British comedy satirising Stalin’s inner circle as an absolute monarchs court. In the face of rampant abuse of power and poisonous distrust some still manage to keep faith with the Bolshevist creed until the very end. In front of the firing squad a stalwart bolshevist of the first hour exclaims: “Even in the best democracy errors are being made!”

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach is introduced to King Frederick II of Prussia in 1747. The aging composer and the young monarch clash and a battle of egos ensues.

Considered an immigrant, common and plain, Catherine de Medici is married into the 16th century French court as an orphaned teenager expected to bring a fortune in dowry and produce many heirs, only to discover that her husband is in love with an older woman, her dowry is unpaid and she’s unable to concieve. Yet, only with her intelligence and determination, she manages to keep her marriage alive and masters the bloodsport that is the monarchy better than anyone else, ruling France for 50 years.

In time of war, a man must survive to make a journey to fulfill a promise made and discover the truth. After a terrible battle, a man sees his great friend perish, leaving him one request – that he visit the king, father of the deceased, to give him the news of his death. Tied promise on his deathbed friend, the warrior part for the meeting with the monarch, an old man and convalescent, who lost his only heir. The king demands that the warrior’s serve, but the man is tired of war and want a place to live in peace. When the warrior goes in search of tranquility, his path crosses that of a beautiful young woman, chased by soldiers. He saves her and discovers she is a witch. With the Inquisition coming to the kingdom and a new love in his chest, the warrior must regain their weapons to prevent more blood from the people he loves spill.

Under the rule of King David, Israel is united and prosperous although surrounded by enemies including Egypt and its allies. The aging King David favors his younger son, Solomon, as his successor, but David’s elder son Prince Adonijah, a warrior, declares himself King. When David learns of this, he publicly announces Solomon to be his successor. Adonijah and Joab, his general, withdraw in rage. Israel prospers under King Solomon’s wise and benevolent rule and is seen as a threat to more tyrannical monarchs in the region. The Pharaoh of Egypt agrees to cede a Red Sea port to the Queen of Sheba in a plot to undermine Solomon’s rule. Sheba is to seduce Solomon and introduce Sheban pagan worship into Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Prince Adonijah, now banished, also conspires with Pharaoh and is given an army to defeat Solomon. The film is a highly fictionalized dramatization of events depicted in The Bible — First Kings chapter 10 and Second Chronicles chapter 9.

It takes two or three generations for the monarch butterfly to reach the Canadian breeding grounds, but it is one “supergeneration” that makes the 2,000 mile return trip back south into central Mexico. The documentary film covers Dr Fred Urquhart’s interest in monarch butterflies, with perspectives of Urquhart as a child wondering where the butterflies went, his years of research and study into their life and migration, to his time decades-later as a senior scientist looking back at his investigations and discoveries about the insect’s life pattern.

In Egypt, 1888 Flinders Petrie finally broke in to the burial chamber of King Amenemhat III one of the wealthiest monarchs from the middle kingdom. After a year of digging, he finally peered into the resting place of the old king, only to find that the space had been stripped of everything. Four experts have been brought together to reopen the case to solve the mystery.