William Lundigan

Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey play themselves in this musical biopic tracing the brothers from their coal-country boyhood through their rise to the top of the swing era, their famous on-stage breakup, and their reunion. The plot is a sanitized version of a genuinely combative relationship, but the band sequences — including a show-stopping "Green Eyes" — are the real thing. Directed by Alfred E. Green for United Artists, with Janet Blair and Paul Whiteman. The film is in the public domain.

Music · Drama · Biography

A short documentary about the U.S. Marine assault on the Japanese-held island of Tarawa in November 1943, directed by Louis Hayward, who served in the Marine Corps. Shot in full color with no actors, it shows the landing, the fight across the beach, the casualties, and the burial of the dead at sea. The footage was so graphic that Hollywood distributors refused to release it, and only President Roosevelt's personal approval sent it to theaters. The film was meant to show Americans at home that the war was not a parade of easy victories. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

Climax! is an American anthology drama series that aired from 1954 to 1958 on CBS, presenting live television adaptations of novels, short stories, and plays. The series was one of the most prestigious dramatic programs of the golden age of television, featuring adaptations of works by authors including Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, and Ian Fleming. The series is perhaps best known for its 1954 adaptation of Casino Royale, the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, starring Barry Nelson as an Americanized James Bond. Many episodes are in the public domain.

Drama · Anthology