StoryLine: Elderly Tom Nickerson recalls how, in 1819, he went to sea as cabin boy on the whaler 'The Essex', leaving Nantucket. Its recently promoted captain George Pollard is a kindly man, unlike first mate Owen Chase and Tom notes their mutual animosity though, inspired by tales from his grandfather, envisages life at sea as romantic. A storm and a food shortage puncture his illusions but spirits are raised when a whale is sighted and caught. However some two months later another whale attacks and sinks the ship - in what Tom believes to be an act of revenge - and the crew take to the long-boats. Chase overrules Pollard in deciding that, rather than risk cannibals on the nearby Society Islands, they make the gruelling 2,000 mile journey to Peru. Ninety days later only five of the crew are rescued, the others either dead or never found. An end-title relates what happened to Tom, Pollard and Chase in later life.
Stranger on the Prowl (1952)
A nameless, homeless and rejected man who is looking for a new life and a young boy from an impoverished family, who is forced to steal when he loses the milk money These two come together in the same hiding place
Blue Steel (1934)
U S marshal John Carruthers observes a robbery and Sheriff Jake thinks he may be the culprit Meanwhile the towns leading citizen is planning to rob everybody blind
Necessary Evil (2008)
A scientist is testing a demonic drug on people in his secret lab A cop and a female reporter try to stop him
Monsieur N (2003)
How could Napoleon, the man of war and pioneering military strategist, meekly accept being locked up on a storm lashed rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean What system of defence, and thus of attack, can he dream up to loosen
The Invisible War (2012)
An investigative documentary about the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the US military
Warriors Two (1978)
Beloved for its combination of thrilling combat choreography and hilarious physical comedy, the film tells the story of a humble cashier who discovers a plot to kill his small town mayor
The Enemy (2001)
A C I A Agent and a geneticist battle to keep a deadly biological weapon from falling into the wrong hands, when the weapons inventor is kidnapped
Hard Rock Nightmare (1988)
A child is convinced his grandfather is a monster and kills him Years later he returns with his friends to the sight of the killing It appears to be his grandfathers revenge as one by one his friends are brutally murdered
A Christmas Love Story (2019)
A youth choir director Chenoweth needs to write a big song for the Christmas Eve show but finds herself distracted when a boy with a golden voice Kevin Quinn joins her choir, which will come as news to his widowed father Wolf
A Flash of Green (1984)
Local reporter gets involved with corrupt county commissioner
The Quare Fellow (1962)
In Ireland, a newly hired prison guard has to deal with the realities of prison work and to face the grim issue of death row executions
Ace in the Hole (1951)
A frustrated former big city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out of control circus
Ghost Hunting (2017)
Some Palestinians who were held in an Israeli detention center are assembled to re enact their experience in an effort to heal