No comments about Biography: Hustons - Hollywood's.

No comments about Biography: Clare Boothe Luce - Hell on.

1 comments about Biography - Thurgood Marshall.

1. If you are a fan of African-American history and know the importance of Justice Marshall, then not much is new here. However, this documentary would be great for those unfamiliar with him, especially African-American young students. Not only did he help to end legalized segregation, but he had many wonderful qualities. He was a great speaker, an awesome writer, a hard worker, and devoted family man, and much more. He was the valedictorian of his law class and had judicial experience, so conservatives cannot maintain that yap-yap that he "wasn't qualified." This documentary reiterates what a hero he should be to many.
   According to Rachel Moran, most interracial couples are made of one person of color and one white person. Interracial couples composed of two people of color do not get enough coverage in the United States. Many people have forgotten that P. Diddy was with J. Lo. Many people do not know that Carlos Santana's wife is African American. So this documentary shows Justice Marshall's Asian-American wife, but never lists her ethnicity. (Was she Thai-American?) It never mentions if they had difficulties living as a Black-Asian couple. The couple's sons are interviewed and they have visible Asian features. I wonder if the documentary makers assumed that Asianness speaks for itself here. Still, this is an avenue that they should have explored, especially in light of the celebration of multiculturalism and mixed-race families, yet they did not.
   This documentary includes interviews from Blacks and whites, women and men. It turns out that Juan Williams wrote Marshall's biography. I had only known of him as a journalist. I am impressed that he could complete such a difficult task, unrelated to his typical work.
   This documentary only says, "Justice Marshall wished he could have seen another Democratic President" and then it mentions that he died a few days after President Clinton's inauguration. However, what really happened is that Marshall wished he could have retired under a Democratic presidency, so that another progressive or person of color could be named as his replacement. I had always heard that Marshall was emphatically irked that Clarence Thomas got his seat. So this idea that he died with everything to his satisfaction is false. Again, the Biography series waters down progressive politics, probably to appease Middle Americans and their embrace of the Right. I found this spin in the documentary very cowardice.
   Do see this work if you get the chance.

2 comments about Biography - Wayne Newton.

1. This long-over do bio was done wonderfuly tracing the career of a super star and legend. For fans, lots of vintage footage and facts. For new comers, this is the video that complements Newton's book. A must! Enjoy and thanks for the opp. to write this!



2. This is an excellent A&E Biography of the superb singer-entertainer Wayne Newton.Wayne Newton starred in an excellent 1969 Movie"80 steps to Jonah"that unfortunately has never been released on video.So spread the word that hopefully it will in the near future!!

No comments about Biography - Larry Flynt.

1 comments about Biography - Carmen Miranda.

1. This Amazing video will take you back into the life one of the best dancers and singers of all times Carmen Miranda! She is the Latin American Bomb shell for her attributes and her voice this four feet eight inches tall beauty capture the heart and soul of America in a time of war. This video truly shows how the life and history of Carmen came about from her first steps in Brasil to her last days in America.

No comments about Biography: John Glenn - All American.

No comments about Biography - Nancy Reagan.

No comments about Biography: Dinah Shore - Sealed With a.

3 comments about Biography - Pol Pot.

1. A bizarre detail in modern Cambodia's genocide is that we know so little of the paranoid dictatorship that helped make it happen. We know who they were, but they didn't keep notes. There is no paper trail to follow, only accusation and speculation.

   I can't blame this A&E 'Biography' video for the little footage of Pol Pot - he was rarely seen, let alone filmed. But this brief video falls short in most respects, offering little hard information, tiptoeing around the disasterous consequence of President Nixon's carpet bombing of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border, ignoring China's economic aid and complicity. It does not cover the Khmer Rouge's entrance into '90s Cambodian government, or the kickbacks and UN cowardice that allowed it to happen.

   OK, what we do get is a 25-minute quick-study of farmer son Pol Pot ('Brother #1'), his education in modern Paris, the rise of the Khmer Rouge, the famine and genocide, and then the (to my mind, wonderful) invasion by Vietnam in '79/'80. One point comes clear - although they despised technology and even basic schooling, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge were similar to the Nazis/Stalinists & Chinese in one way - they wished to change not just the way people act, but the deepest way people can think. Pol Pot's dream of forcing Cambodia to a farm-based "Year Zero" could never work - the famine & chaos proved it - but this video doesn't come close to capturing the horror, let alone the ideas and actions that allowed such insanity to happen. (Saddest thing? Most of my opinions come from books, not this video. Footage of skulls can only tell you so much...)

   A better choice? I highly recommend the upsetting memories of Chanrithy Him's "When Broken Glass Floats" and Loung Ung's "First They Killed My Father". These two books don't touch on politics often, but they will captivate any reader with a heart. Buy them with confidence, please don't buy this.




2. This video tells the story of Pol Pot's and rebel's take over of Cambodia. It is an unbelievable and barbaric event for which it is difficult to understand the logic. Pol Pot apparently wanted to shift the power in the Country from the cities out into the countryside. The plan did not work and led to mass killings and starvation. It also led to the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam as Cambodia left itself defenseless.



3. It's hard to believe that a country lost 1/4 of its people over nothing. This work felt more like something on PBS than A&E. Usually, A&E Biographies are bright, light-hearted, and chatty. This one kept it somber based on the seriousness of the subject. The work doesn't make this connection, but I immediately thought of Jim Jones, Stalin, and many other self-destructive and genocidal leaders. The work doesn't mention the United Nations until the very end. I kept asking myself why didn't the UN do more. This disc also goes from discussing Pol Pot in the 1970s then jumps to the 1990s. Why make that leap? Why was nothing done in the 1980s? Much is mentioned of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in the US. Why don't people talk about those in the Cambodian diaspora more if they faced such a tragedy? It's not that this is a bad documentary, it's that the subject is so tragic and frustrating. I hope nothing like this and on this scale happens during this new century.