It Happened Here (also known as It Happened Here: The Story of Hitler's England) is a 1964 British black-and-white war film written, produced and directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, who began work on the film as teenagers. The film's largely amateur and independent production took some eight years, using volunteer actors with some support from professional filmmakers.

It Happened Here shows an alternative history in which the United Kingdom has been invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. The plot follows the experiences of an Irish nurse working in England, who encounters people who believe collaboration with the invaders is for the best, while others are involved in the resistance movement against the occupiers and their local collaborators. Support was also given by director Tony Richardson, who helped to pay for the final production.

The film had an estimated cast of 900, all volunteers, with several professional actors, among them Sebastian Shaw and Reginald Marsh. Many of the British fascists in the film were themselves former members of the British Union of Fascists, and similarly, German ex-servicemen portrayed SS and Wehrmacht soldiers and airmen. Some Jewish groups protested against the inclusion of seven minutes of footage of a British fascist speaking against the Jews and for euthanasia, claiming the inclusion of this material gives a platform to unapologetic neo-Nazis despite the film's strongly anti-Nazi theme. In response, this was cut from the original release, though it was restored thirty years later, after Brownlow regained the rights to the film.

Awards

  • 1964: International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg, Preis der Volkshochschul-Jury (Prize of the Adult Education Center's Jury)
  • 1966: National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Top Ten Films

How It Happened Here

In 1968, Brownlow published the story of the making of the film under the title How It Happened Here. The book (new edition published March 2007, by UKA Press, ) describes the making of the film It Happened Here, and the subsequent reception that the film received. In addition to explaining how two teenage boys made a feature film, it also explores the social issues raised by the movie. The book contains almost 100 pictures, mostly stills from the film, and an introduction by David Robinson.

See also

  • Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II – a common concept of alternate history
  • Auxiliary Units
  • It Can't Happen Here – a 1935 novel by Sinclair Lewis about a fascist government in the United States
  • Operation Sea Lion in fiction
  • List of films shot over three or more years
  • The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
  • SS-GB
  • Fatherland
  • The Man in the High Castle
  • Enemy at the Door

References