It Happened Here (1965)
Country: GB
Technical: bw/1.37:1 97m
Director: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo
Cast: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw
Synopsis:
Germany invades Britain in 1940, and by 1944 only a few anti-fascist partisan groups persist in the Southwest, leading to all civilians being evacuated to the metropolis. One of them, a district nurse, finds herself drafted into the state-supporting Instant Action organisation, the only way in which she can find employment in the country.
Review:
Beginning like a documentary but rapidly taking on the very personal dimensions of a nightmarish drama, this semi-professional effort may have a few rough edges in the cinematography, editing and sound recording, but is powerfully realized to bring out the trauma of occupation and resistance. There are cleverly edited clips of actuality footage to convey the suppression of armed resistance, and scenes of sustained propaganda and debate that adumbrate the central premise, that we might have proved just as susceptible to accepting the Nazi ideology of blaming anti-social elements on an axis of Jews and Communists, or even of lumping them together as one. Pauline is clearly our avatar in the screenplay, as a middle class girl who is content to accept law and order so long as she does not have to contemplate the human cost close up.
Country: GB
Technical: bw/1.37:1 97m
Director: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo
Cast: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw
Synopsis:
Germany invades Britain in 1940, and by 1944 only a few anti-fascist partisan groups persist in the Southwest, leading to all civilians being evacuated to the metropolis. One of them, a district nurse, finds herself drafted into the state-supporting Instant Action organisation, the only way in which she can find employment in the country.
Review:
Beginning like a documentary but rapidly taking on the very personal dimensions of a nightmarish drama, this semi-professional effort may have a few rough edges in the cinematography, editing and sound recording, but is powerfully realized to bring out the trauma of occupation and resistance. There are cleverly edited clips of actuality footage to convey the suppression of armed resistance, and scenes of sustained propaganda and debate that adumbrate the central premise, that we might have proved just as susceptible to accepting the Nazi ideology of blaming anti-social elements on an axis of Jews and Communists, or even of lumping them together as one. Pauline is clearly our avatar in the screenplay, as a middle class girl who is content to accept law and order so long as she does not have to contemplate the human cost close up.
Country: GB
Technical: bw/1.37:1 97m
Director: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo
Cast: Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw
Synopsis:
Germany invades Britain in 1940, and by 1944 only a few anti-fascist partisan groups persist in the Southwest, leading to all civilians being evacuated to the metropolis. One of them, a district nurse, finds herself drafted into the state-supporting Instant Action organisation, the only way in which she can find employment in the country.
Review:
Beginning like a documentary but rapidly taking on the very personal dimensions of a nightmarish drama, this semi-professional effort may have a few rough edges in the cinematography, editing and sound recording, but is powerfully realized to bring out the trauma of occupation and resistance. There are cleverly edited clips of actuality footage to convey the suppression of armed resistance, and scenes of sustained propaganda and debate that adumbrate the central premise, that we might have proved just as susceptible to accepting the Nazi ideology of blaming anti-social elements on an axis of Jews and Communists, or even of lumping them together as one. Pauline is clearly our avatar in the screenplay, as a middle class girl who is content to accept law and order so long as she does not have to contemplate the human cost close up.