1 comments about Biography - Phil Silvers.

1. This is a great A&E Biography of the life and times of the reknowned comic-entertainer Phil Silvers(Sargeant Bilko).Phil,we all love and miss you!!

5 comments about A&E Biography: Amelia Earhart - Queen of the Air.

1. This is a superb A&E biography of the greatest female pilot f all time Amelia Earhart.It's a must see!!



2. This is an excellent look at the life of the legendary Amelia Earhart. It does not dwell on her disappearance, as it gives equal attention to every part of her life. It is also an honest and fair look at the woman behind the myth; it points out the fact that she was not really the most talented female flier of her era, that she had a number of accidents and had a tendency to cut corners, and it lists many of the bad decisions she made in pursuit of her ill-fated flight around the globe. It also provides an objective look at her marriage to G.P. Putnam, a marriage of convenience that may have grown into something more with a man widely despised by other female fliers as a pushy promoter who lived on the glory of someone else.
   
   There's good information on her childhood, including several clips from a 1987 interview with her sister, and how her somewhat troubled family life helped make her the rebel she became. Accounts of her early flying days, perhaps inspired by her World War I nursing duties taking care of war pilots in Toronto, are especially interesting, as we learn that there were other talented female fliers pursuing their own dreams at the same time. Elinor Smith, one of those pilots who is interviewed here, is an incredibly engaging woman I would like to know more about. The documentary then recounts some of Earhart's more important milestones, starting with her first flight across the Atlantic - this flight aboard the Freedom Flight made her famous and brought her together with G.P. Putnam for the first time, but she really didn't do anything on the journey except take care of the log while two men flew and navigated. A few years later, she did become the first woman to cross the Atlantic on a solo flight, touching down in a cow pasture in Ireland after suffering some mechanical problems. A little later, she became the first pilot (male or female) to cross the Pacific.
   
   Amelia needed money in order to keep flying, and husband G.P. Putnam kept her busy doing promotional and other marketing gigs, leaving her little time to actually fly and wearing her out as she raised the money for her final exploit. Her attempt to become the first pilot to fly around the world following the equator was not without its harbingers of doom. Her plane crashed on landing in Hawaii, for example, and she had to start again after repairs were completed. By this time, she had only one of her three crewmen still with her - Fred Noonan. The pair would make it three-fourths of the way around the globe before disappearing into legend somewhere in the Pacific. This documentary briefly mentions some of the conspiracy theories that surround the mystery, but it spends more time detailing the mistakes that could have been averted. Neither Earhart nor Noonan excelled at navigation, the plane flew without a trailing wire antenna and its Morse code key (neither Earhart nor Noonan even knew how to transmit in Morse code), and Amelia's countless hours in the cockpit had already made her so sick that her husband recommended she abort the final two legs of the flight.
   
   As one of Amelia's cousins says, though, Earhart should be remembered for all the daring things she accomplished, not for the mystery of her disappearance. She was one of the most famous, most engaging women of the 20th century, and I have to say that this A&E Biography treatment of her helps remind us of the qualities that made her such a larger-than-life personality.



3. This is one of the better programs in the A&E Biography series. It compares favorably with the American Experience episode on Earhart, using much of the same newsreel footage and interviewing many of the same experts. Recommended.



4. "Biography - Amelia Earhart", A & E, NewVideo 1996, ISBN: 0-7670-8068-8. DVD 50 min.
   
   A nicely executed biographical depiction of the life and times of Amelia Earhart, an American Sweetheart whose true romance was with airplanes and flying. She quickly became an American icon, establishing first-of-a-kind records in aviation and promoted women's causes, soon garnering world-wide publicity, finding admiration by dignitaries, the rich and famous, and firmly established her mark in history.
   
   
   Calling upon archival film footage admixed with poignant interviews of relatives and friends, the writers forged a convincing biographic portraiture of Amelia as a courageous, enticing young woman who did her own thing, was a poised adventuress with peerless contagious spiritednes, even establishing her own unique fashionable clothing line. Her marriage to George Putnam, publicist and writer, was (perhaps) more as one of convenience than of true love, but it did promote her legendary career and helped her to amass funds for her flying career. Her final and fatal Lockheed Electra flight, which resulted in her mysterious disappearance July 2, 1937, upon departing Lae, had her leaving New Guinea to Howland Isle, enroute to California attempting to circumnavigate the equatorial globe. Some of her shortcomings as pilot in inclement weather demonstrated lessened abilities in radio-navigation and communication skills. After seeing this DVD story you will yearn to read more about the life, the love and the times of this aviatrix



5. AS a retired airline pilot and history buff I really enjoyed seeing the actual footage of her and her airplane. I just attended a lecture by archeologist Thomas F. King. He co-wrote "Amelia Earhart's Shoes". He is fairly certain that Amelia and Fred died on an island south of Howland. If you like this DVD the book will put an ending to the story.

5 comments about Biography - Tyrone Power.

1. This biography is indeed a treasure for all those who admired and loved the late Tyrone Power. It is full of information and photos, never before seen. It includes narrations from family, friends and biographer, Fred Guiles( who wrote'The Last Idol' about Tyrone Power) Wonderful entertainment!



2. This is a priceless piece of information about Hollywood's last great matinee idol, the beloved Tyrone Power, with wonderful candid pictures of him with his friends and family, and with a few humorous outtakes from his movies. Intelligent and warm, compassionate and sincere, we meet some of the people who were closest to him and hear from their own lips what he meant to those who knew him well enough to call him friend. A beautiful tribute to a beautiful man.



3. I highly recommend this video biography to all fans of Tyrone Power. It is a very positive presentation of his personal life and career. There are several interviews with Annabella, Alice Faye and others who knew him well. There are many excellent film clips from some of his best movies. This video is a must for fans of Tyrone Power.



4. Daryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th century Fox called Power the 'dullest man he'd ever met'. I couldn't disagree more.

   This biography portrays Power as a charming, thoughtful and witty personality. Though he never achieved his full potential as an actor, I believe he more than did that as a person.

   So impressed was I with this bio, I went out and found a copy of The Last Idol by Fred Guiles immediately. The TV bio was more honest than the book, particularly about Powers' sexual ambiguity. The books forces one to read between the lines, whereas the TV bio tells it like it was. He wanted to be all things to all people, and I think he was.

   I highly recommend this bio, even if you're not a Ty Power fan.




5. This is an absolutely wonderful documentary on the great movie star Tyrone Power, not only probably the most handsome man in Hollywood history but clearly one of the nicest and most beloved off screen HOWEVER... don't buy this video!!! Buy the DVD MARK OF ZORRO instead because you will get THIS VERY DOCUMENTARY ON THAT DVD plus a beautiful print of one of Tyrone's greatest triumphs!! And it's cheaper too!! You're welcome!

1 comments about Biography - Gilda Radner.

1. This video is very interesting. I knew a lot about Gilda Radner as she has always been one of my favourite comedians. However I didn't know very much that happened to her after her SNL career was over... this video was a very sad eye opener. She was so talented and funny I am glad I got to hear her story through this great video. Rest in Peace Gilda.

1 comments about Biography - Wilbur & Orville Wright: Dream of Flying.

1. Having lived in North Carolina my whole life, you'd better believe I knew who the Wright Brothers were even as a child. They may have been from Ohio, but they took flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and we're pretty darn proud of that fact. This Biography video will be a real eye-opener to many, I'm sure. You would assume that the whole world went wild when Orville and Wilbur invented the airplane and that they were instantly hailed as geniuses and wined and dined by anyone and everyone. Do you know what actually happened in aftermath of that first flight on December 17, 1903? Nothing at all, basically. There's proof in the form of a snapshot of the plane taking flight, but only five newspapers across the country even mentioned this mother of all inventions, and few of those folks who did hear the story believed it ? even back in the Wright brothers' home town in Ohio. Just days before history was made in Kitty Hawk, the great scientist Samuel Langley, director of the Smithsonian Institution and the recipient of a huge $150,000 grant, made his much ballyhooed attempt at flight and failed miserably, convincing most of the public that man would never fly. Back in Ohio, the brothers start building a new plane, but they were only able to fly it 25 feet in front of invited press. Without the kind of winds that made Kitty Hawk an ideal test site, the brothers used a catapult to give their new plane the speed it needed to take off. This worked, and the brothers were taking flights of over half an hour by 1905. The Wrights sought a contract, but the American government ? unbelievably ? basically snubbed them; meanwhile, the brothers stopped flying altogether in order to keep their secret design safe. They eventually had to turn to Europe, and five incredibly long years after inventing the airplane, the government (along with French financiers) finally gave the brothers a chance to prove their claims. Wilbur went to France to show an exceedingly dubious French public that he was not a fraud. Finally, in 1908, the Wrights' accomplishment was recognized and the brothers became international celebrities.
   
   You'll learn a whole heap of fascinating information on the Wright brothers in this video. It takes you through their initial work with gliders, the ups and downs of making a plane that could not only fly but could also be controlled by the pilot, their failures and even disasters, and the lives they led following their amazing success ? it was not a completely happy one, especially after the stress of a law suit against a competitor contributed to Wilbur's premature death at the age of 1945 in 1912.
   
   On the first test run in December 1903, Wilbur crashed the plane before getting anywhere, and it took two days to repair it for another try (this time with Orville at the controls). There were several flights on that historic day, the first three of which failed to travel the required 300 feet. The fourth try was pure magic, though, as Orville flew 852 feet in 59 seconds. Here comes the most interesting story of all, however. The brothers and a witness named John Daniels were so elated that they forgot to tie down the light (605 pound) airplane. A gust came up and Daniels tried to hold the plane down, suddenly finding himself catapulted head over heels and stuck in the wires of the plane as it blew down the field and all but disintegrated. Fortunately, Daniels received only scratches, and the frightening experience provided him with the opportunity to later boast that he flew the historic fifth flight that day in Kitty Hawk. In 1908, the world's first airplane passenger flew alongside Orville and became the world's first airplane fatality when something popped and the plane plummeted to the ground ? Orville himself was seriously injured.
   
   The above are just a few of the incredible facts you may never have heard about the building and successful flight of the world's first airplane. The video further highlights the fact that the Wright brothers were two relatively unknown bicycle makers with a personal obsession with the idea of flight, yet they succeeded where respected, well-funded, highly educated scientists and professionals failed. The story of the Wright Brothers is the quintessential story of good old American know-how.

No comments about Biography: Gene Tierney.

1 comments about Biography - Vladimir Lenin.

1. Were it not for Lenin, Karl Marx may have languished into a footnote of history, the Soviet Union and thus the Cold War might never have become a reality, and the oppressive evils of Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse-tung, Fidel Castro and others of the Communist ilk might never have been inflicted on the world. The irony of this is, of course, the fact that Lenin's revolution was not Marxist at all in the true sense of the term. Marx predicted that the "inevitable" social revolution would grow out of the exploited working class of developed countries, and Russia was anything but developed in the early twentieth century. The name and image of Lenin watched over the Soviet Union from its conception to its dismantlement, yet how many people today really know anything about the father of Communist Russia? Even the Russian people knew less than about him than they thought, as his life was mythologized in the interests of the state over the course of four generations. With the defeat of the USSR, hidden truths of history began to emerge, Lenin's statues and images began to fall left and right, and the Russian people were - typically - left to come to terms with an ambiguous history.
   
   Lenin's public persona as a kindly leader of the Soviet Union served to cover up the man's ruthless pursuit of power. This biography walks you through Lenin's life, including a childhood that would not seem to supply the flames of revolution. After his older brother was executed for conspiring to assassinate the czar, however, young Lenin (now watched by the government) began studying the works that inspired his brother - Marx, Engels, and especially Chernyshevskii. Soon thereafter, he began working among radical groups looking to overthrow the government; at 26 he was arrested, spending 14 months in prison and three years in Siberian exile. During this time, he worked diligently on his revolutionary writings and pamphlets, basically rewriting Marx to apply his revolution to the backward Russian state. His party of Bolsheviks was never a major player in affairs, and Lenin himself was forced to flee the country on several occasions. Through it all, he was obsessed with revolution, and his desperate moves to keep his few remaining followers together threatened to marginalize Lenin for good - and then World War I began.
   
   The war, Lenin knew, would afford him the opportunity to realize his dreams. He was in Sweden when the Russian Revolution of 1917 took place, and he wasted little time returning home to influence events. Few listened to his harangues over continuing the revolution, and the Provisional Government branded him a German spy and a traitor. Ironically, Kerenesky's Provisional Government essentially handed themselves over to the Bolsheviks when they recruited their aid in resisting a different internal threat. Lenin quickly called for the armed overthrow of the government, and his revolution came to power with little bloodshed. Lenin seized total control, eliminating enemies, destroying vehicles of dissent, and setting the stage for the future abuses of Stalin and his successors.
   
   All of this and more is detailed in this biographical video. You cannot truly capture Lenin's complicated essence over the course of only forty-plus minutes, but this video makes for an impressive effort. Lenin unleashed the Communist menace upon the entire world, and it is important that we fully demythologize the history of such a dangerous man.

1 comments about Biography - Barbara Eden: Out Of The Bottle.

1. This is a superb A&E Biography of the renowned TV and Movie Star Barbara Eden probably best known as Genie in the tv series"I Dream of Genie".Barbara,we all love you!!

2 comments about Biography - Nat King Cole: Loved in Return.

1. I liked watching this video. But Nat King Cole had an amazing life and as the reviewer said, his whole story just could not be told in 50 minutes. It does cover the highlights and tragedies of Cole's career, but doesn't really have the time to elaborate on them. But it is a nice tribute to the late singer/musician/composer. It features interviews with Maria Cole, Nat's widow; daughter singer Natalie Cole; his friends, and business associates. A couple of other things about this video that Amazon didn't get right: Nat Cole was 45 when he died, NOT 47 (he was born in 1919) and the date of this video is 1997, not 1987, as Amazon.com has listed here, so it is rather recent. A better video is the UNFORGETTABLE documentary from 1988, but if you don't want to spend a lot of money, this video will suit just fine.



2. "Although he passed away too early at age 47, Nat King Cole presents ..."
   
   He was 45.

1 comments about Biography: J. Edgar Hoover - Private & Confidential.

1. This video truly depicts how for about half a century, the most powerful man in the world was not the President, but Hoover himself.