Movies: Smithsonian Networks

A caving expedition recently discovered a community of dwarf crocodiles living in the Abanda Caves, Gabon. The crocs are living in pitch darkness, hunt bats and some have bright-orange skin. Part of the original team returns to find out more about th...

Drama-led documentary following the life of Signe, an orphaned Chief's daughter, who, driven by revenge, becomes an explorer and trader in the lands of the Rus Vikings....

Witness a remarkable coming-of-age story as we track a young leopard's journey from rookie to royalty in South Africa's lethal Big Five landscape. When we first meet Jack, he's clumsy, fearful, and weak, but he's a fast learner - and he'll need to be...

The 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick" continues the adventures of the ace fighter pilot made famous by Tom Cruise. But how true to life is the fictional story to the real Naval Fighter Weapons School? TOPGUN flight instructors take us inside the most fam...

A man in Leeper, Pennsylvania receives a package that he suspects is a bomb; enter America's oldest law enforcement service, the Postal Inspection Unit....

William Courtenay's color film of the pacific campaign and Japan's downfall....

The actor, Warwick Davis, presents the story of the Owicz family and their ordeal during WWII. From a successful musical act to being tortuously experimented on by Dr. Josef Mengele in a concentration camp. This story might have been lost to history ...

Barack Obama launched into our national consciousness at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and ever since, he's delivered messages of patriotism, unity, and hope through the power of words. But of all the speeches he's given, six in particular ...

Down Under, just a few nights after the November full moon - when water temperature and tides are just right - one of nature's most extraordinary events explodes into life. Thousands of coral join in an elaborate mating ritual, a synchronized dance o...

Here's the full true story of "Bloody Omaha". Thousands of soldiers were killed as soon as they stepped onto the beach, or even into the water as they waded to shore....

With more than 27 years of service, the space shuttle Discovery has clocked more time in space than any other shuttle. She has flown more than 148 million miles, and has become one of the most storied spacecraft in American history. Join us as we cel...

Is it possible that Ice Age people succeeded in crossing the frozen Atlantic Ocean to North America, thousands of years before the Vikings and Columbus? Two archaeologists believe so after discovering artifacts in Chesapeake Bay that bear an inexplic...

From the desk on which Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence to Dorothy's ruby slippers, the National Museum of American History houses many of America's greatest treasures and icons. Learn the stories of how they came to be a part of the m...

The dry season in northern Zimbabwe's Mana Pools National Park is as deadly as any predator. The rains stop, the temperatures rise, and the water sources evaporate, pushing herbivores past the normal boundaries of caution and into dangerous territory...

Engineer Jem Stansfield investigates how the crash test dummy has become an icon for safety. For 65 years he has been crashed, smashed and impaled, evolving from a simple military mannequin into a highly sophisticated measuring tool. Jem meets a whol...

Incredible Insects A captivating world of creepy crawlies exists all around us. And they are the biggest group of animals in the world, outnumbering humans 200 million to one. Thanks to millions of years of evolution, these invertebrates not only sur...

For early aviators, conquering the forces of gravity was a daunting challenge. But black aviators had an additional challenge - conquering the forces of racism. Meet the men and women who took to the skies throughout the 20th century, proving to a se...

This nature documentary follows some of the world’s most charismatic animals as they travel to Mexico across the span of a year. Using access to some of the country’s most protected sights, the film explores the relationship between family members as...

6 weeks before D-Day, British, American, and Canadian soldiers took part in a dangerous rehearsal for the Normandy invasion which claimed more American lives than the attack on Utah Beach. So what happened? How many Americans died? And who is to blam...

Immerse yourself in a world of mud dwellers, algae-eaters and expert predators all fighting for survival in Florida's Indian River Lagoon....