It Happened Here

It Happened Here
1966 UK cinema poster
Directed byKevin Brownlow
Andrew Mollo
Written byKevin Brownlow
Andrew Mollo
Produced byKevin Brownlow
Andrew Mollo
StarringPauline Murray
Sebastian Shaw
Bart Allison
Reginald Marsh
CinematographyKevin Brownlow
Peter Suschitzky
Edited byKevin Brownlow
Music byAnton Bruckner
Distributed byUnited Artists (United States)
Release dates
Running time
97 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish/German
Budget$20,000 (estimated) or £7,000[1]

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.[2]

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.[2] The film's title is an allusion to Sinclair Lewis's 1936 communist novel It Can't Happen Here.

  1. ^ When Britain is Occupied Date: Friday, May 13, 1966 Publication: The Daily Telegraph (London, England) Issue: 34540 p 13
  2. ^ a b Lynsey Ford (30 July 2018). "How we made It Happened Here, the film that imagined England under the Nazis". BFI. Retrieved 6 November 2018.