In communist Poland, the VHS black market provided a window into the US

Soviet control spread across Eastern Europe after WWII

In the late 1940s, the USSR solidified control over Eastern Europe by installing pro-communist regimes in countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania—often through rigged elections and political repression.

The studio behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled its promotion before the national release

Before its national release in 1975, the studio behind "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" decided the musical movie was too strange, campy, and unwieldy for most audiences and cut its promotional efforts, hoping to minimize its losses. That decision led to the film's commercial failure.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

Authoritarian regimes sometimes used film dubbing to censor ideas

Dubbing rose in popularity in the early 20th century because of relatively low literacy rates, which made subtitles impractical. Totalitarian regimes—including Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, and Hitler's Germany—used dubbing to remove or alter unflattering or countercultural dialogue.

Communism grew in appeal during the Great Depression

With at least a quarter of the country out of work, some Americans disenchanted with capitalism began looking at alternatives. Watch this five-minute video to learn about communism's growing allure during the Great Depression.

Steven Spielberg purchased Oscars won by Clark Gable and Bette Davis and donated them back to the Academy

Since 1951, all Oscar statuettes have been awarded with a caveat—if the recipient wants to sell their Oscar, they have to first offer it back to the Academy for the price of $1. As a result, there's now a black market for the golden knights. Some buyers are anonymous movie buffs, but some are the stars themselves.

Watch 'The Atomic Café'—Cold War satire that exposed nuclear propaganda and proliferation risks

This 1982 collage-documentary uncovers a surreal Cold War era: US civil defense films downplayed nuclear horror, arguing the films fueled public complacency, while the arms race and civilian nuclear hype fueled global proliferation fears before NPT safeguards emerged.

Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters' is the streamer's most-watched original movie

The 2025 film, which combines K-pop music and Korean mythology, became a big hit on the streaming platform. It was equally successful in its limited theatrical release, shooting to the top of the box office rankings.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Hollywood helped fund American military activity by boosting bond sales

To help fund its WWI military activity, the US introduced Liberty Bonds—government-issued debt marketed directly to the public. Starting at $50, the campaign targeted working Americans and offered Thrift Stamps to make bond-buying more accessible. Hollywood led the charge, with stars like Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford boosting bond sales.

The Agent podcast reveals the true story of a long-term KGB agent in America

Narrated through firsthand interviews, The Agent tells how Jack Barsky (born Albrecht Dittrich) spent a decade undercover as a Soviet KGB “illegal” in the US, balancing dual identities in Queens—from insurance programmer to deep-cover spy—until a crisis forced him to choose between loyalty and family.

How the Montreal Protocol made CFCs the most valuable Miami contraband after cocaine

Following the 1990s production ban, smugglers flooded Miami with illegal chlorofluorocarbons used in air conditioning. A 15-kilogram cylinder bought for $70 in Europe could sell for $242 in the US, fueling multimillion-dollar black-market trade. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Warner Bros eventually released 'The Black Album' in 1994

After years of relentless bootlegging of the notoriously deleted album, Prince and Warner Bros. finally released the album in 1994—for just two months. As part of a promotional campaign, the record label took out a full-page ad in Billboard announcing that the first 1,000 fans to turn in their bootlegged copies would receive official, legal copies of the album.

The FBI once raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home

In 2024, after Polymarket markets favored what turned out to be the winning outcome of the US presidential election, agents raided Coplan's New York City apartment. Coplan, who was only 26 years old at the time, was home during the raid and turned over his devices to authorities.

The 1948 Supreme Court ruling was overturned in 2020

In 2020, US District Court Judge Analisa Torres overturned the 1948 Supreme Court ruling that broke up the studio system—effectively allowing the film industry to become vertically integrated once again—with companies like Amazon and Disney taking advantage of the relaxed regulations.

The best movies about Wall Street

From Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” to “American Psycho” starring Christian Bale, Hollywood has no shortage of Wall-Street-centric filmography. These films often distinguish themselves by interrogating why excess wealth and success are so often deemed synonymous in American culture.

A Y2K glitch billed one VHS renter $91,000 for a movie

At a video store in upstate New York, a date rollover error marked a customer’s 1999 rental as 100 years overdue, resulting in a $91,250 bill. The store quickly fixed the bug and gave him a free rental as consolation.

Private home footage of Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun

Care to see what else Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, were up to during World War II? Then check out this National Archives footage. Some of the videos have been colorized, and all were taken from a collection titled Motion Picture Films Confiscated from Foreign Countries and Sources, between 1940–44.

Film festivals are where independent projects find studios

Film festivals are incubators for the movie industry, providing smaller films and their producers with opportunities to screen in front of live audiences, as well as potential investors who may offer wider distribution.

David Stern brought the NBA to China

In 1987, he started shipping VHS tapes of games to state-run TV stations in China, and opened an NBA office there by 1992. Today, China is the league’s second-largest market.

The Borscht Belt was a haven for Jewish vacationers—and comedy fans

New York’s Catskills region resorts were informally named after a dish popular with Ashkenazi Jews. The area offered affordable vacationing, as well as cutting-edge stand-up from future stars like Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers.

The early Los Angeles punk scene found a home in Chinatown

Acts like Black Flag, X, and Circle Jerks performed in unconventional venues like Madame Wong’s and the Hong Kong Cafe—restaurants in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood that became an integral part of the nascent scene.

Hughes lived in the Soviet Union in the 1930s

Hughes grew interested in the Soviet Union and radical politics in the early 1930s after the Communist Party of the United States defended the Scottsboro Boys, nine Black teenagers wrongly accused and convicted of raping two white women. In 1932, he lived there while working on a film that ultimately fizzled out, and returned home. In 1937, he planned to lead a tour of the country, as advertised below, but canceled it when a newspaper offered him a position reporting from the Spanish Civil War.

The Flying University was an illegal initiative to provide higher education to women

Restrictions from the Russian Empire on women's education drove Polish academics to set up illegal meetings where classes could operate in secret. Lecture locations constantly changed, keeping the university secret from Russian authorities for two decades.

Wojtek the bear fought for Poland in World War II

Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear who eventually became a mascot, symbol, and eventually a soldier attached to the Polish II Corps during World War II. Learn about the amazing Wojtek, the Polish II Corps, and the incredible history of the Polish soldiers, many of whom had been imprisoned by the Germans or Soviets, who served during World War II.

The dark web protects free speech from censorship and authoritarian oversight

Encrypted networks allow users with internet access anywhere in the world to view blocked content and avoid surveillance when communicating evidence of abuse to independent journalists. The same networks can support democracies by helping activists coordinate protests on dark web forums.

Why Pabst Blue Ribbon switched from brewing beer to making cheese during Prohibition

The brewer marketed its product, Pabst-ett, as "whole milk cheese food," available in both block and spreadable forms, as well as various flavors.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Coral polyps reproduce via broadcast spawning, where entire reefs simultaneously release reproductive cells for about one hour, once a year.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.