Title	Year	Director	Series	Production	Distribution	Country	Language	Length	Synopsis
Star Wars Episode III : Revenge of the Sith	2005	George Lucas	n/a	Lucasfilm	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	140 min	The central theme of the rise of darkness in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is dramatized in the journey of the protagonist, Anakin Skywalker.  Symbols of his seduction by the dark side of the Force and the rise of shadow can be found throughout the film.  One such symbol is a total solar eclipse – long invoked by artists and filmmakers as a portent of doom.  The eclipse scene comes on the fiery planet of Mustafar soon after Anakin has become an apprentice of the evil chancellor and hope for the young Jedi seems lost.  As he stands overlooking the hell fire of the planet, brooding and tortured by his journey, a totally eclipsed sun can be seen in the sky beyond him.  It remains until the beginning of the great light saber battle with Obi-Wan when the total eclipse appears to move to a ‘diamond ring’ phase signaling its end.  (David Makepeace)
When Night Meets Day	2002 / 2003		ER	Warner Brothers	Warner Brothers	USA	English	60 min	In the Emmy Award-winning series' landmark 200th episode, an innovative dual storytelling device contrasts Pratt's night shift with Carter's day shift. On the night scheduled to be his last in the emergency room, Pratt treats a woman whose unborn child was brutally cut out of her,  prompting a search for the baby. He also takes care of a burned firefighter and victims from a mass cult poisoning related to the day's unnerving solar eclipse. Pratt relays the patients to Carter, whose frustration grows as he treats two of the cult members, a wounded gang member, a dying Buddhist nun and a heart attack victim. Meanwhile, Romano experiences what it's like to be a patient when he undergoes surgery. I was pleased that the writing team spent some time to include some correct facts about eclipses and didn't mind the computer graphic of the solar eclipse overhead.   (David Makepeace) It was remarked by someone that eclipses are rare and occur 18 years 11 days apart.  At least they had heard of the Saros even if they didn't know!  (Sheridan Williams)
The Alice	2003	Kate Dennis	Made for TV			Australia	English		The eclipse is handled as badly as it can be.  For example they show the shadow slowly moving across the ground at a few metres per second during the partial phases. Totality is portrayed using what appeared to be a really bad digital simulation with dancing sparkling coronal streamers. A ghost kills a man during totality to the horror of a group of eclipse chasers. The eclipse chasers are dressed up in full body satin jump suits with capes. These eclipse chasers sit in a circle chanting and holding hands during the eclipse because they think they will be transported into space like a heavensgate cult.  (Joe Cali, SEML)
Darkness	2002	Jaume Balaguero	n/a	Dimension Films	Available at commercial outlets	Spain	English	100 min	An American family move to an isolated house in Spain only to discover it was the stage of the death of six children forty years ago.  A mediocre horror film about a haunted house that uses a total eclipse of the sun both as a narrative device and a visual effect.  But as is so often the case, the filmmakers here have manipulated the event to satisfy the sensibility of their dramatic construct and misrepresent the facts and the mechanics of eclipses. (David Makepeace)
Eclipse	2002	Herbert Brödl	n/a	Baumhaus Film	Media Luna info@medialuna-entertainment.de	Germany	German English	86 min	Deep in the Amazonian jungle, artistic couple Pia and Gil live by the Rio Negro. But a lunar eclipse is about to set off a series of events that will change their lives forever. Eclipse ?
The Ring	2002	Gore Verbinski	n/a	Dream Works	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English		A young journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it. Eclipse ?
The Wild Thornberries	2002	Cathy Malkasian Jeff McGrath	n/a	Klasky-Csupo Nickelodeon Movies Paramount Pictures Viacom Productions Inc.	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	85 min	On an African safari, Eliza Thornberry discovers that thanks to a shaman, she can now talk to animals. When Eliza discovers that poachers in Africa's Serengeti Desert plan to kill an elephant herd with an electrified fence, she and her chimpanzee friend Darwin must somehow find a way to stop them. (IMDb) Features a TSE in Africa, AND, the night before the eclipse, it actually represents the proper phase of the moon.  For those not familiar, this is a children's cartoon movie made out of the popular show from Nickolodeon. It is quite cute and entertaining, especially if you have children.  (Joel M. Moskowitz)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	2001	Simon West	n/a	KFP Produktions GmbH & Co, BBC, Lawrence Gordon Productions, Marubeni Corporation	Available at commercial outlets	Germany, Japan,UK, USA	English	100 min	Video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life in a movie where she races against time and villains to recover powerful ancient artifacts. Every 5000 years, all of the planets in our Solar System come into alignment at the precise moment there is a solar eclipse. At that instant, when the eclipse is full, a power will be unleashed that will give man the power of God, the power to control time.  (Robin Clifford) The type of planetary alignment depicted in the movie where all nine planets would line up does not match the current location of the planets, assuming that the movie is set in 2001. The last planetary alignment occurred on 5 May 2000 when six of the nine planets lined up with the Moon and the Sun, and the next significant alignment won't be until 2438 when it will include every planet except Neptune. Astronomical modeling suggests that all nine planets have not lined up so far in the 4.6 billion year history of the Solar System and that it is unlikely that they ever will.  (IMDb)
Le Peuple migrateur The Winged Migration	2001	Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud and Michel Debats (co-directors)	n/a	Galatee Films, Pandora Filmproduktions, Lucky Red	Available at www.fnac.com	France, Germany, Italy	French / English	90 min	The Winged Migration refer to those millions of birds that fill the sky of our planet according to seasonal rhythms, giving our familiar landscapes the colors of dream and poetry. What are they? Where do the go? The regularity of their movements, the precision of their migratory routes, the distance they travel have been a mystery to scholars, a source of inspiration to poets since the dawn of time for, these creatures, apparently so delicate, are exposed to every danger, fight against bad weather, face the hugeness of the oceans, mountainous barriers and escape countless predators, so many enigmatic feats that just enhance their legendary reputation.  The film will carry you above a myriad of worlds in an unusual journey. You will discover a planet rustling with a multitude of sounds which nature conceals. You will follow the greatest celestial ballets ever seen! By happenstance, the crew was in France, on August 11, 1999, and so a short shot of the eclipse at 3rd contact is included.  Shot in 35mm, prominences stand out in sharp details.
Safar e Ghandehar (Kandahar)	2001	Mohsen Makhmalbaf	n/a	Bac Films, Makhmalbaf Productions	Available at commercial outlets	France, Iran	Farci English	85 min	Nafas is a reporter who was born in Afghanistan, but fled with her family to Canada when she was a child. However, her sister wasn't so lucky; she lost her legs to a land mine while young, and when Nafas and her family left the country, her sister was accidentally left behind. Nafas receives a letter from her sister announcing that she's decided to commit suicide during the final eclipse before the dawn of the 21st century.  Desperate to save her sister's life Nafas tries to make her way to Kandahar. The few opening shots of the eclipse are very disappointing and, other than a narrative pretext, the eclipse is scarcely mentioned in the film. (JML)
Werckmeister Harmóniák, Les Harmonies de Werckmeister, Werckmeister Harmonies, Die Werckmeisterschen Harmonien	2001	Bella Tarr, and Ágnes Hranitzky (co-director)	n/a	Numerous European production and television companies	Filmmuseum Distributie, Menemsha Entertainment (2001, USA, subtitled), Pierre Grisé Distribution	Italy, Hungry, Germany, France	German Hungarian	145 min	In this political drama, the conflict between light and dark provides much of the thematic fodder. In an astonishing opening scene, the camera smoothly zooms and pans around a dilapidated pub, as János, the film’s hero and an amateur astronomer, uses his drunken compatriots to demonstrate a solar eclipse. (Jeremy Heilman)
Eclipsa (The Eclipse)	2000	Mitko Serafimovici	n/a			Romania	Romanian
Eclipse Machine	2000	Abe Lechner	n/a						(IMDb)
Im Juli (In July)	2000	Fatih Akin	n/a	Argos Filmcilik Turizm, Quality Pictures, Wüste Filmproduktion	Available at commercial outlets	Germany	German Bulgarian Turkish	110 min	Juli, a charming street vendor, in Hamburg, sells a ring to Daniel, a student teacher, telling him that it's magical : indeed the next woman he meets wearing a symbol like the sun on his ring will be the woman he marries, she foretells him.  She also gives him a pass to a festival that evening where she plans to attend wearing a sun symbol herself.  But she gets there too late, Daniel has already met another woman wearing a sun T-shirt.  The following day, she starts on her summer vacation as always, by allowing the first car that stops to pick her up determine her destination.  That car, of course, is driven by Daniel.  "It worked," he tells her. "What worked," she asks. "The ring, I've met the woman of my destiny and I'm on the way to Istanbul to tell her of my love." Daniel and Juli set off for Istanbul with entirely different agendas.   (Adapted from file by John W. Stiles, IMDb) Actual footage of the 1999 total eclipse shot in Hungry is used. (Daniel Fischer, SEML)
Pansion za kucheta (Dog's Home)	2000	Stephan Komandarev	n/a	Marten Visual Design Studio	Ady Films, Alliance Atlantis Communications (world sales), Humo Rojo Film Sales	Bulgaria	Bulgarian	84 min	August 1999, around the time of the total solar eclipse. A rundown villa on the edge of the sea is transformed into a dogs' home. The lady who owns it was once a famous opera singer who now shares her loneliness with an old friend. Her extravagant shows are a daily occurrence for the visitors. Every year she plays out her own death like an opera performance, the date of which has been predicted by a famous clairvoyant without specifying the year. One evening, a 20-year-old man turns up at the home. The singer falls in love with him and tries in every way possible to attract his attention. Eclipse ?
Pitch Black	2000	David N. Twohy	n/a	Interscope Communications, Intrepid Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	USA, Australia	English	108 min	A group of marooned space travelers struggle for survival on a seemingly lifeless sun-scorched world.  Features an extraterrestrial eclipse. (JML)
Poes Poes Poes	2000	Frank Van Passel	n/a	Victoria		Belgium		5 x	This is a story of a group of people going to watch the eclipse of 1999 in a Walloon village (South Belgian region). The production consists of a five part film series, announced as 'a serial, theatre on big screen'. The scenario is after the work of the Flemish author Paul Mennes. The film will be directed by Frank Van Passel, known from Manneken Pis , Terug naar Oosterdonk and Villa des Roses. The film will only be shown in theaters in Belgium and Europe, at a rate of one episode per week. In the Kaaitheater they will all be shown in one marathon session between 24 and 28 June 2003 (no real eclipse on those days). I don't know much what the story is about and whether some images of the real eclipse will be shown (it is rather low budget). Apparently it is about 2 rivaling television teams that want to shoot the most exclusive pictures on the event, much to the disgust of the local population. There are also some apocalyptic situations (related to the eclipse?). Kris Delcourte
The 13th Sign	2000	Jonty Acton, Adam Mason	n/a	Paranoid Celluloid	Film 2000	UK	English	85 min	A young girl is drawn back to the village where her father went on a killing spree fifteen years earlier to the day of this solar eclipse.  At first, it seems disturbingly quiet. Then all hell breaks loose... (IMDb)
Angela's Ashes	1999	Alan Parker	n/a	David Brown Productions, Dirty Hands Productions, Scott Rudin Productions, Universal Pictures International	Available at commercial outlets	USA, Ireland	English	145 min	Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film shows the main character (Frankie McCourt) watching a lunar eclipse on the eve of his emigration from Ireland to the USA. When I read McCourt's follow-up  book ('Tis: A Memoir) I found that McCourt set sail for America in October 1949, so the lunar eclipse depicted in the film is that of October 7th 1949.  I remember that the eclipse in the movie was speeded up greatly (use of artistic license?), it was clearly done via special effects, with the real shots of the Moon prior to the 'eclipse' being followed by a special effects Moon for the eclipse itself. Unfortunately, the 'special effects Moon' was inverted and the Moon entered the Earth's shadow on the Mare Crisium side (the reverse  of a real eclipse).  (Michael Gill)
Eclipse	1999	Joshua Smith	n/a	Para-Noir Productions	Para-Noir Productions, Surrealms	Australia	English	15 min	Trapped within the walls of her home indefinitely, Julia yearns to experience real-world sensual stimulation as it is conveyed to her through her mother's romantic photograph displays.  Led to believe that she is infected with a potentially lethal photosensitive condition, Julia fears reality until she stumbles across a photograph of Lance. This new human presence in her life compels Julia's escape. But reality is not as pleasant as she imagined... Joshua Smith (jtsmith@funkyfilms.com) Eclipse ?
Judy Berlin	1999	Eric Mendelsohn	n/a	Caruso/Mendelsohn Productions	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	93 min	A solar eclipse turns a Long Island town, in New York State, into an eccentric stage for the transformed residents. A lonely, but talented teacher enjoys a flirtation with  her married principal who returns her affections but is  hampered by his high-strung wife. He is also hampered by a  deadbeat son, who supposedly is becoming a filmmaker. The  teacher also has a clueless daughter, who is an aspiring  actress. Filmmaker & actress manage to get together, while the teacher &  principal can steal their own fleeting moments and a quick kiss during an  eclipse. (John Sacksteder, IMDb)
The Mummy	1999	Stephen Sommers	n/a	Alphaville Films, Universal Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	124 min	Deep in the Egyptian desert, a handful of people searching for a long-lost treasure have just unearthed a 3,000 year old legacy of terror. A "typical" Hollywood special effect solar eclipse with the full orb of the dark Moon visible during the whole of the partial phase which last approximately 15 seconds from time of first to second contact! In the few seconds just prior to totality, the protagonists are seen from a high overhead shot looking up at the sky as a very hard edged shadow sweeps across the frame from bottom to top and envelops them in darkness.  At that rate of lunar motion totality should have lasted but a fraction of a second, but the Moon magically hits the brakes and settles in over the Sun for what seems  a very long time since in the next scene the same people are no longer standing but seated discussing what to do about the mummy's curse in definitely subdued lighting conditions leading one to believe that the Sun is still eclipsed.  In the defense of the filmmakers, it could be argued that this unrealistic eclipse is dramatically consistent since it is the work of the mummy and not a naturally occurring phenomena. (JML)
Yue shi (Lunar Eclipse ; Éclipse de Lune)	1999	Quanan Wang	n/a		Atika Films, Beijing Film Studio	China	Mandarin	94 min	Newly-weds Ya Nan and her husband Guo Hao meet a young photographer, Xiaobing, who says he knew a girl who looked exactly like Ya Nan. He tells the story of Jia Niang, an aspiring actress whose family had a history of mental illness. After that Ya Nan's life begins to show signs of trouble. Xiaobing takes his father's photo, right in the middle of the eclipse that gives the film its title – as the shutter falls, the old man dies.
Eclipse	1998	Irene Turner	n/a	Oil & Water Productions					(IMDb)
Nohoi oron (State of Dogs)	1998	Peter Brosens, Dorjkhandyn Turmunkh	n/a	Inti Films, Tobch Toli	Inti Films (Belgium) EInti.Films@glo.be Jane Balfour Films (UK) ejbf@janebalfourfilms.co.uk	Belgium, Mongolia, Finland	English / French	91 min	In Ulan Bator, Mongolia, the human population numbers 800,000 and the stray dog population is estimated at 120,000.   Fearful of disease, city authorities have hired dog hunters. The film is seen through Baasar's eyes, an abandoned sheep dog who once roamed the steppes but now struggles to survive as a stray in the city. He meets his faith at the hands of a dog hunter but then his souls sets out on a journey to prepare himself to be reborn as a man on the day of the total solar eclipse of 1997. Artfully constructed, this poetic tale's cinematography is stunning.  The eclipse myth of the dragon Rah consuming the sun, bringing chaos, destruction and death is cleverly woven throughout the film. At the end, there are some beautiful shots of the eclipsed landscape. One of the best and most intelligent use of an eclipse in a dramatic film.  (JML)
Sleeping Sun	1998								This music video shows Tarja, the singer of the Scandinavian symphonic rock band Nightwish, singing in the woods. At the end of the song a partial eclipse is visible (an animation). The song is also knwon as "Eclipse". (Klaas Wiersema)
Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder	1997	Jamie Dixon	n/a	Apple Creek Productions	Available at commercial outlets	Canada, USA	English	120 min	A demon who is constructed of shadows unleashes his reckless power on the world during a solar eclipse.
Out to Sea	1997	Martha Coolidge	n/a	20th Century Fox, Davis Entertainment	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	109 min	Two old men board a cruise ship with the intent of defrauding rich widows. A full moon is seen two nights before the solar eclipse occurs, and one night after. (IMDb)
Eclipse	1996	Jason Ruscio	n/a	New York University		USA		25 min	Short in black and white (IMDb) Eclipse ?
Quand les étoiles rencontrent la mer (When the Stars Meet The Sea)	1996	Raymond Rajaonarivelo	n/a	Jacques Le Glou Audiovisuel, La Sept Cinéma	Mercure Distribution (international sales), Diaphana Distribution (France), Eurozoom/ JLA (France), Mongrel Media, California Newsreel	France, Madagas-car	French Malagasy	87 min	Tracing the destiny of Kapila, an outcast child who had been deemed by his fellow villagers to have supernatural powers of destruction, because of the timing of his solar eclipse birth. As a result, Kapila rides through his alienating adolescence and tumultuous adulthood while constantly having to come to terms with the fact that everyone in his former native Madagascan village--his father foremost--wished his immediate death, upon his being born. As a newborn infant, he had been put in a cattle pen to be trampled to death--the traditional way superstitious villagers get rid of babies born during this astronomical alignment. The baby was rescued by a brave girl, Raivo, who relocated to another village and raised him as her own child. Named Kapila (cripple) because of the leg injury sustained in the cattle pen, of which he only has a vague memory, the misanthropic child matures into an outcast teen who must learn to rise above his stigma-- and face his own demons by returning to his native village.
Quest for the Holy Pail	1996								Animation.  Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Klasky-Csupo, 1996. An eclipse sends Ickis on a quest (for a garbage pail) inspired more by Indiana Jones and Monty Python than authentic Arthurian sources.
Up Close and Personal	1996	Jon Avnet	n/a	Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, Touchstone Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	124 min	An ambitious young woman, determined to build a career in TV journalism, gets good advice from her first boss, and they fall in love. (IMBd) Brief shot of a partially eclipsed Moon.  (Olivier Staiger)
Dolores Claiborne	1994	Taylor Hackford	n/a	Castle Rock Entertainment, Colombia Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	132 min	An adaptation of Stephen King's novel Gerald's Game.  A big-city reporter travels to the small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman for whom she worked as a maid.  Stephen King uses the awesomeness of totality well in this thriller.  However, the 1963 eclipse was not seven minutes as claimed in the film but around 100 seconds. The shot is a special effect, not a real eclipse. (Olivier Staiger).  Totality began with three magnificent Baily's Beads, spanning an arc of about 40 degrees around the lunar disc.  Baily's Beads spanning such a long arc are not possible during a seven minutes total solar eclipse. The film was shot on location in Nova Scotia, Canada, which stands in for Maine, in the USA.  Interestingly, Nova Scotia was blessed with two total eclipses in a two and a half year span: 7 March 1970 and 10 July 1972.  One of these two eclipses is referred to by Carly Simon in her famous song Your So Vain: "Well I hear you went up to Saratoga, and your horse, naturally, won. Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun." (JML)
Eclipse	1994	Jeremy Podeswa	n/a	Fire Dog Films, Malo Film, TiMe Medienvertriebs GmbH	Available at commercial outlets	Canada, Germany	English	95 min	Set in Toronto during the two weeks preceding a total solar eclipse, the film tells the complex story of how the events affects ten diverse (and occasionally perverse) people, primarily through their sexual liaisons.  The eclipse paradoxically casts light into the souls of the ten protagonists and also works as a powerful, primal mythic event. As it approaches, like moths flying into a celestial flame, the ten plunge themselves into a series of sexual trysts, gay, bi-sexual and straight.  Meanwhile, the film chronicles the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding them in the city itself. The eclipse is both symbolic and real.   In anticipation of shooting the film, Podeswa and a small team shot actual 35 mm footage of a total eclipse that passed over Baja California, Mexico, in 1991. So this is the real thing, not digital effects, and seems to harbor a greater power for being so. (Bruce Kirkland, Canadian Movie Guide)
Eclipse	1994	Julio Castillo (I)	tv-series			Mexico	Spanish		tv-series (IMDb)
Farinelli : il castrato	1994	Gérard Corbiau	n/a	Le Studio Canal +, Sony Pictures Classics	Available at commercial outlets	Belgium, France, Italy	French Italian / English	111 min	Farinelli, is the artistic name of Carlo Broschi, a young singer in Haendel times. He was castrated in his childhood in order to preserve his voice. During his life he becomes a very famous opera singer, managed by his mediocre brother Riccardo.  (IMDb, Michel Rudoy) The Moon travels from left to right rather than right to left as it should in the Northern hemisphere.
Witchcraft VI: The Devil's Mistress	1994	Julie Davis	n/a	Vista Street Entertainment	Vista Street Entertainment (international sales), Academy Entertainment (video-USA)	USA	English	88 min	As the lunar eclipse draws near, Satan's disciples, the evil Jonathan and lusciously sexy "Cat," search for a virginal sacrifice.  Their bloody campaign leaves a string of lovely young victims in its wake. Eclipse ?
Mille Bolle Blu	1993	Leone Pompucci	n/a	Sorpasso Film	Available at commercial outlets	Italy	Italian / English	87 min	A bubbly, nostalgic look at the motley residents of a single block in Rome on the eve of a rare solar eclipse. School is out so the neighborhood kids gather in the courtyard and try to figure out what to do to keep from getting bored. Soccer, farting contests, playing airplane on the roofs ? No.  They have the most fun spying on their grown up neighbors.  A delightful comedy about lovers, dreamers and an eclipse that changes everything.
Tintin et le temple du soleil (1 & 2) Prisoners of the Sun, Part 1 & 2	1993	Stéphane Bernasconi	Les aventures de Tintin The Adventures of Tintin	Ellipse, Nelvina Limited, La Fondation Hergé	Available at commercial outlets	France, Canada	French / English	2 x 30 min	While searching for Professor Tournesol, in Peru, Tintin and his friends are saved from being burned at the stake after having been made prisoners by a lost tribe of Incas by deliberately choosing the time of their execution to coincide with a fortuitous total solar eclipse.  The Incas, believing that Tintin can command the Sun, free their captors. Tintin's ruse is lifted from Mark Twain's novel of 1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.(JML)
Baraka	1992	Ron Fricke	n/a	Magidson Films	Available at commercial outlets	USA	Music only	96 min	A feature length film documenting a day in the life of planet Earth and its inhabitants by the cinematographer of Koyannisqatsi of which this film is a direct descendant. Features some shots of July 11, 1991 total solar eclipse shot on 70mm film. (JML)
The Doors	1982	Oliver Stone	n/a	Carolco Pictures Inc.	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	140min	This film is Oliver Stone's trippy love letter to Jim Morrison and The Doors. In a scene where Jim is seeking the shamanic spirit on a drug-induced trip to the desert outside Los Angeles, Stone employs the visual of a total eclipse in the sky to effectively mirror the climactic state of the heavens with the character's magical, spiritual quest.  The eclipse images look real to me although the exposure shows nothing of the corona making it difficult to determine which eclipse it is.  Anyone care to make a guess ?  Nice touch when the blinding moment of third contact gives birth to a desert eagle that shoots like a bullet from the eclipse to soar across the sky (David Makepeace) Later on in the court room scene the wall lamps reproduce the very same eclipse motif as in the desert scene, but this time Jim Morrison is definetely on a bad trip.  (JML)
Mermaids	1990	Richard Benjamin	n/a		Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	95 min	After another relationship has ended, Mrs. Flax moves to a new town. But now, it's her elder daughter who is love-sick. (IMBd) Eclipse ?
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court	1989	Mel Damski	n/a	Consolidated Productions	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	96 min	Made for TV movie.  Adaptation of the Mark Twain novel.  After a horse accident, Karen wakes up to find herself in past Britain, close to Camelot,  the famous castle of King Arthur. During the eclipse, the moon passes across the sun from left to right, which is opposite to the way an eclipse appears from the northern hemisphere. (IMBd)
Dni zatmeniya (Days of the Eclipse)	1988	Aleksandr Sokurov	n/a	Lenfilm Studio		USRR	Russian	133 min	The film Days of Eclipse is based on a novel by famous Soviet science fiction writers - brothers Arcady and Boris Strugatsky. The action has been transferred to the Central Asia where a young Russian doctor gives treatment to children and tries his hand at writing.  (Alexandra Tuchinskaya) Eclipse ?
Laho (Eclipse)	1988	Franco Corre, Fruto Corre	n/a			Phillipine		7 min	(IMDb)
Superman 4 - The Quest for Peace	1987	Sidney J. Furie	n/a	Cannon Films, Golan-Globus, Warner Bros.	Available at commercial outlets	UK	English	90 min	The Man of Steel crusades for nuclear disarmament and meets Lex Luthor's latest creation, Nuclear Man. Eclipse ?
Ladyhawke	1985	Richard Donner	n/a	20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	121 min	A fictitious solar eclipse saves England from the rule of an evil sorcerer. The eclipse is fake as can be and a bad fake at that since, as is often the case in other movies, the full orb of the Moon is visible during the partial phase which last less than a few minutes - just long enough for a good sword battle with the bad guys. That's unfortunate since the eclipse is well worked into the storyline.  Captain Navarre and Lady Isabeau, have been cursed by an evil Bishop who wants Isabeau for himself, Navarre turning into a wolf at nightfall and returning to human form at daybreak, whereas Isabeau turns into a hawk at daybreak and returns to her human form at nightfall.  To break the curse the lovers would need to exchange a kiss, but that no longer seems possible, until the sudden onset of darkness in midday during totality, when Isabeau takes on her human form before Navarre transforms into a wolf. (JML)
Neúplné zatmení (Partial Eclipse)	1982	Jaromil Jires	n/a			Czecho-slovakia	Czech		(IMDb)
Pok hoh ka fe (Eclipse ; Thin Lotus Coffee ; Bo he ka fei)	1982	Stephen Shin				Hong Kong	Cantonese		nominated 1983 Hong Kong Film Award, best actress, Cherie Chung (IMDb)
Bloody Birthday (aka Creepers)	1981	Ed Hunt	n/a	Judica Productions	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	85 min	In 1970, three children are born at the height of a total solar eclipse. Due to the Sun and Moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, they have become heartless killers ten years later, and are able to escape detection because of their youthful and innocent facades. A boy and his teenage sister become endangered when they stumble onto the bloody truth.  (Ed Sutton, IMDb)
Coup de Torchon	1981	Bertrand Tavernier	n/a	Films A2, Les Films de la Tour,  Little Bear	Available at commercial outlets	France	French / English	128 min	Lucien Cordier is the village cop in a French African colony in the 30's.  He is a washout and everyone, including his wife Huguette, humiliates him. He never arrests anyone and generally turns a blind eye to what goes on around him.  But one day, he turns into a machiavellian exterminating angel.  (Adapted from Yepok, IBDb)  As the film starts, Philip Noiret (playing a local colonial police officer) is looking at  a total eclipse of the Sun together with a small African boy.  As totality arrives the boy becomes frightened and feels chilly.  Noiret gathers some firewood and builds a fire around which they gather to overcome their cold and their fear.  From this description one can see that the scene isn't very realistic.  First, the temperature drop as depicted is extreme.  Second,  by the time it would have taken to build and start the fire totality would have been finished.  Third, wouldn't the characters been more interested in watching totality than building a fire?  (Katherine Low)
Dragonslayer	1981	Matthew Robbins	n/a	Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	108 min	A king has made a pact with a dragon where he sacrifices virgins to it, and the dragon leaves his kingdom alone. An old wizard, and his keen young apprentice volunteer to kill the dragon and attempt to save the next virgin in line - the Kings own daughter.  (IMDb, Colin Tinto)
Altered States	1980	Ken Russell	n/a	Warner Brothers	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	103 min	A research scientist believes other states of consciousness are as real as everyday reality.  Using deprivation, then adding powerful, hallucinogenic drugs, he expolores these altered states. In one of the many hallucinogenic sequences, there is a brief shot of a total solar eclipse.  (JML)
The Awakening	1980	Mike Newell	n/a						Eighteen years later a visitor arrives from Egypt to inform Corbeck (who has grown a beard) that following an eclipse, the perfectly preserved items he discovered have begun to decay.
The Watcher in the Woods	1980	John Hough, Vincent McEveety	n/a	Walt Disney Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	UK, USA	English	84 min	When a normal American family moves into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal appearances befall them in this interesting twist to the well-known haunted-house tale.  Their daughter Jan sees, and daughter Ellie hears, the voice of a young teenage girl who mysteriously disappeared during a total solar eclipse decades before... (Michael Ducharme, IMDb) Eclipse ?
A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court, Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court	1978	Chuck Jones	n/a	Chuck Jones Enterprises, Warner Brothers Television	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	60 min	On a travel tip from Ray Bradbury, Bugs ends up in King Arthur's time and is mistaken for a "dwagon" by the always astute Sir Elmer of Fudde. Eclipse ?
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court	1978	David Tapper	Once Upon a Classic			USA	English	60 min	Made for TV children special.  aka Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  Nominated in 1978 for Emmy as Outstanding Children's Special and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming Eclipse ?
Grahana (Eclipse)	1978	T.S. Nagabharana	n/a	Hersha Pictures		India	Kannada	121 min	(IMDb)
Journey to the Black Sun	1976	Ray Austin, Lee H. Katzin							TV.  The Moon gets thrown out of its orbit by a nuclear explosion. Eclipse ?
Nar hirtsenjil (The Year of the Total Eclipse)	1975	Dshamjangijn Buntar				Mongolia			(IMDb)
Lucifer Rising	1973	Kenneth Anger	n/a		Available at commercial outlets and also at Accatone (France), Mystic Fire Video (video-USA), Canyon Cinema (USA), Cinegate (United Kingdom), American Federation of the Arts (non-theatrical-USA)	USA		30 min	The forces of nature--volcanic eruptions, lightning, turbulent water, an eclipse of the moon--awaken Lucifer.  A great classic of the experimental genre.
El Eclipse	1970		n/a			Mexico	Spanish	32 min	Short (IMDb)
Tintin et le temple du Soleil Seven Crystal Balls and the Prisoners of the Sun Tintin and the Temple of the Sun	1969	Eddie Lateste	Tintin	Belvision, Dargaud Films, Raymond Leblanc	Available at commercial outlets	Belgium, France	French / English / and others	77 min	While searching for Professor Tournesol, in Peru, Tintin and his friends are saved from being burned at the stake after having been made prisoners by a lost tribe of Incas by deliberately choosing the time of their execution to coincide with a fortuitous total solar eclipse.  The Incas, believing that Tintin can command the Sun, free their captors. Tintin's ruse is lifted from Mark Twain's novel of 1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.(JML)
2001 :  A Space Odyssey	1968	Stanley Kubrick	n/a	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Polaris	Available at commercial outlets	USA, UK	English	139 min	Stanley Kubrik's classic screen adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's equally classic science fiction novel. The film opens with a lunar eclipse as seen from a point just beyond the Moon.  As the camera rises from behind the normally hidden face of the Moon (hidden from earthbound observers, of course), it reveals the Moon-Earth-Sun alignment.  As the camera rises further into space, the Sun, in turn, is seen slowly rising from behind the Earth. Of course it could be argued that this sequence simply depicts a full Moon alignment and not necessarily a lunar eclipse.  That argument has some merit since it does seem that the Sun appears from behind the Earth too soon after the camera clears the lunar limb, when one should still be in the Earth's umbra which is several Moon diameters large at that point in space .  On the other hand, the nighttime face of our planet does not seem to be lit by much moonshine, which would be the case during a lunar eclipse. Since the debate is mostly academic, I will side with the lunar eclipse theory, if only to include this cinematic masterpiece in the database.  (JML)
Réquiem para el gringo (Duel in the Eclipse)	1968	Eugenio Martín, José Luis Merino	n/a	Hispamer Films P.C. , Prodimex Film	Discentro	Spain, Italy	Spanish	90 min	Western.  (IMDb) Eclipse ?
Eclipse of the Sun Virgin	1967	George Kuchar	n/a			USA	English		(IMDb)
Soleil Noir	1966	Denys de La Patellière				France, Italy	French		Eclipse ?
Barabbas	1962	Richard Fleischer	n/a	Colombia Pictures, Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	144 min	The story of Barabbas, the criminal who was set free by Pilate instead of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion scene was actually shot during totality on February 15, 1961, at Roccastrada, 120 miles northwest of Rome, using three cameras and... some artificial lighting!  I have found two sources of information about the eclipse sequence in Barabbas. The first article, Totality, Cinema and Crucifixion, appeared in Astronomy, Nov. 94. It quotes an interview with Dino de Laurentis, the film's producer, which appeared in the New York Times on Oct. 7th, 1962 and is entitled A Producer's Siege of Barabbas. Both articles are informative. A later issue of Astronomy, quite possibly that of Dec.94 contains a letter to the editor and makes a few corrections to the initial Astronomy article. The decision to stage and shoot the crucifixion scene during the eclipse was not part of the original plan, but once told about it Fletcher and his director of photography decided it was worth the risk.  They used three cameras. (JML)
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation	1962	Henry Koster	n/a	20th Century Fox	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	116 min	Mr. Hobbs wants to spend a quiet holiday at the beach, but his wife has invited all their family to stay with them. Lame partial eclipse seen from boat.  At least his son was interested enough to bug Jimmy Stewart to go see it.
The Day the Earth Caught Fire	1961	Val Guest	n/a	Anchor Bay Entertainment Home Box Office  Republic Pictures Universal Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	UK	English	98 min	Sci Fi film about simultaneous nuclear blasts that send the Earth hurtling toward the Sun.  Scientists get a hint that something is terribly wrong when a total solar eclipse occurs over London -- a full week earlier than anticipated  !
Forbidden Planet	1956	Fred M. Wilcox	n/a	MGM	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	98 min	A starship crew goes to investigate the silence of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret that one of them has. (IMDb) About 10 minutes into the film, there is a great shot of a total eclipse, as viewed from the "spaceship" , and, for 1956, not a bad shot at all !  (R.Brown)
A Connecticut Yankee	1955		Studio One			USA	English		Made for TV from Mark Twain's story.  Cast :Eddie Albert, Janet Blair, Boris Karloff Eclipse ?
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court	1949	Tay Garnett	n/a	Paramount Pictures	Available at commercial outlets	USA	English	106 min	Adaptation of the Mark Twain novel.  A turn of the century singing blacksmith (Bing Crosby) finds himself in Arthurian Britain after suffering a blow to the head.  His life is saved when a total solar eclipse occurs on the day of his execution. The action takes place in June, but the picture of the eclipse shown is that of January 24, 1925 in which leafless trees and snow on the ground are visible in the coronal glow.
Eclipse de sol (Eclipse of the Sun)