Marvin J. Chomsky

J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI go after notorious bank robber and kidnapper Alvin Karpis and his gang.Read More »

The two-part TV movie Inside the Third Reich was based on the extraordinary revelatory (if self-serving) autobiographical book by Albert Speer. Played herein by Rutger Hauer, Speer is a young man of privilege in pre-Hitler Germany who happens to be a brilliant architect. Becoming a member of Hitler’s inner circle, Speer is appointed the Nazi regime’s master builder. According to this film, Speer is egomaniacal and ambitious, but somewhat blinded to the inherent evils of Nazism. Though he’d later claim to be ignorant of Hitler’s horrific policies aimed at the Jews, he was certainly aware of the use of Jewish prisoners as slave labor: as Germany’s armaments minister during World War II, Speer exploited these enslaved unfortunates as much as anyone, if not more so. The cast includes Derek Jacobi as Hitler, Blythe Danner as Speer’s wife Margarethe, John Gielgud as Speer’s father, Ian Holm as Goebbels, Maurice Roeves as Hess, and George Murcell as Goering. Originally running 5 hours, Inside the Third Reich was filmed in Munich; it was first telecast on May 9 and 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviRead More »

During a flight from San Diego to Guaymas, Mexico, the Carlyle family from Florida is surprised by a weather front in the Rocky Mountains and must do an emergency landing in a Mexican desert with their plane damaged. Latent tensions in the family interfere with the efforts to solve their desperate situation.Read More »

During the Cold War, enemy agents, posing as U.S. Navy crew, sabotage a nuclear submarine and steal its anti-ballistic missile guidance system.Read More »

Originally a made-for-TV miniseries (that won a slew of Emmy Awards), this film follows parallel stories: those of a Jewish family in Germany from 1935 to 1945 and a German (Michael Moriarty) who rises in the Nazi ranks until he is overseeing the death camps. Genuinely haunting and truly sorrowful, this series was many people’s first introduction to the impact that Hitler’s Final Solution had on everyday Germans. Of course, it helps that director Marvin Chomsky had a cast that included Fritz Weaver, James Woods, Meryl Streep (who won an Emmy for her performance), and Ian Holm. Still, it is powerful storytelling in its own right.Read More »