Documentary Movies

How, in November 1945, after the end of the World War II and the fall of the Third Reich, the international prosecutors participating in the first Nuremberg trial —formally, the…

A documentary covering the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and London, England.

Story of work in a cutlery manufacturing firm in Sheffield told through story of the son who enters the business.

Images of street life in New York’s Spanish Harlem during the 1940s.

A documentary short detailing the life of Italians living on the Po River in the 1940s.

The research, development, and deployment of the first atomic bomb, as well as the bombing of Hiroshima, are detailed in this docudrama.

The movie follows the clock round as music hall clown Beby takes off his make up, goes home for a meal, looks at photos and goes to bed to rise,…

A short documentary about the life and death of the bullfighter Manuel Rodriguez Manolete. It recounts his career this celebrated Spanish bullfighter who was the inspiration for the ill-fated Montalvo…

A narrator recounts the state of Great Britain near the end of WWII via a visual diary for the titular baby boy born in September 1944.

A propaganda short film produced by the US Navy in 1945 about the naval engagements of the invasion of Okinawa.

Harold Russell, an American soldier who lost his hands in a training accident, tells the story of his medical rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, how…

This documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the…

This short film focuses on a day in the life of a Hollywood talent scout assigned to cast animals.

Oscar winner William Wyler directed this 1944 “newsdrama,” narrated by Lieut. Robert Taylor, USNR (Bataan), and photographed in zones of combat by the U.S. Navy. The film follows one of…

This WW2 documentary centers on the crew of the American B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle as it prepares to execute a strategic bombing raid on Nazi submarine pens in Wilhelmshaven,…

Documentary focusing on the contributions to the American war effort of African-American soldiers.

The invention and use of a jeep are described, from the viewpoint of one of the vehicles.

The fifth film of Frank Capra’s Why We Fight propaganda film series, revealing the nature and process of the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World…

1943 documentary with Ingrid Bergman.

The true story of the massacre of a small Czech village by the Nazis is retold as if it happened in Wales.

The third film of Frank Capra’s ‘Why We Fight” propaganda film series, dealing with the Nazi conquest of Western Europe in 1940.

A training film for OSS agents who are to be dropped behind enemy lines.

The second film of Frank Capra’s Why We Fight propaganda film series. It introduces Germany as a nation whose aggressive ambitions began in 1863 with Otto von Bismarck and the…

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are stopped by narrator Pete Smith for the purpose of showing the audience how much wood and wood by-products the average person carries.

Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra’s Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American…

A short history of movie music is presented, from silent films accompanied by a single piano, to the elaborate song scores for musicals (with scenes from MGM’s musicals) and background…

An informational film produced to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort during WW2. The film details the many industrial uses of hemp, including cloth and cordage, as…

This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.

The Legend of the Luftwaffe began in Poland, the first victim of Hitler’s blitzkrieg. Combat cameramen filmed the aerial campaign, showing preparations for flight, massive air strikes, and the appalling…

This early, influential propaganda film blends documentary and studio footage to show the valiant efforts of the Royal Air Force to defend the British people against the Nazis.

A prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.

The 400 million people of China are heirs to a great civilization, as their pagodas and stone lions can attest. But they are under attack from the Japanese. Civilian refugees…

This film is less a typical musical short and more like an educational film. It consists of a narrator describing the music, composition and style of a big band.

Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic’s first half, Festival…

Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film…

Documentary short by Humphrey Jennings

One of Joseph Cornell’s funniest films, Thimble Theater is structured like a vaudeville variety show about nature.

Expeditions in Borneo by Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson show the terrain, flora, fauna and lifestyle of Borneo as the Johnsons search for a huge orangutan.

A propaganda film made during the Spanish Civil War in support of the Republican government against the rebellion by Gen. Francisco Franco’s forces who were backed by Nazi Germany and…

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to…