German Concentration Camps Factual Survey
8.5
“A lost masterpiece of British documentary cinema from 1945”
On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).
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Cast
7 people
Jasper Britton
Narrator
Known for
Hijack
Night Will Fall
Trevor Howard
Narrator (fragment version)
Jane Wells
Self
David Cesarani
Self
Anne Fleming
Self
Also in
Spook Chasers
Adolf Hitler
Self (archive footage)
Also in
War of the Century
Hitler's Last Year
Alfred Hitchcock
Self (archive footage)
Known for
Sabotage
Sidney Bernstein Director · Colin Wills Writer Richard Crossman Writer
United States release January 6, 2017 · Produced in United Kingdom · Production U.S. Office of War Information
Production
Ministry of Information
Production
U.S. Office of War Information
Production
United Kingdom
Produced in
F3080
Working title
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
Germany · February 9, 2014
Premiere · Berlin International Film Festival
United States · January 6, 2017
Limited theatrical
United States · April 17, 2017
Physical
United States
July 26, 2015 · Premiere · San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
United Kingdom
October 13, 2014 · Premiere · BFI London Film Festival
April 17, 2017 · Physical · Blu-ray & DVD
Some details come from TheTVDB.