DAVID BIANCULLI

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NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
NIGHT WILL FALL
January 26, 2015  | By David Bianculli

HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET

 

Near the end of WWII, Sidney Bernstein of the British government’s Ministry of Information was given the task of assembling a film from footage shot by his cameramen, and footage from other sources and countries as well, that would document the Nazi concentration camp atrocities. After the war, Alfred Hitchcock offered his help in both the content and construction of the film, but the film – German Concentration Camps Factual Survey – was neither fully completed nor distributed and widely shown. Yet its invaluable footage played a key part in the subsequent war crimes trials, and an incomplete version, missing the final reel, was restored and shown in the 1980s. But now, a new assemblage of what would have been the sixth and final reel, based on the filmmakers’ original notes, has been completed – and Night Will Fall is the story of this film footage’s 70-year-old journey. It’s tough to watch, but very important, and also includes some stunning color film of the camps, shot by U.S. Army cameramen in 1945.

 
 
 
 
 
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