Night Will Fall

Synopsis

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman and, Hitchcock as treatment advisor. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by the Imperial War Museum. This eloquent, lucid documentary by André Singer (executive producer of the award-winning The Act of Killing) tells the extraordinary story of the filming of the camps and the fate of Bernstein’s project, using original archive footage and eyewitness testimonies.

This release includes a wide range of extras including:
• O wi cim (1945, 22 mins): Russian propaganda film about the Auschwitz concentration camp; Death Mills (Hanuš Berger and Billy Wilder, 1946, 22 mins): US propaganda film recording the horrors Allied forces encountered at the Nazi concentration camps they liberated; Belsen Death Camp Leaders Meet Justice (1945, 2 mins): short newsreel about the trial of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg; Night Will Fall - Panel Discussion (2014, 13 mins); An Interview with Dr Jeremy Hicks at Auschwitz Concentration Camp (2014, 24 mins); An Interview with Professor Rainer Schulze at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp (2014, 28 mins); An interview with Professor David Cesarani at Buchenwald Concentration Camp (2014, 25 mins)

Language

English

Country

Germany; Denmark; France; Great Britain; Israel; United States

Year of release

2014

Notes

The film Best Use of Footage in a History Production and in Cinema Production at the 12th FOCAL INternational Awards.

Subjects

History

Keywords

concentration camps; documentary films; genocide; Holocaust; Nazi Germany; newsreel films

Credits

Director

André Singer

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£19.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

75 minutes

Year

2015

Distributor

Name

BFI Video

Email

video.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7957 8957

Fax

020 7957 8968

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN