It Happened Here

Director: Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo
England. 1966.
96 minutes. Black & White.

In It Happened Here, Brownlow and Mollo's brilliant re-write of history, Germany has won World War II and Nazi troops occupy England. Pauline Murray, an apolitical Irish nurse, is transferred to London, where she slowly realizes the horrifying reality behind the occupation. The film is a terrifying intimation of what might have happened if the Allied effort had failed. Brownlow was only 18 and his co-director Mollo was 16, when they started this monumental documentary style drama in 1956.

"The German invasion of England took place in July 1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the German army took many months to restore order. But the resistance movement, lacking outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, the resistance movement reappeared."

After years of hard work and with the help of hundreds of volunteers, It Happened Here was finally completed in 1964. But when United Artists released it two years later, the studio cut seven minutes of controversial material. Milestone's is the first presentation of the complete version here in the USA.

Reviews

"A film that firmly grips the imagination and makes the blood run cold." - New York Times

"Jolting! An Orwellian nightmare." - Newsweek