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Need some good historical documentary/movie recommendations

Posted on 3/7/26 at 2:12 pm
Posted by NeverRains
Texas
Member since Jun 2012
3031 posts
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 by Rds21275
Member since Sep 2024
302 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 2:17 pm to
"Adams" from HBO

6 parts, Giamatti great as usual
Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
156359 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 3:46 pm to
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



Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
156359 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 4:22 pm to
Perhaps my second favorite documentary series of all time:

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 by CU_Tigers4life
Georgia
Member since Aug 2013
9379 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 4:28 pm to
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Posted by blueboy
Member since Apr 2006
64855 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 7:11 pm to
This is a good one about how our forebears wildly fricked up western civilization.

Posted by oldtrucker
Marianna, Fl
Member since Apr 2013
3423 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 9:26 pm to
Nuremberg
Posted by Rds21275
Member since Sep 2024
302 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 11:15 pm to
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.
This post was edited on 3/7/26 at 11:21 pm
Posted by gumbo2176
Member since May 2018
19916 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 11:49 pm to
"Darkest Hour" Churchill's leadership of England during WWII.
Posted by messyjesse
Member since Nov 2015
2276 posts
Posted on 3/7/26 at 11:53 pm to
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 by sgallo3
Lake Charles
Member since Sep 2008
26620 posts
Posted on 3/8/26 at 12:37 am to
Chernobyl
Posted by Auburn80
Backwater, TN
Member since Nov 2017
9918 posts
Posted on 3/8/26 at 12:53 am to
James Burke knows how to explain something to the everyday person.

Posted by RocknRollAZ
Arizona
Member since Apr 2025
364 posts
Posted on 3/8/26 at 3:19 am to
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
Posted by TigerintheNO
New Orleans
Member since Jan 2004
44721 posts
Posted on 3/8/26 at 10:32 am to
Death by Lighting
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
156179 posts
Posted on 3/8/26 at 2:30 pm to
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 by Rds21275
Member since Sep 2024
302 posts
Posted on 3/8/26 at 11:25 pm to
"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).

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