Here
are all of the movies/plays that Christian Bale has been in, or that he
is going to be in, including short summaries (most of which are
written by me, and are not very good). Credit to IMDB
for additional information.
The Nerd, a West
End London Play - 1984
A
very bizarre play written by American Playwright Larry Shue about
an Architect named Staid Willum who lives in Indiana, who just
happens to have many personal problems. Suddenly out of nowhere,
Rick, a guy who saved his life in Vietnam, shows up at
Staid's birthday party. Unfortunately, all he brings with him is
more trouble for the Architect. Christian played the role of Thor, a very obnoxious American
boy, and acted opposite Rowan Atkinson (who played Rick, AKA 'The
Nerd').
The Land of
Faraway - 1986
This
movie is about a young boy named Mio (played by Nicholas Pickard)
who lives with his adopted parents. He soon travels
to the land of faraway where his real father is the king. Soon, he
finds out that an evil knight named Kato has kidnapped the
children of the kingdom, so he sets out on a mission
together with his friend Yum Yum (Christian Bale), to stop the
him.
This
movie is based on the story by Astrid Lindgren.
Click
here to view images from the movie
Anastasia:
the Mystery of Anna - 1986
This
TV movie is about the life of Anna Anderson, who insisted that she
was Anastasia Romanov, the daughter of Czar Nicholas. Christian
Bale plays Anastasia Romanov's brother Alexei. Click
here to read more about the film.
Original
air-date: December 7th, 8th, 1986.
Heart
of the Country - 1986
This
TV mini series is about a mother who struggles to take care of her
children after her husband leaves them. Christian Bale plays the
role of the spoiled son Ben.
Empire
of the Sun - 1987
This
movie is about Jim Graham (Christian Bale), who lives with his
rich parents in Shanghai, China during WWII. When the Japanese
invade on December 8th, 1941 Jim is separated from his parents and
is left on his own. Soon after he is sent to a confinement camp in
Soo Chow, where he must take care of himself.
Based
on J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel of the same name.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Henry
V - 1989
This
movie, based on Shakespeare's play, is about King Henry V's battle
to claim his right to France. Christian plays the part of
Falstaff's boy.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Treasure
Island - 1990
In
this TV movie, based on the classic tale by Robert Louis
Stevenson, Christian plays the role of Jim Hawkins who discovers a
map to treasure which is buried on a mysterious island. He
soon joins the crew on the ship S.S. Espaniola, to try to find the
treasure.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
A
Murder of Quality - 1991
This
TV movie is about an all boys school, in which the headmasters
wife has been murdered. In investigating the school, George Smiley
(played by Denholm Elliot) discovers the secrets that the school
has been hiding. Christian Bale plays Timothy Perkins, one of the
students at the school.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Newsies
- 1992
This
musical is based on an actual strike that happened in New York in
the year 1899 when Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World
raises the distribution prices, the newsies leader, Jack Kelly
(played by Christian Bale), has the idea to fight for the newsies
rights by starting a strike.
"Proud
and defiant, we'll slay the giant, let us seize the day"
- Seize the Day
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Swing
Kids - 1993
This
movie is about a group of friends living in Nazi occupied Germany,
who rebel against it all by wearing their hair long, dressing
differently and listening to swing music, which has been banned by
the nazis. One day when Peter (played by Robert Sean Leonard) and
Thomas (played by Christian Bale), two of the friends, steal a
radio, Peter gets caught and is forced to join the Hitler Youth,
which changes their lives.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Little
Women - 1994
This
movie which is based on the books Little Women, and Good Wives by
Louisa May Alcott, is about the March sisters, who's father is
away fighting in the Civil War, while they are living in their
small home with their Marmee (played by Susan Sarandon) and their
maid Hannah (played by Florence Patterson). It goes through each
of the sisters lives as they grow up and are faced with different
situations. Christian Bale plays the family friend Theodore
Laurence.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Prince
of Jutland/Royal Deceit - 1994
"This re-telling
of Hamlet goes back to the original Danish source material. The
opening scenario remains the same: Hamlet's father murdered by his
brother who then weds the widowed mother. Hamlet must discover his
strength and leadership that will allow him to regain his rightful
throne. Don't expect an ending which matches the Bard's though,
this is more like a true Viking epic."
- Victor R. Volkman
Pocahontas
- 1995
This
animated movie is about English colonists who invade 16th century
Virginia in search of riches, only to find out that there is a
Native American tribe living there. The Captain, John Smith (voice
by Mel Gibson), and the Chiefs daughter, Pocahontas (voice by
Irene Bedard, singing voice by Judy Kuhn), soon meet and fall in
love and try to stop everyone from fighting.
The
Secret Agent - 1996
"London
of the late 19th century is a haven for political exiles of all
sorts - refugees, partisans, anarchists. Verloc (played by Bob
Hoskins) has made his living spying for the Russian government, an
agent provocateur of sorts, while simultaneously providing
information to the London police, specifically Chief Inspector
Heat (played by Jim Broadbent). When the new Russian ambassador
demands he prove his worth or lose his salary, Verloc sets off a
tragic chain of events that involves his pretty young wife Winnie
(played by Patricia Arquette), her retarded brother Stevie (played
by Christian Bale), and a figure called the Professor (played by
Robin Williams), whose fascination with explosives and destruction
makes him the person to call on when Verloc needs a bomb."
- Gary
Dickerson
Click
here to see images from the movie.
The
Portrait of a Lady - 1996
"Jane Campion
directed this expressive adaptation of the classic novel by Henry
James. Isabel Archer (Nicole Kidman) is a young American woman
who, after the death of her parents, has been sent to England to
visit relatives. While her family's tragedy has left her
penniless, Isabel's beauty has earned her the attentions of a
number of eligible men. When Isabel turns down a proposal of
marriage from the wealthy Lord Warburton (Richard E. Grant)
because she does not love him, her cousin Ralph (Martin Donovan),
who is also smitten with her, leaves her a fortune as he dies of
tuberculosis so that she may live as an independent woman. Isabel
takes a tour of Europe, where she meets Madame Merle (Barbara
Hershey), a jaded sophisticate and matchmaker who introduces her
to Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich), a widowed American artist
living abroad. Isabel falls in love with Gilbert and they marry,
but his sloth and opportunism soon begin to wear on her, and three
years later she is desperate to get out of their relationship. The
Portrait of a Lady also stars John Gielgud, Mary-Louise
Parker, Christian Bale, and Shelley Winters."
- Mark Deming, All
Movie Guide
Metroland
- 1997
When a
friend from his past re-enters Chris' (Christian Bale) life
(bringing trouble along with him), Chris starts to look back on
his care-free past, and think about his more about his current
life-style and marriage to wife Marion (Emily Watson). It's all
downhill from thereon.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Velvet
Goldmine - 1998
In
1984 reporter Arthur Stewart gets assigned to write a newspaper
article about the 70's glam rocker Brian Slade, who tried to fake
his own death to escape his fame. Stewart, who's linked closely to
Slade in the past, reluctantly takes on the assignment and begins
to investigate the whole story.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
All
the Little Animals - 1998
"Bobby
Platt is a mentally slow young man who escapes an abusive, hateful
stepfather who has killed his pets one by one. To save himself,
Bobby runs away and meets a strange old man who wanders the
highways to bury roadkill animals. Bobby becomes the old man's
apprentice and learns to see the world of nature in a strange
idyllic way. But soon the shadow of his stepfather catches up to
him and Bobby's world explodes into a grotesque nightmare."
-
Harrison Chueng, the Official Christian Bale Website
Dying
to Tell the Story - 1998
"This
documentary studies the motivations of journalists dedicated
enough to risk their lives for a story. We follow narrator Amy
Eldon on a personal journey to find meaning in the death of her
older brother, 22-year-old Reuters photographer Dan Eldon. Dan was
among a group of five journalists attacked by a mob during the
Somali famine in 1993; he and three others were stoned to death.
As she interviews other journalists and the sole surviving witness
to Dan's death, we see her attain the peace she sought."
-
Aaron Barclay
Christian
narrates as Dan Eldon.
A
Midsummer Night's Dream - 1999
Christian
plays Demetrius in the famous play by William Shakespeare about a
group of young lovers (Hermia and Lysander, who believe they are
meant to be, but have a hard time telling their parents that, and
Helena and Demetrius, Helena, who loves Demetrius, and Demetrius,
who loathes Helena) who wander into the woods one summer's night
only to get mixed up in the match making efforts of the
mischievous fairies who dwell there, particularly one by the name
of Puck.
Click
here to see pictures from the movie.
Mary,
Mother of Jesus - 1999
This
TV movie about the life of Mary of Nazareth and the trials she
goes through in her relationship with her son, Jesus (played by Christian Bale).
American
Psycho - 2000
Based
on the controversial novel by Bret Easton Ellis, Christian plays
the role of Patrick Bateman, a wallstreet yuppie living in 1980s
New York. The only difference between him and the others is that
he's a brutal serial killer.
Click
here to see pictures from the movie.
Shaft
- 2000
"Cool
and deadly NYPD detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade, Jr. in a
racially-motivated slaying. The eye witness disappears, Wade jumps
bail for Switzerland, and Shaft is livid. Two years later, Wade
returns to face trial, confident his father's money and influence
(and racial politics) guarantee an innocent verdict. Shaft looks
hard for the witness, so Wade wants someone to kill her. He turns
to a ghetto drug king, Peoples Hernandez, who's willing to kill
for money, use Wade as a route to rich drug customers, and shaft
Shaft. Can Shaft find the witness, convince her to testify, and
shepherd her through the hail of bullets that Peoples is sure to
let fly?"
- IMDB
Captain
Corelli's Mandolin - 2001
"In 1941, Italy
allies with Germany and ruthlessly conquers the much weaker
country of Greece. On a remote Greek island, an Italian artillery
garrison is established to maintain order. One Italian officer,
Captain Corelli, adopts an attitude of mutual co-existence with
the Greeks and engages in such activities as music festivals and
courting the daughter (Pelagia, played by Penelope Cruz) of a
local doctor. In 1943, however, after Italy surrenders to the
Allies and changes sides in the war, Captain Corelli must defend
the Greek island against a German invasion."
- Anthony Hughes
Christian plays
Mandras, Pelagia's Fiancée who leaves the island to fight in the
war.
Click
here to see pictures from the movie.
Reign of Fire -
2002
The future:
fire-breathing dragons have emerged from the depths of the earth
destroying all in sight, and dominating the world leaving
the human population hanging by a thread. It's up to a group of
people - the British and the Americans - to come together to try
and destroy the dragons before it's too late.
Christian plays Quinn
Ambercromby.
Click
here to see images from the movie.
Equilibrium - 2002
"In a fascist
future where all forms of feeling are illegal, a man charged with
enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system."
- IMDB
Christian plays
Clerick John Preston, the "man charged with enforcing the
law".
Click
here to see images from this movie.
Laurel Canyon -
2003
After finishing
medical school Sam Bently (Christian Bale) returns with his
well-to-do fiancée (Kate Beckinsale) back to his supposedly
empty childhood home in Laurel Canyon, only to find out his pot
smoking record producer mother is indeed still living there.
Things begin to get even more uncomfortable when he discovers that
his fiancée is very interested in his mother's lifestyle.
Click
here to see images from
the movie.
