Francia 1815-1870

Violeta, an Andalusian gypsy, foretells a lady she will become empress. The lady is Eugenia de Montijo, and when she marries emperor Luis Napoleón of France she takes the young girl with her. The empress'cousin readily makes her his focus of attention, then she discovers a criminal attempt against the empress. Musical color version of a story previously played by Raquel Meller.

In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who, for decades, has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter. The decision changes their lives forever.

Benito Juárez' fight during the 'National Decade' (1857-1867) against conservatives and French Intervention.

Henry Dunant, son of a Geneva francophone upper class bourgeoisie family, works for a Swiss exploitation company in French Algeria; when the colonists are thirsty, he returns determined to convince the firm and emperor Napoleon III to build a dam for them. After his Uncle, Dr. Hubert Dunant, diagnoses him not with Algerian typhus, just malaria, also his first meeting -dropping drawers in hospital for a shot- with nurse Cécile Thuillier, and meeting his careerist brother Daniel's fiancée, Léonie Bourg-Thibourg, daughter of the firm's boss, the board approves his plan. On his way to the emperor, who didn't even concede to receive him, Henry gets stuck in Castiglione, part of the Austrian province Lombardy which French troops came to 'liberate'; his Geneva friend Dr. Louis Appia saves his life by presenting him to suspicious Austrian troops as his medical assistant, and he soon gets passionate about senseless cruelties of war while helping out with what he learned from grandpa. Cécile, part of a godsend shipment of Swis staff and supplies, becomes his right hand and true love. After French troops take the village and reinstate senseless abuses, his letters home, published in Geneva by family friend journalist Samuel Lowenthal, whose newspaper gets attacked too, the unprecedented shocking first-hand truth about war cruelty, start enough public commotion to make his plans eventual turn true in the form of the now worldwide indispensable, strictly neutral humanitarian last resort for all in need, the International Red Cross, named after the symbol Dunant devised by painting in blood the Christian symbol French and Austrians had in common as Catholic nations to safely evacuate from Castiglione.

Upon returning home after a ten year absence, a Colonel in Napoleon's army discovers that his wife has remarried and has used his pension to amass great wealth.

In 1858 France, Emperor Louis Napoleon sends Captain Renault of the Royal Dragoons, Minister La Roche and Major Nicolet to Normandy in search of the members of a group of rebels. A Masked Cavalier - Lady Christianne, niece of the Marquis de Montableau - announces at a secret meeting of the Normandy underground leaders that the fabled treasure of Monte Cristo was willed to her and she will use it to finance their cause. Her uncle, the only one who can decipher the symbols on the sword of Monte Cristo, the key to the treasure, derides her stand against the Emperor. La Roche takes possession of the sword and has the Marquis put into a dungeon. Christianne, as the Masked Cavalier, regains the sword from La Roche, but Captain Renault apprehends her and returns to sword to La Roche.

Louis Napoleon III (Claude Rains) takes advantage of the American Civil War to circumvent the Monroe Doctrine and expand his power by helping Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg (Brian Aherne) to add Mexico to his empire.

During the Mexican Rebellion of 1866, an unsavory group of American adventurers are hired by the forces of Emporer Maximilian to escort a countess to Vera Cruz.

A biographical film of Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, and how he and his policies - including aggressive war - helped to unite Germany.

Paris, 1830: Vidocq is killed by a mirror masked man. A thief turned investigator, he was working on a case of men killed by lightning. His biographer tries to solve the case.

Vidocq escapes captivity in 1805; years later he's a fabric merchant in Paris under an alias. He makes a deal of amnesty for catching criminals. He builds an efficient team of ex-cons to catch or kill them.

Abd-El-Kader, a 19th Century Algerian leader, was admired in his time by Abraham Lincoln and is celebrated to this day by the Red Cross as a great humanitarian. Mixing animation and live action this film explores his story and legacy.

The biography of the pioneering French microbiologist who helped revolutionize agriculture and medicine.

Exiled French patriot helps to find the men who want to betray emperor Napoleon III by selling military secrets to the German government.

1848, Paris under Siege: Victor Hugo is torn between his family, his mistresses and political turmoil - never mind finally completing his classic novel Les Miserables. Although Hugo is a confirmed Royalist, he supports the Republic and Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, who is soon to become president, convinced that he will initiate social reforms. But when the new government is formed and Hugo is overlooked for office, he realizes that he has been used. Furious at the deception, he and his sons launch a daily newspaper to give the people a voice. Nor is it less chaotic on the home front, as he is juggling his love life between two mistresses and his long-suffering wife and mother of his children. When Napoléon seizes power and his sons are jailed for insurrection, Hugo insists that his wife and daughter leave Paris, where he remains, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the resistance. Openly denouncing repression, he is declared Enemy of the State and has to face disgrace and exile.

Shots of Paris on May 15, 2016 with a Parisian narrator telling us the story of May 15, 1848, when protesters finally pushed the establishment to let them have a popular vote to elect their ruler.

The early years of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Jenny Marx, between Paris, Brussels and London.

When Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet, his ghostwriter, are at the summit of their collaboration, Auguste decides to pass himself off as Alexandre in order to seduce Charlotte, a fervent admirer of the great man.

A man who created great literature from the adventures of his own life--and the women at the heart of it. Although gruff, unsophisticated, and far from handsome, Balzac exerts an irresistible fascination on women.

In a small French colony, a drunken man kills someone. While a guillotine is being shipped in, he changes, becoming a good and popular man.

The story of the creation of the Suez Canal and of the man who made it possible: French diplomat and visionary entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps.

Artists, academics, and critics discuss the historical origins, original reception, and slow climb to critical acclaim for Eugene Delacroix's painting commemorating the Revolution of 1830, "Liberty Leading the People."