cannibalism. Through family journals, newspaper accounts, and interviews with historians and descendants of the party, the program re-creates the Donner Party's now legendary journey.

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While brother Ken Burns was redefining mammoth entertainment with his public television events, brother Ric was creating tighter, more definitive documentaries such as The Donner Party, whose tragic subject has seemed more a punch line than a historical event. Yes, members of the Donner party ate human flesh when they were caught snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas just 150 miles away from the end of their 2,500-mile trip across the United States in 1846. But there's more to the story, and Burns uses the customary array of old pictures, current landscapes, and readings of historic dispatches and letters by actors (including Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan, and Eli Wallach) to create a vivid portrayal of the pioneers' tough life. The heartbreaking circumstances of and miscues by the Donner party turned a common migration into one that is remembered as a landlocked Titanic tragedy. What if the snow had come one day later? What if the winter was not the worst on record? And most importantly, what if Lansford Hastings had not advertised a "shorter" West Coast route that he had never seen? Other details bring to light the human achievement of the survivors, including the intriguing fact that the women and children survived in greater number than the men. Anchored by the eerie music of Angelo Badalamenti's "Dark Spanish Symphony," the film constructs the fate of the Donner party as the gloomy side of the American dream. --Doug Thomas

Browse By Director Online

Ansel Adams - A Documentary Film

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Ken Burns America Collection - Huey Long

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Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

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Ken Burns' America: The Statue of Liberty

Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation

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Ken Burns' America: Thomas Hart Benton

Mark Twain - A Film Directed by Ken Burns

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Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns

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Not for Ourselves Alone - The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony

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American Experience - The Donner Party

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