Kenneth Branagh Filmography

The Boat That Rocked

Actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: A group of pirate-radio DJs duck the British government in this 1960s period comedy from romantic comedy guru Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary). Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans play competitive disc jockeys who work under Bill Nighy on a busted-down boat on the English Read More

Sleuth

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Michael Caine, Jude Law, Harold Pinter

Synopsis: The Anthony Shaffer play originally brought to the screen in 1972 gets the remake treatment in this updating that finds Michael Caine stepping into the role of the brilliant thriller writer portrayed by Laurence Olivier in the original, and Jude Law following in Caine's footsteps as the young Read More

As You Like It

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Brian Blessed, Bryce Dallas Howard, Romola Garai

Synopsis: Director Kenneth Branagh tackles the works of William Shakespeare for the fifth time in his career as a filmmaker with this adaptation of one of The Bard's most accessible works. Rosalind is the daughter of a banished duke, and lives among a community of Westerners living in 19th century Japan. Read More

The Magic Flute

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Joseph Kaiser, Amy Carson, Benjamin Jay Davis, Silvia Moi, Rene Pape

Synopsis: Acclaimed director Kenneth Branagh skillfully lifts one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most beloved works from it's original, fairytale setting and places it against the backdrop of the First World War with this impassioned, English-language adaptation staged to coincide with the 250th anniversary Read More

The Goebbels Experiment

Synopsis: Joseph Goebbels has often been cited as the man who did the most to help Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rise to power; he was the architect of the party's propaganda machine and helped to craft the public image of Hitler as he became one of the most hated and feared leaders of his time, and Read More

Warm Springs

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Cynthia Nixon, David Paymer, Tim Blake Nelson, Jane Alexander

Synopsis: In the tradition of Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello, the made-for-cable biopic Warm Springs focuses on one of the least publicized aspects in the life of America's most-publicized (and longest-serving) president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, here played brilliantly by British actor Kenneth Branagh Read More

5 Children & It

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Freddie Highmore, Tara Fitzgerald, Zoe Wannamaker

Synopsis: Five brothers and sisters find their uncle has a big surprise hidden in his estate in this comic fantasy for the whole family. Not long after World War I breaks out, five children -- Cyril (Jonathan Bailey), Robert (Freddie Highmore), Anthea (Jessica Claridge), Jane (Poppy Rogers), and Lamb Read More

Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic

Synopsis: Legendary film preservationist Kevin Brownlow (infamous for his 1982 restoration of Abel Gance's Napoléon) and Patrick Stanbury co-helm the affectionate cinematic homage Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic. As narrated by Kenneth Branagh, this documentary explores the life, legacy, and cultural Read More

American Experience: The Man Behind Hitler

World War I in Color [TV Documentary Series]

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Actors: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil, Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: After directing a number of major motion pictures in the United States, Australian-born filmmaker Phillip Noyce returned home to make this remarkable adventure-drama, based on a true story as well as a lamentable period in his nation's history. When European settlers first arrived in Australia Read More

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Kenneth Branagh, Robbie Coltrane, Richard Harris

Synopsis: Youthful wizard Harry Potter returns to the screen in this, the second film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's wildly popular series of novels for young people. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) return for a second year at Read More

How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Jared Harris, Lynn Redgrave, Peter Riegert

Synopsis: Somewhere in L.A., Peter (Kenneth Branagh), a washed-up British playwright, struggles to duplicate his past glory as he surfs a foul-smelling tide of disenchantment. His wife, Melanie (Robin Wright Penn), manages to maintain an optimistic outlook even as she longs for the baby that her husband is Read More

The Tramp and the Dictator

Actors: Walter Bernstein, Ray Bradbury, Sydney Chaplin, Al Hirschfeld, Stanley Kauffmann

Synopsis: One of the most compelling strokes of fate in the past millenium is the fact that the 20th century's most hated dictator and most beloved film comedian were born within four days of each other in 1889. Although Adolf Hitler probably never gave Charlie Chaplin a second thought during his rise to Read More

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

Actors: Kenneth Branagh

Shackleton

Actors: Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: All but forgotten at the time of his death in 1922, controversial British explorer Ernest Shackleton would enjoy a rediscovery of sorts decades later, with dozens of books and filmed documentaries devoted to his "magnificent blunder" -- the failed Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1916. Read More

Conspiracy

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, David Threlfall, Colin Firth

Synopsis: In January of 1942, 15 of Adolf Hitler's right-hand men gathered together for a special meeting in Wannsee, in which over the course of two hours they debated the pros and cons of Hitler's latest directive and the best way to implement it. By the time they left, they had laid the practical Read More

Walking with Prehistoric Beasts [TV Documentary Series]

Love's Labour's Lost

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Kenneth Branagh, Carmen Ejogo

Synopsis: Actor/director Kenneth Branagh sets his screen version of Shakespeare's play in the 1930s, adding such classic songs as "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Let's Face the Music and Dance," and staging it in the manner of a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical. The Read More

The Road to El Dorado

Actors: Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Rosie Perez, Armand Assante, Edward James Olmos

Synopsis: Dreamworks SKG's second feature-length animated film blends comedy and drama in an unusual historical adventure. Two genial swindlers working as stable hands stow away with Cortez, the legendary Spanish conquistador, as he searches for El Dorado, the lost City of Gold. Luck smiles on the two con Read More

Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special

Synopsis: Following the phenomenal success of their Walking the Dinosaurs series, the BBC produced this special, focusing specifically on Allosaurus, a Jurassic Period predecessor to Tyrannosaurus Rex. The program, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, uses the fossilized remains of an Allosaurus, nicknamed Read More

Wild Wild West

Actors: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Salma Hayek, Kenneth Branagh, Ted Levine

Synopsis: Yet another TV series is revived for the big screen, as Will Smith and Kevin Kline join forces as James T. West and Artemus Gordon, the most sophisticated government agents of the 1860's, in the film adaptation of The Wild Wild West. West and Gordon represent two opposite ends of the personality Read More

Walking with Dinosaurs, Episode 3: Cruel Sea

Synopsis: Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is an in-depth look at the lives of these fascinating and ancient creatures, based on the latest available research. Through the extensive use of computer animation, these tapes bring the giant lizards to life, illustrating how Read More

Walking with Dinosaurs, Episode 5: Spirits of the Ice Forest

Synopsis: Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is an in-depth look at the lives of these fascinating and ancient creatures, based on the latest available research. Through the extensive use of computer animation, these tapes bring the giant lizards to life, illustrating how Read More

Walking with Dinosaurs, Episode 6: Death of a Dynasty

Synopsis: Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is an in-depth look at the lives of these fascinating and ancient creatures, based on the latest available research. Through the extensive use of computer animation, these tapes bring the giant lizards to life, illustrating how Read More

Walking with Dinosaurs, Episode 2: Time of the Titans

Synopsis: Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is an in-depth look at the lives of these fascinating and ancient creatures, based on the latest available research. Through the extensive use of computer animation, these tapes bring the giant lizards to life, illustrating how Read More

Walking with Dinosaurs, Episode 4: Giant of the Skies

Synopsis: Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is an in-depth look at the lives of these fascinating and ancient creatures, based on the latest available research. Through the extensive use of computer animation, these tapes bring the giant lizards to life, illustrating how Read More

Galapagos

Actors: Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: Directors Al Giddings and David Clark, whose previous credits include Galapagos: Beyond Darwin, return to the flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands for this IMAX documentary. The film focuses on the work of Smithsonian-based biologist Carol Baldwin and outlines Charles Darwin's theories on Read More

Walking with Dinosaurs, Episode 1: New Blood

Synopsis: Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is an in-depth look at the lives of these fascinating and ancient creatures, based on the latest available research. Through the extensive use of computer animation, these tapes bring the giant lizards to life, illustrating how Read More

The Theory of Flight

Actors: Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh, Gemma Jones, Holly Aird, Ray Stevenson

Synopsis: Continuing cinema's fascination with bringing the stories of handicaps and the mentally challenged to the big screen (Rain Man, My Left Foot, Shine, etc.), here comes a low-budget film about the unlikely love story of people brought together by fate, as well as 120 hours of community service. As a Read More

Celebrity

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Davis, Famke Janssen, Joe Mantegna, Melanie Griffith

Synopsis: Black-and-white Sven Nykvist cinematography highlights this Woody Allen comedy about fame and obscurity among Manhattan celebs. Journalist Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh), makes a play for actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith), subject of his current story. Lee is separated from his wife Robin (Judy Davis Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 2: Iron Curtain - 1945-1947

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 3: Marshall Plan - 1947-1952

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 4: Berlin - 1948-1949

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 22: Star Wars - 1980-1988

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 23: The Wall Comes Down - 1989

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 24: Conclusions - 1989-1991

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 8: Sputnik - 1949-1961

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 9: The Wall - 1958-1963

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

Universal Horror

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Forrest J. Ackerman, Turhan Bey, Ray Bradbury, Jim Curtis

Synopsis: Assembled by film historian Kevin Brownlow and narrated by actor Kenneth Branagh, this 90-minute special celebrates the classic horror films that emanated from Hollywood's Universal Studios. Beginning with such silent classics as The Phantom of the Opera and The Cat and the Canary, Universal went Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 5: Korea - 1949-1953

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 6: Reds - 1947-1953

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 7: After Stalin - 1953-1956

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some forty years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 21: Spies - 1945-1990

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 12: MAD - 1960-1972

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 13: Make Love, Not War - The Sixties

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 14: Red Spring - The Sixties

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 11: Vietnam - 1954-1968

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

The Gingerbread Man

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Downey, Jr., Daryl Hannah, Tom Berenger

Synopsis: Robert Altman directed this John Grisham tale that begins at a party where Savannah attorney Rick Magruder (Kenneth Branagh) celebrates his successful defense of a man who shot a local cop. The partygoers include his ex-wife Leeanne (Famke Janssen), the mother of his two children; his law partner Read More

The Proposition

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe, William Hurt, Neil Patrick Harris, Robert Loggia

Synopsis: This drama about the efforts of an upper-class couple to have a child takes place in 1935 Boston. When Father Michael McKinnon (Kenneth Branagh) arrives from England to join the St. Jude's clergy, he avoids wealthy parishioners Arthur and Eleanor Barret (William Hurt, Madeleine Stowe). Attorney Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 10: Cuba - 1959-1968

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 19: Freeze - 1977-1981

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 1: Comrades - 1917-1945

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 20: Soldiers of God - 1975-1988

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 18: Backyard - 1954-1990

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 16: Detente - 1969-1975

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 15: China - 1949-1972

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

CNN Cold War, Episode 17: Good Guys, Bad Guys - 1967-1978

Synopsis: With WWII at an end, the world soon faced a new challenge widely known as the Cold War. In 24 episodes, this series chronicles this war of ideologies, from its inception in the late '40s until the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. some 40 years later. With Europe and Japan absorbed in rebuilding their Read More

Looking for Richard

Actors: Al Pacino, Harris Yulin, Penelope Allen, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey

Synopsis: A workshop of William Shakespeare's Richard III inspires actor-director Al Pacino's breezy documentary, which aims to make the playwright accessible to contemporary American audiences. Though a noteworthy cast of stage actors and Hollywood stars (including Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, and Alec Baldwin Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Richard Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Brian Blessed, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi, Kate Winslet, Richard Briers

Synopsis: At least the 22nd time William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy has been brought to the screen, Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet was the first to preserve Shakespeare's entire text, uncut and unabridged. Moving the action into the 19th century, Branagh cast himself in the title role Read More

Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, Part 6 - End of an Era

Synopsis: Hollywood has long been revered as the mecca of the movie world, and many people have forgotten -- if they ever knew -- that a thriving cinema scene developed in Europe during the great silent film era. British film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, who years ago made a comprehensive Read More

In the Bleak Midwinter

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Michael Maloney, Richard Briers, Mark Hadfield, Nicholas Farrell, Gerard Horan

Synopsis: When his professional career hits a lull, an actor attempts to revitalize his career by staging a production of Hamlet, directed by and starring himself. Director and star Kenneth Branagh would in fact release his own film version of Shakespeare's classic play a year later, but this comedy Read More

Othello

Actors: Laurence Fishburne, Irène Jacob, Kenneth Branagh, Nathaniel Parker, Michael Maloney

Synopsis: Actor Oliver Parker made his directorial debut with this adaptation of the tragic play by William Shakespeare that abridges the original text by half and ups the quotient of sex and violence. Laurence Fishburne stars as the Moorish general Othello, who returns a hero after crushing an invasion Read More

Anne Frank Remembered

Actors: Glenn Close, Ashley Johnson, Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: This ground-breaking British documentary offers the most complete biographical account ever compiled of the young Jewish girl whose simple diary entries and observations brought the grim realities of the Holocaust to millions of readers the world over. It not only includes interviews from Read More

Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, Part 2 - Art's Promised Land

Synopsis: Hollywood has long been revered as the mecca of the movie world, and many people have forgotten -- if they ever knew -- that a thriving cinema scene developed in Europe during the great silent film era. British film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, who years ago made a comprehensive Read More

Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, Part 1 - Where it All Began

Synopsis: