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Need some good historical documentary/movie recommendations
Posted on 3/7/26 at 2:12 pm
Posted on 3/7/26 at 2:12 pm
Used to hate them as a kid, but I love them now. Prime Video has some great titles. I really enjoyed the Grizzly Adams Bible Documentaries (Biblical Collectors Series, Ancient Secrets of the Bible) and also watched an excellent over the Arthurian Legends. Fascinating stuff. Let me know if you have any good recommendations.
Posted on 3/7/26 at 2:17 pm to NeverRains
"Adams" from HBO
6 parts, Giamatti great as usual
6 parts, Giamatti great as usual
Posted on 3/7/26 at 3:46 pm to NeverRains
My all time favorite documentary series
Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film
Hollywood, produced in the '70s by the great British film historian Kevin Brownlow, is a "celebration of American silent film". Narrated by James Mason, it contains great clips as well as interviews with many silent film stars, directors, writers, and even stuntmen, some of whom died before the series aired; Brownlow was able to record their stories in the nick of time.
It's full of fascinating detail, such as how the chariot race in Ben-Hur was shot, and how stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd filmed their thrilling stunts. The episode devoted to stuntmen is especially memorable, as it contains interviewees recalling how some of their colleagues were killed doing stunts for films.
I believe most if not all Hollywood episodes are on YouTube (one episode is sometimes taken down due to copyright issues). All the episodes are great, but if you can only watch two, make them "Hazards of the Game", about stuntmen, and "Hollywood goes to War", of special interest after the centennial of WWI.
Kevin Brownlow

Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film
Hollywood, produced in the '70s by the great British film historian Kevin Brownlow, is a "celebration of American silent film". Narrated by James Mason, it contains great clips as well as interviews with many silent film stars, directors, writers, and even stuntmen, some of whom died before the series aired; Brownlow was able to record their stories in the nick of time.
It's full of fascinating detail, such as how the chariot race in Ben-Hur was shot, and how stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd filmed their thrilling stunts. The episode devoted to stuntmen is especially memorable, as it contains interviewees recalling how some of their colleagues were killed doing stunts for films.
I believe most if not all Hollywood episodes are on YouTube (one episode is sometimes taken down due to copyright issues). All the episodes are great, but if you can only watch two, make them "Hazards of the Game", about stuntmen, and "Hollywood goes to War", of special interest after the centennial of WWI.
Kevin Brownlow

Posted on 3/7/26 at 4:22 pm to Kafka
Perhaps my second favorite documentary series of all time:
The Day The Universe Changed

The Day The Universe Changed
quote:
The Day the Universe Changed (subtitled "A Personal View by James Burke") is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985 by the BBC. The series' primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects.
quote:
The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe essentially only exists as you perceive it through what you know; therefore, if you change your perception of the universe with new knowledge, you have essentially changed the universe itself.
To illustrate this concept, James Burke tells the various stories of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world.

quote:
Written and presented by James Burke, the series postulates a very simple; yet very powerful idea that when what a society knows changes, for them the universe changes. Thirty-five years on, the main theme and its presentation hold up. Burke walks through the advancement of Science and Technology throughout Western Civilization, starting with the Greeks and ending with what was then the present. Along the way, he highlights the main theme, and concludes that increasingly we live in a world in which change occurs quicker than our ability to understand it and is the only constant.
Burke’s argument is one of the main reasons I became a historian. Viewing the series on PBS when it originally aired in the United States, the argument and its presentation made it lasting impression, which is why it has importance today. Available for free at archive.org, the series has had the impact that James Burke intended.
Posted on 3/7/26 at 7:11 pm to NeverRains
This is a good one about how our forebears wildly fricked up western civilization.

Posted on 3/7/26 at 11:15 pm to NeverRains
Also have to recommend "Chernobyl " from HBO
Also 6 parts and a little more artistic license/less accuracy than "Adams", but still great. One warning: The radiation deaths and the episode with the animal/abandoned pet killing patrols are brutal.
Also 6 parts and a little more artistic license/less accuracy than "Adams", but still great. One warning: The radiation deaths and the episode with the animal/abandoned pet killing patrols are brutal.
This post was edited on 3/7/26 at 11:21 pm
Posted on 3/7/26 at 11:49 pm to NeverRains
"Darkest Hour" Churchill's leadership of England during WWII.
Posted on 3/7/26 at 11:53 pm to Rds21275
quote:
the episode with the animal/abandoned pet killing patrols are brutal.
Bacho might be my favorite side character in anything I've ever watched.
Posted on 3/8/26 at 12:53 am to Kafka
James Burke knows how to explain something to the everyday person.
Posted on 3/8/26 at 3:19 am to NeverRains
These are all free on Tubi. You might be able to find something there.
If you use Brave, no ads.
Docuseries
https://tubitv.com/category/docuseries
Documentaries
https://tubitv.com/category/documentary
If you use Brave, no ads.
Docuseries
https://tubitv.com/category/docuseries
Documentaries
https://tubitv.com/category/documentary
Posted on 3/8/26 at 2:30 pm to Rds21275
quote:
Also have to recommend "Chernobyl " from HBO
Chernobyl may be the best miniseries HBO has ever done. It’s that good.
As for a historically accurate documentary type movies, check out The Patriot. It’s awesome.
Posted on 3/8/26 at 11:25 pm to NeverRains
"I, Claudius" from the BBC in the 1970s, later broadcast on PBS
13 episode historical fiction series based on the books by Robert Graves about the Roman Empire's ruling families from Augustus through Nero.
The story is told from the point-of-view of the Emperor Claudius (whose fabricated-for-the book account (based on the real world writings of Tacitus, et al) was recovered during a modern-era archeological dig). Claudius is actually wise but was perceived to be a fool because of his disabilities, all the while managing to avoid constant conflict, decay, and assassinations all around him to ascend to the role of Ceasar.
Besides John Hurt as Caligula, you'll recognize Patrick Stewart as Sejanus (with a lot more hair than he had a decade later as Jean-Luc Picard).

13 episode historical fiction series based on the books by Robert Graves about the Roman Empire's ruling families from Augustus through Nero.
The story is told from the point-of-view of the Emperor Claudius (whose fabricated-for-the book account (based on the real world writings of Tacitus, et al) was recovered during a modern-era archeological dig). Claudius is actually wise but was perceived to be a fool because of his disabilities, all the while managing to avoid constant conflict, decay, and assassinations all around him to ascend to the role of Ceasar.
Besides John Hurt as Caligula, you'll recognize Patrick Stewart as Sejanus (with a lot more hair than he had a decade later as Jean-Luc Picard).

This post was edited on 3/9/26 at 11:24 am
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