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Old or Obscure Documentaries

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Kenneth Elkington

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I love documentaries, but I mostly get to see the big recent ones, and whatever happens to pop up on the BBC, PBS, or occasionally Hulu. What can you guys recommend for old or obscure stuff? I'd like to expand beyond recent horizons if I can.
 
I think there was an old Walter Cronkite show called "The Twentieth Century". It aired maybe in the late '50s or early/mid '60s. That and perhaps Pathe Newsreels should give you a look at the world view from an American perspective.

edit: I also remember some old cartoons that lampooned the hollywood stars of the '30s and '40s. Things like Clark Gable with VERY big ears etc. You have to know who the people were they were caricaturing, but once you recognized the individual it was very entertaining.
 
Some great documentaries that come to mind:

The War Room

Fog of War

Nanook of the North (though some argue that it can't quite count as a documentary since most scenes were staged.)

Microcosm

Être et avoir

Waltz with Bashir

The King of Kong

Roger and Me

Buena Vista Social Club

Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl

Heftig og Begeistret (badly translated as Cool and Crazy)

March of the Penguins
 
Anything by Errol Morris would be a great place to start. Fog of War, Dr Death:The rise and fall of Fred Luetcher, Gates of Heaven. The Thin Blue Line.
 
www.nfb.ca

some of the ebest ever made.

Project Grizzly is one of many...

They invented portable 16mm in the 60's which led to many, many great films.

David
 
Two that have stuck with me because they break all the rules:

"The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On", from 1986, in which the film-maker goes on a criminal rampage to get to the truth of WWII Japanese war crimes. It starts slow and respectfully; then he starts beating up a man he's interviewing whom he thinks is lying to him; he attacks the emperor with a sling shot. It gets more bizarre from there, especially when people do start telling the truth.

More recently but obscure, "Three Tales: Hiddenburg, Bikini, and Dolly", which is really five tales because it starts with Genesis and ends with Kismet the emotional robot from MIT. The film-maker calls it an "Opera" with music by Stephen Reich. Documentary as perfomance art.
 
There is one about the guy who holds the world record in DonkeyKong and PacMan and other arcade video games. Don't know the name though!
 
Hey there, Felix. . .that was a great film. . .it is titled "The King of Kong." But it isn't old. And neither are these two, but they are amazing: "Spellbound" and "Mad Hot Ballroom." They are about the same vintage (that is, between five and ten years ago).

If you enjoy truly old documentaries, then look no further than "The Atomic Cafe," which is a documentary created ENTIRELY of archival footage from the 40s, 50s, and 60s about the atomic and hydrogen bombs. It is simply without compare.

Another one, of a totally different sort, that almost no one has seen (and has breathtaking imagery) is "The Hellstrom Chronicle." It isn't a documentary per se, but darn close. An amazing film on so many levels. It's on Youtube.

Another atomic bomb film that floats my boat was titled "Ten Seconds that Shook the World" at the Manhattan Project. Amazing, but very hard to find.

Anyway, there are your assignments class.

Stephen
 
Vladimir Cassel said:
How old does it have to be? Because American Movie is a great one from the late 90s that I think more people should have seen.
Click to expand...

I was barely a tween in the nineties, so most things before 2000 have passed under my radar, save for a few Errol Morris, and Michael Moore films. Bring em on, and thanks for all the suggestions so far. The emperors naked army sounds intriguing.
 
I'm surprised no one's mentioned "Night and Fog." (1955?) I've been required to watch this at least four times in both history and film classes. Once is enough, really. But then I might not have noticed how nice the music score is; and strangely inappropriate (but it works).

"Harlan County, USA" is another classic (early 1970's).

And long before reality TV, the Up series, "7 Up" in 1964 through "56 Up" due in 2012. This follows a group of people from age seven, with a new documentary every seven years of how their lives have changed.
 
Hey there, Felix. . .that was a great film. . .it is titled "The King of Kong."
Click to expand...

But you can't leave out the subtitle: "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters":laugh:
 
jean rouch of course...
 
I have Direct TV satellite television service. One of the channels I regularly check out is The Documentary Channel. It is all documentaries - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many of them are the old, obscure docs.

IMO there are some cool docs there...but there are also some bad ones there too
 
In my opinion, GRASS (the 1925 doc by Merion Cooper of KING KONG fame) is one of the greatest ever. Also, don't miss early Peter Jackson. FORGOTTEN SILVER is still a personal favorite...it's a mockumentary, not a documentary, but still a lesser known bit of genius.

It helps to love film history to really get these, though.
 
Another of Flaherty's "docs" ( in the tradition of Nanook..) is Man of Aran. Quite brilliant.
 
Ditto with Bill re Man of Aran. Also The River, another classic. Of course Chris Marker, a kind of philosopher-documentarian is worth a look if you're not familiar. And Night and Fog, Resnais. And Antonioni made a documentary about transh collectors, sorry, forgot the name.

Another must see is Louis Malle's PHANTOM INDIA -- which you probably already have, but if not... 1968, I believe. Reminding me, I must see it again myself.
 
Just a few that pop to mind this second...

To Be and To Have
Pripyat
Soy Cuba, O Mamute Siberiano
DIG!
Wild Combination
.......

This American Life series is not so obscure but quite brilliant.
 
See everything by Frederick Wiseman - but to recommend a few of my favorites: Welfare, Public Housing, Domestic Violence. Titicut Follies and High School appear to be the canonized Wiseman films, both excellent, but I think his work got even stronger later.
 
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