Human beings throughout the Twentieth Century have experienced the most amazing Action Adventures . On the one hand they have attempted certain exploits with mixed results, on the other epic events have proved beyond their control. In both cases, humanity has had to summon up enormous resources of ingenuity and fortitude to control circumstances, events and the environment. In some cases people have found themselves struggling against their own kind and in other cases against the elements which have resulted in an interaction which has produced Great Adventures. Whether discovering hitherto unknown tombs of kings or fighting globally for a ideal or just simply surviving - here in this series you will find the stories on which every action adventure film ever made was based - the only exception is that these stories were filmed at the time and are true.
Since the dawn of the age of moving film it has been possible to capture some of humanity’s greatest achievements. This series is concerned with those adventures where footage exists of the successes, the strivings and in some cases the failures of people against the elements or overwhelming odds. It covers the way in which the two greatest oceans were conquered by air transportation. How the secrets of antiquity were unlocked - sometimes with deadly results. How expeditions have reached the extremities of the Earth in polar exploration and the mountains. How man has grappled with the elements of ocean, fire and flood - and in the ultimate adventure - the frontiers of space.
During the brief time on this planet which has been possible to film, humanity has found itself locked several times in global conflict. This has produced heroes of the hour whose adventures stand as definitive factual stories seldom matched in the annals of fiction.
The adventures of Lawrence of Arabia; the sinking of the Bismarck; JFK and the Motor Torpedo Boats; the quest for speed in the air, on land and on water; the race to the sound barrier; the race to the moon; the race to defeat enemy superweapons and the race to escape certain death - all these have produced cliff-hanging escapades worthy of any Hollywood film.
These true stories of spies, daring escapes and special missions are sheer adventure through and through. They show the dignity of the human spirit and its determination sometimes in the face of evil and darkness. The planet has yielded many adventures in the Twentieth Century and this series with its access to over 250,000 hours of the world’s greatest archive film gives the viewer the inside track on what it must have been like to be there. It is the greatest series on Twentieth Century adventures - ever produced.
Genre: Documentary
