The private Joan Crawford fought as hard to create a normal family life as she did to establish her career. She forged her own path and to that end became a single parent, eventually adopting and raising four children. Like many parents, she picked up a 16mm camera and began filming both the special and the ordinary events of her family’s life. These home movies (ca. 1940–42) present that which one rarely gets to see: a larger-than-life personality at home, unadorned, just being herself—and often in color, at a time when her feature films were black and white. Crawford filmed most of the home movies herself; when she is on camera, it is unclear who is behind it.
Related Movies
Strike: The Greatest Bowling Story Ever Told (2014)
Bill Fong is passionate about bowling. When he's not working at the bowling shop he's studying YouTube videos, playing 20 games a week as a member of four active leagues, and memorizing the characteristics of each of the 48 lanes at his regular bowling alley. Yet despite all of Bill's determination, he has yet to achieve his dream of going pro. One seeming ordinary night all may change for this underdog as Fong begins to get strike after strike, nearing the ever elusive 'perfect series,' a feat only achieved 21 times since 1895. The achievement would be historical, the first for Texas and the first by an Asian-American. A perfect series could be just the thing to launch Bill into the pros but will he be able to make it or buckle under the pressure?
Lost Theaters of Wichita (2016)
Lost Theaters of Wichita has the inside story from those who were there. It’s a tale of two great entertainment palaces—one that barely survived and the other that came crashing down while still in its prime. The Miller could still be entertaining people to this day in a grand atmosphere unlike any other. But instead, a parking garage sits in that spot–a monument to history lost and a lesson for future generations to heed. Program includes additional segments on Wichita theater history not included in the documentary itself, and a question and answer session with some of the people interviewed in the film.
A Day in the Life of a Consumer (1993)
The film shows one day from waking up in the morning all the way to waking up again the next morning. The everyday situations that many commercials are made of, the little dramas that they create and solve through the product or service they sell, are stitched together into one day. This is a film about the everyday in (German, or Western-European) society because the commercials are part of the everyday of most people (everyone who watches television) and they depict an ideal image of society. The film abundantly uses repetition as an editing technique, in visual ways as described above, but also because commercials can be read in different ways. For instance, Brat baking foil shows up at the evening dinner sequence, when an ovendish is put on the table, and again later on in the sequence about going out to a classic concert, because the clip has classic music.
American Factory (2019)
In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
The Stranger in Your Lover's Eyes (2018)
This two-part visual essay features the son of director Don Siegel, Kristoffer Tabori, who reads from his father book A Siegel Film. The bulk of the content addresses the production history of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The Crossroad Of Rock (1988)
Documentary film written by music critic Artemiy Troitskiy. It depicts the variety of Soviet and Baltic rock music and offers its viewer an idea that all this forbidden music is not really dangerous for society. Featuring music bands: "Круиз" (Tambov), "In Spe" (Estonia), "Новый мир" (Estonian hard-rock), "Великие Луки" (punk-rock from Tallinn). Moscow music scene represented by: "Тупые", "Нюанс", "Звуки Му". Leningrad music scene: "Джунгли", "Алиса". Also appearing: "Воплі Відоплясова" from Kiev and "Антис" from Lithuania. Not credited: Roman Neumoev with "Инструкция по выживанию" and Oleg Sudakov with "Гражданская оборона".
The Ongoing Conversation (2023)
An Editor recounts the diaries of a failed film production as they attempt to construct a new narrative from the remaining footage.
Shawn Michaels - The Showstopper Unreleased (2018)
To the WWE Universe, Shawn Michaels made every match he competed in feel like a main event. No matter the time or the place, when The Showstopper stepped inside the ring, he delivered a performance unlike any other. Now for the first time ever, WWE Home Video dives deep into the archives to bring the WWE Universe never-before-released matches spanning the entire career of “The Heartbreak Kid.”
L'Entourage : l'héritage du rap parisien (2023)
Documentary that retraces the journey of the French rap collective L'Entourage, its impact, and the career of each member.
Paul Merson: Football, Gambling & Me (2021)
Former footballer Paul Merson sets out to understand why his life has been so blighted by gambling and asks if enough is being done to prevent others following in his footsteps.
Three Days in Auschwitz (2015)
The director’s mother, Mirka Mora, avoided Auschwitz by one day. On his father’s side many perished in the Holocaust. These facts triggered three visits to Auschwitz by Mora from 2010 to 2014 in an effort to understand and remember.
In Their Name (2022)
Filmmaker Peter Hegedus embarks on the challenging journey to make Sorella's Story, an immersive 360° film set on the beaches of Latvia in December 1941, when thousands of Jewish Women and children perished at the hands of Nazi collaborators. Along the way Peter teams up with Jewish-Australian 90-year-old Ethel Davies whose family was also killed in the same massacre.
Straight from the Heart (1994)
Parents talk about their gay and lesbian children, and how they came to accept their lifestyle.
Sing! (2001)
Sing! is a 2001 American short documentary film about the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, directed by Freida Lee Mock. How do squeaky-voiced 8 year olds become amazing singers? Sing! tells the story of how a community group, amid severe cutbacks in the arts, is able to develop a children's chorus that is one of the best in the country. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Tango (1985)
A brief history of the emergence and artistic innovations of tango in 19th-century Argentina and Europe. The film offers a mosaic of tango melodies, art works, dance performances, historical footage, photographs of Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th century, and texts by Celedonio Flores and Enrique Santos Discépolo.
America; I Too (2017)
Three arrested and detained undocumented immigrants must navigate the system to fight impending deportation.
The Numbers Start with the River (1971)
The Numbers Start with the River is a 1971 American short documentary film about small-town life in Iowa. Produced by Donald Wrye for the United States Information Agency, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Guide to a Midwest Hometown (2022)
Coming back during Winter, Alex Powell explores both the places and personal connections found in his hometown and how they've changed. “Guide to a Midwest Hometown” explores what makes the barren places at home feel sentimental and special, and the good and bad feelings that come when being back home. Inspired by "How To With John Wilson".
Silent impulses (2023)
Silent Impulses is a documentary portrait of a young woman who openly deals with taboo sexual deviations. The film reveals her inner world, the way she deals with this issue and how it affects her relationships and perception of herself.
Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.