It Happened Here

It Happened Here is a 1966 British film set during World War II, about the possible effects of a successful German invasion of the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Kevin Brownlow, who later became a prominent film historian, and Andrew Mollo, who was to become a leading military historian. The film was conceived by Brownlow, then only eighteen, in 1956. He turned to Mollo, a sixteen-year-old history buff, to help him with the design of costumes and sets; Mollo was intrigued by the project, and became his collaborator.

Production and staff

The film was in the making for the next eight years. The Guinness Book of World Records (as of 2003) lists It Happened Here as the film with the longest ever production schedule. It was shot in black and white, giving it a grainy, newsreel feel. It had a cast of hundreds, all volunteers, with only one professional actor among them (Sebastian Shaw). Stanley Kubrick, who was intrigued by the project, donated film stock from Dr. Strangelove to Brownlow to help him finish the film. Most of the equipment used in the production was borrowed. Director Tony Richardson helped to pay for the final production.

Though the cast was almost entirely amateur, It Happened Here helped to launch the career of its cinematographer, Peter Suschitzky, who went on to work on such films as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Empire Strikes Back.

Film content

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The film opens with the statement: "The conquest of England was swift and brutal. Due to pressure from the eastern front, German troops are removed from England, and the garrisoning of England is largely carried out by British volunteers". The story focuses on a young British nurse, Pauline, who is forcibly evacuated from her village by the Nazis and their collaborators, and is witness to a massacre of the fascist forces by a group of British partisans. She makes her way to London, where she becomes a collaborator herself, only gradually learning about what this really means to the British people. She is witness to friends of hers being taken away for harboring a partisan, the treatment of the Jews under German rule, and, in a climactic section, discovers that she has taken part in a euthanasia program and killed a group of foreign slave laborers who have contracted tuberculosis (portrayed by real patients with tuberculosis). The film ends with Pauline being captured and forced to work for the partisans as they retake England. In a chilling finale, she is witness to them executing a large group of Germans and collaborators, reminiscent of the massacre of a group of English villagers shot by the Nazis in the beginning of the film for failing to evacuate their village.

Release and criticism

After eight years of production, the film's initial release was stormy. Many people were upset by the idea that the villains in the story were not normally Nazis but their British collaborators. The film seemed to be saying that fascism can rise anywhere under the right circumstances, and that people everywhere could fall under its spell. Jewish groups protested the inclusion of seven minutes of footage of British fascist leader Colin Jordan, speaking against the Jews and for euthanasia. In response, seven minutes of the film were cut from the original release, though these were restored thirty years later, after Brownlow regained the rights to the film.