American Emperor

As It Happened: Emperor Hirohito. At the end of World War II Japan was under American control. It was widely anticipated that Emperor Hirohito would face trial for war crimes, but no trial ever took place. This film sets out to explore why, and to ask whether the Emperor escaped his responsibility. The film's archival footage provides powerful testimony about a nation on the verge of war, the atrocities committed during the war in the name of the country, the fierce and tragic battles fought by the people, and the country's post-war management.

Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, American Experience presents Victory in the Pacific. The two-hour program examines the final year of World War II in the Pacific, including the rationale for using the atomic bomb, and features the first-hand recollections of both American and Japanese civilians and soldiers – even a kamikaze pilot who survived his failed mission. Victory in the Pacific traces that fateful year, from the American capture of the Mariana Islands in the Central Pacific in July 1944 to the surrender broadcast of Emperor Hirohito in August 1945.

Marco Beltrami is an American composer best known for his stirring orchestral horror, action, and science fiction film scores, which include multiple collaborations with director/producer Wes Craven. A Long Island, New York native, Beltrami attended Brown University and the Yale School of Music, eventually studying with Luigi Nono in Italy and Jerry Goldsmith in Los Angeles.

Of all Paul Robeson’s eleven starring film performances, by far his most iconic was his breakthrough in the big-screen adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones (1933). He was already a legend for his stage incarnation of Brutus Jones, a Pullman porter who powers his way to the rule of a Caribbean island, but with this, his first sound-era film role, his regal image was married to his booming voice for eternity. With The Emperor Jones, Robeson became the first African-American leading man in mainstream movies and, he said, gained a deeper understanding of cinema’s potential to change racial misconceptions. Previously censored, The Emperor Jones is presented here in its most complete form.

A breakout biography of Louis-Napoleon III, whose controversial achievements have polarized historians.