No comments about Biography - Gloria Vanderbilt.

No comments about Biography - Milton Berle.

1 comments about Biography - Men in Space: From Goddard to Armstrong.

1. Yes, we've all seen and are quite weary by now of NASA/Goddard theatrics (would that Mark Goddard of "Lost in Space"the-series would have lent his narrative skills to the project to make it more bearable). TRITE is not the original, I say again O R I G I N A L "Men in Space" T.V. show with Bill Lundigan! Pop an episode in the player - if you can FIND! Now THERE was a (Geo)Palian program for all!

3 comments about Biography - Hirohito.

1. Hirohito is without question the most amazing political survivor of the last two centuries. Just as incredible is the fact that it was not due to either his political or economic abilities. Therefore, he can also be considered one of the luckiest people of the last two centuries. As Japan moved towards a full-scale war for domination of the Asian continent, he was both engaged and detached from the events. In fact, historians still debate his involvement in the actions of the Japanese military throughout the thirties until the end of the war.
   This is an excellent and very even-handed presentation of Hirohito, with an emphasis on the years before and during World War II. Japanese society of that time is an example of extreme nationalism run amok, often characterized as a government by assassination. The only point of stability was the Emperor, but only if he maintained the premise of being above the dirty business of running the country. This point is put across in a clear manner, something that must be well-known if you are to have any hope of understanding why Japan embarked on such foolhardy military moves that were doomed to fail. Locked in a war of attrition in China that could not possibly be won, the Japanese chose to also move against the United States, locking them into a two front war that could only lead to defeat. It was the first manifestation of the kamikaze mentality that became so dominant in the last months of the war.
   It is most unlikely that we will ever know the extent of the involvement of Hirohito in the decisions that led to Japan's military adventures in World War II. He remained a figurehead of Japanese society after the war, no longer a formal god on Earth, but still very much an informal one. This is a tape that all those interested in either Japan or the war in the Pacific should view.



2. I found this A&E biography very disappointing. Film footage was devoted more to discussing the war rather than Hirohito, the man.



3. Hirohito has always been something of a puzzle to me. As a teenager in the 1980s, I would see this man on the news and wonder why on earth he was still the emperor of Japan. During his reign, Japanese forces committed untold atrocities against the Chinese and all manner of other Asian peoples, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor in a treacherous sneak attack, Japanese soldiers killed many brave American soldiers, and Japan was forced to sign terms of unconditional surrender. It made no sense to me that Hirohito was still the emperor of Japan, a man who was never forced to pay any real price at all as a war criminal. Even the Japanese people continued to revere him, seemingly holding no grudges over the destruction American forces and bombs brought to the Japanese homeland in 1945. This Biography video sheds light on Hirohito and his Japan, but it fails to deliver on its promises. At the outset, Jack Perkins tells me this video will reexamine Hirohito's role in the attack on Pearl Harbor and seemingly argue that he played a larger role than history and myth tell us; frankly, there is no explication of this issue to be found here.
   
   If nothing else, this documentary shows that Hirohito was an exceedingly weak and ineffective emperor, a man lacking the backbone to stand up to his advisors and the military leaders of Japan. He obviously was a good learner, though, as his advisors supposedly taught him from a young age to be a passive ruler. By the 1930s, military leaders saw depression and the dangers of a reunified China as their chance to pursue their own aggressive goals. Without Hirohito's knowledge, they attacked Manchuria, then attacked the Chinese heartland (torturing and massacring up to two hundred thousand people in the infamous Rape of Nanking). Hirohito opposed such actions, we are told, and was horrified by the atrocities committed in his name. He was too passive, however, to do anything to stop the army's aggression. Certainly, the fact that the military assassinated six prime ministers during the 1930s would make one reticent to speak out against them, but an emperor is supposed to lead his country. Hirohito, though, backed down from his anti-military wishes time and time again, eventually acquiescing altogether to everything that happened: Japan's abandonment of the League of Nations, its militaristic aggression, and of course the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is most ironic that the military played up Hirohito's supposed divine nature and made him the rallying cry of its own aggressions.
   
   This video explains why Hirohito stayed on the throne (now officially a figurehead) after World War II. MacArthur, as well as planners in Washington, thought he would serve as a stabilizing force in the chaotic days following the war. Rather than being castigated as a collaborator, the Japanese people continued their support for the emperor, which amazes me. He became a symbol of Japan' new middle class and eventually a good will ambassador. He never expressed regret about Japanese atrocities during the war, and he never paid any price for his role in events - in which he was, if nothing else, complicit. These facts were never truly forgotten in the west, however, as some world leaders were criticized for attending Hirohito's funeral in 1989.
   
   This would be an excellent video were it not for the introductory promise to shed new light on Hirohito's role in the attack on Pearl Harbor; all we are told on this point is that he seemingly nodded in acquiescence to the plan, showing no uneasiness with the decision. Other than this, all we get are old and tired excuses: he felt powerless to stop the plans, and he feared the possibility of a coup against him. He was angry that Japan attacked before declaring war, though; that, we are told, is the only thing about Pearl Harbor that made him angry.
   
   This documentary shows that Hirohito was a very fortunate man. He was a spineless leader who did not dare command his military to rein themselves in and do his wishes; he witnessed the destruction of his country by allied bombs; and he never faced charges of war crimes or lost his throne over the carnage carried out in his name. Despite all this, he retained his seat as emperor, enjoyed great popularity among his people, and lived the easy life for 44 years after the war. This biographical presentation does a fine job of describing Hirohito's life, but it leaves many questions - including some it poses at the beginning - unanswered.

No comments about Biography - Charles Kuralt.

1 comments about Biography - Marquis De Sade.

1. This was a VERY interesting biography of a very interesting man! Note: This definitely deserves a "R" rating!

1 comments about Biography - Timothy Mcveigh.

1. was ok but a bit biased in the story telling...sympathy for the victims and not enough about the others unknown who were seen at the time and the conspiracy theory surrounding the fbi involvement and the cache of arsenal within the murrah building and the other bombs occurring after.....lots of good pics of timothy and his family at least and the army life he lived as well....a good video however it could expand on the others unknown and that extra leg found in the rubble....? from the black woman- leaves me still wondering who really may have been the true culprit...he was involved but i don't think he masterminded the whole thing...still think that joe doe 2 is that padilla guy they caught before anything happened....is terry nichols ex -wife lana padilla's relative.....government is still covering up some information they don't want us to know about.....

No comments about Biography - Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

1 comments about Biography - Rasputin.

1. It is hard to find a more fascinating character in history than Rasputin: self-proclaimed holy man, madman, healer, womanizer, hater of baths, personal friend to the royal family of Russia - these are just some of the facts. Rasputin has also been accused at one time or another of being a spy for the Germans, evil incarnate, a hypnotist, a seducer of the Czarina herself, and a whole list of other crazy things. The man is the epitome of contradiction, and a serious look at his life finds a mixture of the good and the bad - and when Rasputin was bad, he was very bad.
   
   Gregory Rasputin was born a peasant in Siberia, but his unusual nature began to show even in childhood. At a young age, he reportedly had the ability to heal animals, and he soon acquired a most-deserved reputation as a seducer of women. This was a reputation he would never lose or attempt to change. Following a trip to a holy place (as a means of stopping his villagers from throwing him out of town), he took on an air of religion, and he began spreading his unique religious philosophy (one that apparently called for unlimited sinning) throughout the countryside. He eventually found his way to St. Petersburg, the capital of imperial Russia, and somehow gained an audience with Czar Nicholas and Czarina Alexandra themselves. Here were sown the seeds that would help - albeit indirectly - bring down the monarchy in 1917.
   
   Rasputin's illicit activities and excessive womanizing were no secret, yet he enjoyed free access to the royal family; as the Russian population's misery grew with the onset of World War I, Rasputin became the most hated man in all of Russia - yet there he was in the role of a confidante of the Romanovs. The people could not understand this, and the fact that Nicholas treated this mad peasant as such as an equal diminished the royal family greatly in the eyes of those who would eventually destroy the monarchy. As this video reveals, we now know why Rasputin meant so much to the czar and his family. The czar's only son, the sole heir to the throne, suffered from hemophilia; somehow, Rasputin was able to heal the boy in the midst of his serious attacks, and for this reason the family, particularly the czarina, bound themselves to him. Since Nicholas could not reveal his son's medical condition to the people (that would weaken the monarchy), he was quite unable to explain to the Russian people why the madman enjoyed such incredible access to the palace.
   
   This video floats the idea that Rasputin might have been able to keep Russia out of World War I - he had prophesied that ruin would come with war, but at the crucial time following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Rasputin was in a hospital recovering from a brutal attack by an ex-lover. By the time he returned to St. Petersburg, the Russian army was being torn apart at the front and revolution at home took on an air of inevitability. At this point, Rasputin began drinking heavily and breaking his own records for lewd public behavior. Despite all this, his ties to the Romonovs only increased when Nicholas went to the front to take charge of his floundering army. Now things had gone too far, and Rasputin had to die. His assassination by a nobleman only increased the mental hold he held on the Russian people. He was, as it turned out, incredibly hard to kill. Several lethal doses of poison had no effect, so increasingly drastic actions had to be taken to finally break the mad monk's curse over mother Russia. Even in death, Rasputin brooded over the Russian nation, however. Just a few short months later, the Russian Revolution threw the country into chaos and led to the deaths of the entire royal family. Clearly, Rasputin's relationship with the Romanovs played a part - albeit an unintentional one -in the royal family's downfall.
   
   Rasputin is in many ways an inscrutable figure. As the pictures of him show, he was not an attractive man; the fact that he rarely bathed could not have helped him with the ladies; one can only ponder what sort of unnatural characteristic made him irresistible to so many women. Then you have to deal with the fact that Rasputin seemingly did have the ability to heal by some unknown means. I think his prophetic talents are overrated, but clearly he was a perceptive man with some valid insight into the course of events taking place in his own time. Was he mad? What he truly evil? I don't think these questions can be answered satisfactorily, nor does this video attempt to do so.

1 comments about Biography - Lyndon Johnson.

1. Without doubt the best video on LBJ is the American Experience double cassette - unmatched. However, if you are looking for a high quality 'taster' then this will do fine. Breezes through his life with plenty of archive footage and stills. Never slow and will certainly force you to buy the longer tapes. Very good value too.