Hitlers rise - the colour films

[GRANVILLE]

Came across this documentary series which has just started on 4OD: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hitlers-rise-the-colour-films/4od

It details Hitler's rise and is entirely made using superb colourised film and photographs which go back to Hitler's childhood and of course his time in the trenches of WW1 etc.

David

[Steven Broomfield]

Part 2 is about to start on C4 now (after a party political broadcast by *******).

I caught last week's and am sitting waiting for the remarkably irritating MP person to go away.

[GRANVILLE]

Part 2 is about to start on C4 now (after a party political broadcast by *******).

I caught last week's and am sitting waiting for the remarkably irritating MP person to go away.

Cheers Steven, just watched and equally impressed.

David

[Steven Broomfield]

I'm surprised you and I appear to be the only ones. I followed it by watching the last part of What Remains: as if the thought of going back to work in the morning wasn't bad enough ...

[GRANVILLE]

When the colourization is done well as in this series, I always find it a bit eerie just how much more 'alive' the footage becomes and in many respects you can think the events took place just a few years ago rather than more like 70years ago. In the first episode there is a brief bit of film shown of men making their way down a trench and walking over the dead. Its well known and I've seen it many times before, but when colourized becomes so much more impacting.

David

[Gibbo]

I also watched Hitler's Rise: The Colour Films and What Remains, followed by a recording of The Story of the Jews. Well made and interesting programmes, but not a very cheerful evening's viewing, especially What Remains since I live on my own in a top floor flat.

[Gunboat]

I watched last weeks and assumed it was going to be uncovered real colour footage - not existing footage recoloured. I also found they didn't present things in a chronological order. That said I did mean to watch last nights and missed it.

[Ewan Carmichael]

I watched last weeks and assumed it was going to be uncovered real colour footage - not existing footage recoloured. I also found they didn't present things in a chronological order. That said I did mean to watch last nights and missed it.

Most of it was done chronologically. The only time it wasn't was when they needed to refer back to something they were talking about at the time. I reckon that if they'd stuck rigidly to chronography a lot of the points made would have been lost.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the series and it gave us a pretty good insight not only into how his deranged mind was working but also the political and social events that helped form his views.

[PhilB]

I spent a year in the army in Germany 1956-7. I never met a German civvy who claimed they had supported Hitler, despite many being ex-Wehrmacht, including SS. I always find that difficult to match with the cheering, almost adulatory, crowds at those meetings and parades.

[Ewan Carmichael]

I spent a year in the army in Germany 1956-7. I never met a German civvy who claimed they had supported Hitler, despite many being ex-Wehrmacht, including SS. I always find that difficult to match with the cheering, almost adulatory, crowds at those meetings and parades.

I guess its like any political leader. They might support the common goal of a party but the leader is often vilified. Many a Tory disliked Thatcher and many a Labour supported disliked Tony Blair. Its probably also a bit of them not wanting to admit they were in favour of the Nazi policies and feel embarrassed about it now.

[martin_sole]

I spent a year in the army in Germany 1956-7. I never met a German civvy who claimed they had supported Hitler, despite many being ex-Wehrmacht, including SS. I always find that difficult to match with the cheering, almost adulatory, crowds at those meetings and parades.

Someone who supported him in '31 might feel very different in '45.

It was an interesting show but I didn't think the colorisation added much. It reminded me of those hand tinted Edwardian photos.

[Ewan Carmichael]

Someone who supported him in '31 might feel very different in '45.

It was an interesting show but I didn't think the colorisation added much. It reminded me of those hand tinted Edwardian photos.

I thought the colourisation worked for the most part, but sometimes it didn't. Probably about 80% of the time it was okay. I reckon that when it didn't work it was probably more to do with the quality of the original black and white film they'd had to work with in the first place.

[michaeldr]

I spent a year in the army in Germany 1956-7. I never met a German civvy who claimed they had supported Hitler, despite many being ex-Wehrmacht, including SS. I always find that difficult to match with the cheering, almost adulatory, crowds at those meetings and parades.

Hi Phil,

My wife's late uncle went back to his old school for a 50th reunion [he left Germany for the USA in the 1920s] and, speaking of his old class mates, he told me,

'Do you know, not one a single one of them was a member of the Nazi Party.'

I recall that he had a somewhat ironic smile as he related that story

regards

Michael

[bill24chev]

During my time in Germany I had a few discussions with WW2 German soldiers.

It made me wonder why Ike & Monty took nearly a year to get from Normandy to the Elbe because not one old soldier I talked to had fought in the west.

[depaor01]

An uncle of mine who served as a WW2 Luftwaffe radio operator near the Black Sea and other places, said that Hitler was considered a "great man" by the population simply because he solved many of the problems affecting the population during the Weimar era. Hence the adulation. A classic case of being careful what you wish for...

[ianjonesncl]

During my time in Germany I had a few discussions with WW2 German soldiers.

It made me wonder why Ike & Monty took nearly a year to get from Normandy to the Elbe because not one old soldier I talked to had fought in the west.

Amazing coincidence - all I met were in theEast as well.

[michaeldr]

An uncle of mine who served as a WW2 Luftwaffe radio operator near the Black Sea and other places, said that Hitler was considered a "great man" by the population simply because he solved many of the problems affecting the population during the Weimar era. Hence the adulation. A classic case of being careful what you wish for...

In the general election held in March 1933 his party got nearly 44% of the popular vote

A win, but not outright control.

By the time of the next election in November 1933 the difficulties with democracy had been overcome, and his party got 92+%

[martin_sole]

Considering the appalling manner in which the Wehrmacht conducted itself in the east, I wonder why anyone would pretend to have been there if it weren't true.

The Sönke Neitzel book "Soldaten" is an excellent read if you're interested in understanding the mindset of the average German soldier as it was at the time, and not with the benefit of hindsight.

[GRANVILLE]

Related subject to the films, which might be of interest. http://news.sky.com/story/1144609/hitler-warning-film-lay-in-vault-for-75-years

The last sentence in the article says so much.

David