History of the World: Part I

History of the World: Part I 1981

6.80

An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition.

1981

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum 1991

5.62

Set during the height of Spanish Inquisition. The beautiful and kind-hearted Maria is arrested as a witch when she inadvertently cries out in horror at the public whipping of a child. As Maria’s husband Antonio tries to save her, Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, determines to punish Maria with torture for the desire she inflames in him. Loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story.

1991

Goya's Ghosts

Goya's Ghosts 2006

6.60

Painter Francisco Goya becomes involved with the Spanish Inquisition after his muse, Inés, is arrested by the church for heresy. Her family turns to him, hoping that his connection with fanatical Inquisitor Lorenzo, whom he is painting, can secure her release.

2006

Captain from Castile

Captain from Castile 1947

7.20

Spain, 1518: young caballero Pedro De Vargas offends his sadistic neighbor De Silva, who just happens to be an officer of the Inquisition. Forced to flee, Pedro, friend Juan Garcia, and adoring servant girl Catana join Cortez' first expedition to Mexico. Arriving in the rich new land, Cortez decides to switch from exploration to conquest...with only 500 men. Embroiled in continuous adventures and a romantic interlude, Pedro almost forgets he has a deadly enemy...

1947

Extraordinary Tales

Extraordinary Tales 2013

6.40

Five tales by Edgar Allan Poe come to life thanks to a pictorical style animation, five tales that exude madness, pestilence, murder and torture.

2013

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum 1961

6.90

In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.

1961

Man of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha 1972

6.60

In the sixteenth century, Miguel de Cervantes, poet, playwright, and part-time actor, has been arrested, together with his manservant, by the Spanish Inquisition. They are accused of presenting an entertainment offensive to the Inquisition. Inside the huge dungeon into which they have been cast, the other prisoners gang up on Cervantes and his manservant, and begin a mock trial, with the intention of stealing or burning his possessions. Cervantes wishes to desperately save a manuscript he carries with him and stages, with costumes, makeup, and the participation of the other prisoners, an unusual defense--the story of Don Quixote.

1972

Secret Passage

Secret Passage 2004

2.50

Isabel and Clara are growing up in a time of terror. It is 1492, and Spain has decreed that all Jews must either convert to Catholicism, go into exile or face trial and execution. Although forcibly baptized, the sisters are chased through Christendom until they arrive in Venice. It is in this great maritime empire, where opulence rhymes with tolerance, that Isabel organizes secret passages for refugees fleeing the Inquisition while Clara falls in love with a Venetian noble, Paolo Zane. Isabel intends for her family to go to Istanbul, the only place where Jews can live freely, but Clara is reluctant to leave. She challenges Isabel's authority and is prepared to break her family ties and sacrifice her faith for love. Caught in this battle of wills is Clara's daughter, Victoria, who finds she is about to be married into the same faith that murdered her father.

2004

Asesinato en la Universidad

Asesinato en la Universidad 2018

5.20

In 1543, at the University of Salamanca, in Spain, Fray Antonio Román, an Augustinian monk who spreads humanist ideas, considered heretical, among his more inquisitive students, a clandestine group of four led by the brilliant novice Luis de León, mysteriously dies in unspeakable circumstances. In the present day, the historian Lara Cabanes is hired to find out if the monk was murdered, as is suspected and she is told, but the task will not be easy to achieve.

2018

Inquisition

Inquisition 2002

1

Set in the Spain of 1680, a time of torture and interrogation by the Grand Inquisitor. A young man appears that is healing the sick and raising the dead. There are rumours that he might be the second coming of the Messiah. He is brought before the Grand Inquisitor. Though questioned and tortured, he chooses to remain silent.

2002

Inquisition

Inquisition 1977

6.20

Period piece set during the Inquisition about a witch-finder general who falls in love with the village beauty, who has made a pact with the devil to seduce and condemn the man who is killing off Satan's servants.

1977

Akerbeltz: The Witches and the Inquisitor

Akerbeltz: The Witches and the Inquisitor 2012

1

The gloomy dungeon of the Santo Oficio gaol in Logroño, northern Spain, is packed with prisoners accused of witchcraft. The sound of mystical chanting drifts out through the bars. It is a desperate cry for help that travels through valleys and mountains until it reaches the hamlet of Zugarramurdi. A young boy wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night...

2012

The Wandering Jew

The Wandering Jew 1933

7.60

Old Jerusalem: Matathias, spiteful over his lover's illness, spits on Jesus along the road to Calvary, and is cursed to live endlessly until His return. The Crusades, 1150: Matathias, now an anonymous knight, competes for glory in combat and for the wife of a soldier. Palermo, 1290: Matteos Battadios witnesses the death of his young son, leading to conflict with his wife over whether to take comfort in Christianity. Seville, 1560: Dr Matteos Battadios dedicates himself to the treatment and comfort of the poor, but his life and work are endangered by the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition.

1933

The Grand Inquisitor

The Grand Inquisitor 1977

1

The Grand Inquisitor from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov produced by the Open University.

1977

New World

New World 1978

5.90

Towards the end of the 16th century, the Spanish conquerors living in the New World faced a serious problem: the evangelization of the indigenous people, who did not understand or accept Christianity due to their unshakable faith in their own religion. The court of the Inquisition cracks down on heretics and the natives prepare for a general uprising ...

1978

Surviving Columbus

Surviving Columbus 1992

1

This Peabody Award-winning documentary from New Mexico PBS looks at the European arrival in the Americas from the perspective of the Pueblo Peoples.

1992

Flame in the Wind

Flame in the Wind 1971

1

Set in the splendor and terror of the Spanish Inquisition, Flame in the Wind tells the story of Carlos, an earnest young nobleman who is faced with a choice: the church system offers safety, protection, and respectability; the Scriptures offer Christ and salvation from sin—and with these torture and death.

1971

The Monk

The Monk 1990

2.00

In Madrid at the time of the Inquisition, the monk Ambrosio is renowned for his faith and his strength of will, a saint in the eyes of the populace. But when he discovers the beautiful Matilda hidden in his own monastery, all his repressed passions begin to show themselves, and he is soon using the girl, and her powers, in his lust for more innocent prey.

1990

Jacob's Trouble

Jacob's Trouble 1970

1

One of the most famous Bible stories of all time retold against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, the conquest of the New World, the birth of the slave trade, and the rise of piracy in the Caribbean between 1565-1575.

1970