The Opium Wars

The Sign of the Poppy(en)

Brevet Major Pauline Cushman-Fryer: Civil War Spy(en)

Performed by Constance Smith, Pauline Cushman-Fryer tells us how she became a Union Spy, was almost hanged, was granted the rank of Major by Abraham Lincoln, and died lonely in San Francisco from an overdose of opium.

Hop - The Devil's Brew(en)

Lydia Jansen is happily married to a young customs inspector, but she harbors a dark secret. She is addicted to smoking opium or in slang parlance “hop.” To keep her secret, she willingly pays the blackmail her maid extorts from her having learned of Lydia’s habit through her own fiancée who is part of the ring importing the devil’s brew. Something unknown to all is that the operation is run by Lydia’s father an important politician in the city where this all occurs. As her husband’s investigation tightens the noose on the organization Lydia faces a crisis.

Once Upon a Time in America(en)

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

The Last Emperor(en)

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Easy Rider(en)

Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.

Kung Fu Killer(en)

China is in unrest, as the Republic falls prey to Warlords like Kahn Xin, who holds an entire province hostage to the opium trade—and destroys all who oppose him. Only the revered Wudang monks dare stand in Kahn’s way in order to protect the very soul of China. Among them is the Westerner, White Crane, a spiritual master of the martial arts and protector of the innocent. Revenge is not in Crane’s heart—until a mercenary army storms the temple and slaughters the beloved female Grandmaster Myling. Out of the ashes of the temple ruins, Crane rises—with vengeance in his heart. Crane comes upon Jane Marshall, a New York lounge singer and her gangster boss Bingo Quo. But it’s Bingo’s dangerous professional ties to Kahn that draw both Crane and Jane deep into the Warlord’s lair. Now torn between the spiritual Wudang teaching and the cold-blooded life of an assassin, Crane is about the cross the fine line between justice and revenge.

The Secret Sin(en)

Blanche Sweet has a dual role in this picture -- she plays twin sisters, Edith, a sweet, normal young girl, and Grace, who is a drug fiend. They live in poverty with their parents and their father (Hal Clements) finally finds work. Because he is faithful to his boss (Thomas Meighan), he is offered a partnership.

Tell Your Children(en)

High-school principal Dr. Alfred Carroll relates to an audience of parents that marijuana can have devastating effects on teens: a drug supplier entices several restless teens, Mary and Jimmy Lane, sister and brother, and Bill, Mary's boyfriend, into frequenting a reefer house. Gradually, Bill and Jimmy are drawn into smoking dope, which affects their family lives.

Wild Bill(en)

Biopic about famous gunslinger Wild Bill Hickock. The early career of legendary lawman is telescoped and culminates in his relocation in Deadwood and a reunion with Calamity Jane.

Regular Lovers(fr)

1968 and 1969 in Paris: during and after the student and trade union revolt. François is 20, a poet, dodging military service. He takes to the barricades, but won't throw a Molotov cocktail at the police. He smokes opium and talks about revolution with his friend, Antoine, who has an inheritance and a flat where François can stay. François meets Lilie, a sculptor who works at a foundry to support herself. They fall in love. A year passes; François continues to write, talk, smoke, and be with Lilie. Opportunities come to Lilie: what will she and François do?

Captain Elliot's Circle(en)

Equal parts documentary, essay, and narrative,"Captain Elliot's Circle" is mostly a poetic interaction with an obscure corner of Chinese and British history. Constructed using primary source documents about the taking of Zhoushan, Britain's first choice for a seaport, in the late 1830s,this movie uses Captain Charles Elliot's reluctance to brutalize the Chinese to reflect on the cyclical nature of history and the power structures that move it. The long takes used throughout function to illustrate the dramatically different ways in which people who lived in the mid-19th century perceived time. Additionally, it represents the psychological effect of living on an island regardless of what era you were born in.The last third of the movie focuses on a young woman whose strange day job has taken her far away from the island of Zhoushan generations after Captain Charles Elliot was last there. "Captain Elliot's Circle" was shot on location in Zhoushan and Hangzhou.

Temptress Moon(zh)

Set in the decadent 1920s, Temptress Moon tells the very complicated story of a wealthy family living on the outskirts of Shanghai. Their youngest daughter, Ruyi, is brought up as a servant to her opium-addicted father and brother. Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Zhongliang has a successful, if illegal, career seducing and blackmailing married women in the city. When he comes to Ruyi's home the two fall in love, and trouble ensues.

Opium and the Kung Fu Master(cn)

A small town is protected by one of the famous Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. The town is very safe as Ti Lung and his Kung Fu students patrol for criminals. Enter the rival Kung Fu school whom Ti Lung's students have beaten in a lion dance competition and then humiliated in a brawl. The rival school is joined by an opium dealing Kung Fu master who plans to turn the town into a community of addicts!

Blind Woman's Curse(ja)

Akemi is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.

Human Wreckage(en)

An attorney's wife is determined to fight the evils of addictive substances.

Java Head(en)

Gerrit Ammidon, despairing of any chance to marry his love, Nettie Vollar, because of a bitter feud between his father and her grandfather, sails to China to "get away from it all". While in Shanghai he rescues a beautiful young woman being attacked by a gang of street toughs. She turns out to be Taou Yuen, a Manchu princess. Gerrit discovers that, unless she finds a husband, she will be put to death, and he agrees to marry her. They return to Java Head, the Ammidon family home in Salem, Massachusetts, but Gerrit's "homecoming" has some unexpected consequences.

The Poppy Is Also a Flower(en)

A special United Nations bureau organises a campaign to trace a drug-smuggling ring across Europe to its source on the Afghanistan-Iran border.

Drifting(en)

In Shanghai, an American girl who helps run an opium ring meets an American agent disguised as a mining engineer. The two fall in love, and she has to determine where her loyalties lie.

The Furnace(en)

To escape the outback, a young Afghan cameleer falls in with a mysterious bushman on the run with stolen Crown gold.

The Last Rifleman(en)

A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

Waiting for Anya(en)

During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.

The Scarlet and the Black(en)

Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.

Devils on the Doorstep(zh)

During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

The New One-Armed Swordsman(zh)

Lei Li lost his right-arm in a sword duel with the master of a martial arts school, long ago. Now, he is able to defend himself well with just his left arm, and kung fu techniques. That he proves with just the help of his friend Chung-Chieng, when he crosses his path with a beautiful girl in need, Pao Chiao. Even against impossible odds, he will prove a great warrior.

Emperor(en)

An escaped slave travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Based on the life story of Shields Green.

The Eight Hundred(zh)

In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.

Outlaws - For Greater Glory(en)

A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.

Home Coming(zh)

Two members of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs are tasked with the evacuation of Chinese citizens when war breaks out in Numia, North Africa.

Walking with the Enemy(en)

Regent Horthy is the leader of Hungary and a German ally, but his favorable standing with Hitler changes as the war comes to an end. Forced to cede Hungary’s power or else witness the execution of his son, Regent Horthy gives up control of his country to the Nazis, who quickly move Hungarians to ghettos and death camps, with no hope in sight. But the despair changes when a young man named Elek emerges. Separated from his family during the relocations and aided by the woman he loves , Elek defies the enemy by becoming one of them. In a race against time, disguised as a Nazi Officer he embarks on a mission to save his family and thousands of his countrymen.

The War Below(en)

During World War I, a group of British miners are recruited to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs from below the German front in hopes of breaking the deadly stalemate of the Battle of Messines.

Beneath Hill 60(en)

The true story of Australia's cat-and-mouse underground mine warfare—one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and mystifying conflicts of WW I. It was secret struggle BENEATH the Western Front that combined daring engineering, technology and science. Few on the surface knew of the brave, claustrophobic and sometimes barbaric work of these tunnellers.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria(en)

During World War II, Italian villagers hide their wine from the German army.

Tobruk(en)

In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.

The Beast(en)

During the war in Afghanistan a Soviet tank crew commanded by a tyrannical officer find themselves lost and in a struggle against a band of Mujahadeen guerrillas in the mountains.

Battleground(en)

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

The Battle at Lake Changjin(zh)

Korean War, winter 1950. In the frozen and snowy area of Changjin Lake, a bloody battle is about to begin between the elite troops of the United States and China.

Men in War(en)

In Korea, on 6 September 1950, Lieutenant Benson's platoon finds itself isolated in enemy-held territory after a retreat. Soon they are joined by Sergeant Montana, whose overriding concern is caring for his catatonic colonel. Benson and Montana can't stand each other, but together they must get the survivors to Hill 465, where they hope the division is waiting. It's a long, harrowing march, fraught with all the dangers the elusive enemy can summon.

Danny Boy(en)

Soldier Brian Wood, is accused of war crimes in Iraq by the human rights lawyer Phil Shiner. The two men go head to head in a legal and moral conflict that takes us from the battlefield, at so-called Checkpoint Danny Boy, to the courtroom and one of Britain’s biggest ever public inquiries, the Al-Sweady Inquiry.

The One That Got Away(en)

Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.