|
Night Crossing
''Night Crossing'' is a 1982 thriller drama film starring John Hurt, Jane Alexander and Beau Bridges. The film is based on the true story of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families who, on September 16, 1979, escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot-air balloon during the Inner German border-era, when emigration to West Germany was strictly prohibited by the East German government. It was the final theatrical film directed by Delbert Mann and the last in which Kay Walsh appeared before retiring. It was also the final film from Walt Disney Productions to recorded by RCA Photophone, which was first introduced in the '' Silly Symphonies'' animated Disney short film '' Santa's Workshop'' (1932). Plot A brief summary of conditions in East Germany and the border zone shows stock footage such as Conrad Schumann's jump over barbed wire in Berlin as the Berlin Wall is constructed. In April 1978, in the small town of Pößneck, Thuringia, teenager Lukas Keller attempts to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delbert Mann
Delbert Martin Mann Jr. (January 30, 1920 – November 11, 2007) was an American television and film director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film '' Marty'' (1955), adapted from a 1953 teleplay which he had also directed. From 1967 to 1971, he was president of the Directors Guild of America. In 2002, he received the DGA's honorary life member award. Mann was credited to have "helped bring TV techniques to the film world." Early life and education Delbert Martin Mann Jr. was born on January 30, 1920, in Lawrence, Kansas, to Delbert Mann Sr. and Ora (Patton) Mann (died 1961). His father taught sociology at the University of Kansas from 1920 to 1926. In 1926, the Manns left Lawrence and moved to Pennsylvania and then Chicago before finally settling in Nashville in 1931.George R. Zepp''Hidden History of Nashville'' The History Press, 2009 page 77 There, his father continued to teach sociology at the Scarritt College for Christian Workers. His mother was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital city of Bonn, or as the Second German Republic. During the Cold War, the western portion of Germany and the associated territory of West Berlin were parts of the Western Bloc. West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, established from 12 States of Germany, states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided between the Western and Eastern Bloc, Eastern blocs. Germany was divided into the two countries. Initially, West Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, representing itself as the sole democratically reorganised continuation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taffeta
Taffeta (archaically spelled taffety or taffata) is a crisp, smooth, plain woven fabric made from silk, nylon, cuprammonium rayons, acetate, or polyester. The word came into Middle English via Old French and Old Italian, which borrowed the Persian word ''tāfta'' (تافته), which means "silk" or "linen cloth". As clothing, it is used in ball gowns, wedding dresses, and corsets, and in interior decoration, for curtains or wallcovering. It tends to yield a stiff cloth with a starched appearance that holds its shape better than many other fabrics and does not sag or drape. Silk taffeta is of two types: yarn-dyed and piece-dyed. Piece-dyed taffeta is often used in linings and is quite soft. Yarn-dyed taffeta is much stiffer and is often used in evening dresses. Shot silk taffeta was one of the most highly-sought forms of Byzantine silk, and may have been the fabric known as ''purpura''. Production Modern taffeta was first woven in Italy and France and until the 1950s in Japan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bulldozer
A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, though specialized models riding on large Heavy equipment#Traction: Off-the-road tires and tracks, off-road tires are also produced. Its most popular accessory is a #Ripper, ripper, a large hook-like device mounted singly or in multiples in the rear to loosen dense materials. Bulldozers are used heavily in large and small scale construction, road building, mining and quarrying, on farms, in heavy industry factories, and in military applications in both peace and wartime. The word "bulldozer" refers only to a motorized unit fitted with a blade designed for pushing. The word is sometimes used inaccurately for other heavy equipment such as the generally similar Loader (equipment), front-end loader designed for carrying material rather than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East Germany, East German citizens from Emigration from the Eastern Bloc, fleeing to the West. The Eastern Bloc, Soviet Bloc propaganda portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from "Fascist (insult), fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people" from building a Communism, communist state in the GDR. The authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the ''Anti-Fascist Protection Ram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conrad Schumann
Hans Conrad Schumann, also known as Konrad Schumann (28 March 1942 – 20 June 1998), was an East German Bereitschaftspolizist who escaped to West Germany during the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Early life Born in Zschochau (now part of Jahnatal) during World War II, Schumann enlisted in the East German Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (Paramilitary Unit of the Volkspolizei) following his 18th birthday. After three months of training in Dresden, he was posted to a non-commissioned officers' college in Potsdam, after which he volunteered for service in Berlin. Escape to West Germany On 15 August 1961, 19-year-old Schumann was sent to the corner of Ruppiner Straße and Bernauer Straße to guard what would become the Berlin Wall on its third day of construction. Schumann and his unit arrived at 4:30 a.m., where an officer ordered them to "take control and protect the border from the enemies of socialism." Schumann later recalled: "We stood around looking pretty stupid at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa's Workshop (film)
''Santa's Workshop'' is a Walt Disney produced, animated short film directed by Wilfred Jackson, first released on December 10, 1932 in the ''Silly Symphonies'' series. The film features Santa Claus and his elves preparing for Christmas in Santa's workshop. A sequel, ''The Night Before Christmas'', partially based on the 1823 poem " A Visit from St. Nicholas", was made the year after, portraying Santa leaving the toys in a house with nine children. In Sweden and Norway, ''Santa's Workshop'' is part of the Christmas television special '' From All of Us to All of You'', traditionally shown on Christmas Eve. At the initiative of Disney, scenes depicting various ethnic stereotypes such as a pickaninny doll and a Jewish doll have been cut out of the film, which has given rise to a lot of public criticism in Sweden and in Denmark. ''Santa's Workshop'' is the first "Silly Symphonies" titled cartoon to develop with RCA's Photophone synchronization early-in-film sound system. The short ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Film
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film organizations may use different definitions, however; the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, for example, currently defines a short film as 45 minutes or less in the case of documentaries, and 59 minutes or less in the case of scripted narrative films (it is not made clear whether this includes closing credits). In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from the 1920s into the 1970s when confined to two 35 mm reels or less, and featurettes for a film of three or four reels. "Short" was an abbreviation for either term. The increasingly rare industry term "short subject" carries more of an assumption that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a feature film. Short films are often s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animated Film
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animation has been recognised as an artistic medium, specifically within the entertainment industry. Many animations are either traditional animations or computer animations made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Stop motion animation, in particular claymation, has continued to exist alongside these other forms. Animation is contrasted with live action, although the two do not exist in isolation. Many moviemakers have produced films that are a hybrid of the two. As CGI increasingly approximates photographic imagery, filmmakers can easily composite 3D animations into their film rather than using practical effects for showy visual effects (VFX). General overview Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silly Symphonies
''Silly Symphony'' (also known as ''Silly Symphonies'') is an American animation, animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the ''Mickey Mouse (film series), Mickey Mouse'' shorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this include ''Three Little Pigs (film), Three Little Pigs'', ''The Tortoise and the Hare (film), The Tortoise and the Hare'', and ''Three Orphan Kittens'', which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the Multiplane camera, multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck, who made his first appearance in the ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon ''The Wise Little Hen'' in 1934. Seven shorts won the Acad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RCA Photophone
RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four major competing technologies that emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronizing electrically recorded audio to a motion picture image. RCA Photophone was an optical sound, "variable-area" film exposure system, in which the modulated area (width) corresponded to the waveform of the audio signal. The four other major technologies were the Warner Bros. Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, as well as three "variable-density" sound-on-film systems, Lee De Forest's Phonofilm, and Fox- Case's Movietone, and the German system Tri-Ergon. When Joseph P. Kennedy and other investors merged Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) with the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and Radio Corporation of America; the resulting movie studio RKO Radio Pictures used RCA Photophone as its primary sound system. In March 1929, RKO released ''Syncopation'', the first live-recorded film made with RCA Photophone. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
