Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
It Happened
Here
A film by
Kevin Brownlow &
Andrew Mollo
Dual Format
Edition release, 23 July 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s immensely
powerful It Happened Here
depicts an alternative history in which England has been invaded and occupied
by Nazi Germany. Coming to Blu-ray for the first time, on 23 July 2018,
the film is presented in a new 2K remaster (from the original camera negative) by
the BFI National Archive, supervised by Kevin Brownlow, to mark his 80th
birthday. A raft of exceptional extras include previously unseen
behind-the-scenes footage, new interviews, news items, trailers and more.
‘The German invasion of England took place in July
1940 after the British retreat from Dunkirk. Strongly resisted at first, the
German army took months to restore order, but the resistance movement, lacking
outside support, was finally crushed. Then, in 1944, it reappeared.’
That is what happened when history was rewritten:
Nazi Germany has won the Second World War and England is under occupation. Kevin
Brownlow was only 18 when he and Andrew Mollo – just 16 – embarked on this
ambitious neorealist-tinged drama, which took eight years to complete, helped
along by financial support from Tony Richardson (Woodfall Films). Shot on both
16mm and 35mm, with a mainly amateur cast and with incredible attention to
detail, the impressively polished result is a chilling and timely reminder of
what might have been had Nazism not been defeated.
The newly remastered film will be premiered
on the big screen at a special Blu-ray/DVD launch event at BFI Southbank on its
release date, Monday 23 July at 6.00pm, followed by a discussion with Kevin
Brownlow and Andrew Mollo. More
details and tickets from www.bfi.org.uk/southbank
Special
features
· Presented in
High Definition and Standard Definition
· Mirror on the World (1962, 10
mins): full version of fake German newsreel
· It Happened Here: Behind the Scenes (1956-66, 22 mins):
previously unseen footage with a new commentary by Kevin Brownlow
· Original UK and
US trailers (1966)
· It Happened Here Again (1976, 7 mins): excerpt from a documentary on Winstanley
· Interview
excerpt with the directors (2009, 2
mins)
· The Conquest of London (1964/2005, 4 mins): Italian TV item
· On Set With Brownlow and Mollo (2018, 12 mins): interview
with Production Assistant Johanna Roeber
· Kevin Brownlow Remembers It Happened Here (2018, 65 mins)
· Image gallery
· Introduction to How It Happened Here: text of David Robinson’s foreword to the book (Downloadable PDF –
DVD only)
· Illustrated
booklet with writing by Kevin Brownlow and new essays by Dr Josephine Botting,
DoP Peter Suschitzky and military historian EWW Fowler
Product
details
RRP: £19.99/ Cat. no. BFIB1298 / Cert PG
UK
/ 1964 / black and white / 100 mins / English language, with optional
hard-of-hearing subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / BD50: 1080p, 24fps,
PCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) / DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
audio (192kbps)