Cinema’s master of suspense didn’t just direct classics such as VERTIGO, PSYCHO and NORTH BY NORTHWEST; Alfred Hitchcock also dabbled in the world of documentary reportage.
MEMORY OF THE CAMPS features disturbing footage, provided by the Allied Forces after liberation in 1945, charting the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. It was intended to be used to shock Germany into acknowledgement, however the film was shelved due to worries about its counter-productivity in German post-war reconstruction.
Hitchcock got involved later in the project, helping produce the footage. According to PBS he acted as consultant and helped shape the footage into a meaningful structure.
After the project’s abandonment, five of the six reels ended up in London’s Imperial War Museum – where they were shown in 1985 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the death camps.
Now the Imperial War Museum has revealed plans to release all six reels of a restored version for both cinema and television in 2015. We’ve also heard that there’s going to be a new documentary, NIGHT WILL FALL, from André Singer and Stephen Frears to accompany MEMORY OF THE CAMPS, ready for the 70th anniversary of the liberation. Singer and Frears both recently received critical praise for THE ACT OF KILLING and PHILOMENA respectively,
The partially finished film is already doing the rounds on the internet however. It’s a gruelling but important piece of film which you can view below.
Source: PBS; Open Culture; The Independent
laurent
Jan 3, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Terrible pictures of poor victims of german barbarians . Lesson to be learned ? For most of us not at all unfortunately . Let’s us see our world today with more poor,more jobless,more inequality,more crime,and the risk at any time of an econmic crash like 1929 in our western societies . 2007-2008 was close to a collapse with what lesson ? For many people no more job,no more house for others who made such a mess business as usual . Do we have to repeat always the same error because we are insane enough to never learn anything at all ? For myself it’s not a matter to understand or not it’s a matter to not care at all of others . Bad things arrive only to others not to me . Years ago ,many did’n’t care because they were not jews,not syndicalist,not communist,not homosexual,not gypsy,not human at all in fact . Because even if you don’t care of others things arrive soon or later to you one day . Isn’t possible to be more kind with people to allow them to live descently today ? Isn’t it possible to stop a fool speculation who destroy life of many human being in Earth today ? Speculation without any limit on food leading demonstation and revolution like in 1789 to be allow only to eat ! When we let bad people doing what they want they do all they want without any limit,without any care for the weakest ones . REMEMBER THAT 1929 BRINGS US HITLER BECAUSE DESPAIR DESTROY PEOPLE IN HEART AND IN MIND .It’s not my fault,I even did’nt know ,orders are orders (Befehl is Befehl…) “THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MAN TO DO NOTHING” Roosevelt come back please ……………………………