Fall of Eagles

When this series ran on WTBS in 1979, I was hooked, & was able to catch every episode, save the LAST ONE! The BBC did a good job with it, but I, too, have been fruitlessly hunting for it for many years. I thought it was very well done. Even though they apparently didn't have a grand budget for much exterior shooting, the writing, as I recall, was fairly accurate and represented just what a "family affair" the royal houses of pre-WW1 were. I was particularly interested in this broadcast, especially the last episode, because I had just finished reading "The Secret File on the Tzar", an examination through all the NKVD and KGB files relating to Nicholas II's arrest and final family reunion in the basement. I consider it a minor classic, and, like several others, would like to find a personal copy.

I was very impressed with Fall of Eagles. And what a distinguished cast of British actors!! (Including the German Curt Jurgens in a masterful performance as Prince Otto von Bismarck.) A contributor above remarks on the influence of General Ludendorff, not so much on World War One it would seem, but rather by his association with Adolf Hitler in the days after the Great War. While Ludendorff's impact during WWI was very great, the old man's influence afterwards was really only as a figurehead, a minor player, as an early adherent of Hitler.

One must keep in mind the condition of the German people at this period. The British sea blockade of Germany was not lifted until many months after the war had ended. The German people were starving and freezing. The Versailles Treaty demanded huge reparations from a prostrate Germany and limited the nation to a mere 10,000 man army, this with belligerent neighbors surrounding it, all eager for a piece of the helpless German state. Communism tried to gain power but failed in postwar Germany -- this not from any lack of effort on the part of the Communists themselves, but rather, I believe, that Marxist ideology itself does not have appeal to the German people per se. The successive Social Democratic governments were helpless to relieve the agony of the people. Is it any wonder that after the failure on the part of totalitarian Communism and the failure of democratic, liberal governments that, in their distress, the German people flocked to Hitler's banner, he who denounced and rejected the Versailles Diktat and who started the economy rolling again, meaning bread and jobs, where all these other political ideologies had failed so miserably?

I maintain that the rise of Hitler and all that followed in his wake was the direct result of the crushing demands by the victorious Allies forced upon a helpless nation in defeat. The victors of the First World War then, bear ultimate responsibility for Adolf Hitler's accession to power.

None of the above, however, detracts from this fine mini-series, the praises of which are not only from me, but also the other contributors here. Personally, my only criticism would be that rather than the archaic film clips shown from time to time throughout the production it would have been wiser instead to utilize Michael Hordern's commentary where deemed necessary for story continuity.

There is a scene in Fall of Eagles, when the German General Ludendorff falls into a fit of rage, screaming "Traitors! Traitors!" Ludendorff will appear later in history, near a certain beer hall in Munich, with an equally enraged colleague, who will visit upon us another world war.

After thirty years, BBC have finally released Fall of Eagles on DVD. What's more, they've done it right, with a beautiful transfer. This elaborate production presents the defining event of the twentieth century, the Great War (World War I), from the points of view of those who brought it about and were themselves consumed by it.

Some may regard Fall of Eagles as soap opera, and it is indeed staged like one, with almost all the scenes shot indoors. However, British television has always worked well within this constraint, as in I Claudius and Elizabeth R. The sets are magnificent and varied, shot in and around some imposing locations. The costumes are lavish and intricate, making me appreciate how "dressing the part" in those times could be called part of one's duty. I can't imagine how the women managed.

Except for Patrick Stewart, Barry Foster, Michael Kitchen, and Gayle Hunnicutt, the cast is made up of character actors unfamiliar to non-British audiences, especially when hidden by beards and mustaches. However, the depth of talent in this huge cast is striking, with convincing portrayals, from the walk-ons to the leads. The producers also should be praised for running a tight ship, which could easily have become an unwieldy mess, due to the parallel and complex events, the 13-episode length and the fact that the directors varied from one episode to the next.

Though the story is made up of undocumentable private dialog (except perhaps via diaries), skillful writing, directing and acting create an intimacy that makes one truly to feel like a fly on the wall. Some of the scenes are indeed contrivances. For example, the future empress of Russia, Alexandra, is told by the current empress Marie Dagmar about her concern, that she, Alexandra, wife of the future Emperor, is not Russian Orthodox but German Lutheran. This should not have concerned the old Empress, since she herself was a Danish Lutheran who had converted and was embraced by the Russians. Alexandra not only converts to Russian Orthodoxy, but does it with a militancy that's downright, well, German. Though such an exchange probably wouldn't have taken place, it serves the historical and dramatic purpose of establishing religion as a major factor in the fate of the Romanov dynasty. Alexandra had something to prove, and she did so with a disastrous vengeance. Another value of apocryphal scenes like this is to portray characters as real people, rather than mere "names on a page".

Through the intimacy of these private scenes, we can see how the lack of detachment from their own affairs and complete detachment from the affairs of their subjects is the central thesis of Fall of Eagles: that mundane concerns and banal motives in an age of romantic excess, drove monarchs, ministers and consorts, who in turn drove history. Oh yes, did I mention the word "hubris"?

Do not let the length of Fall of Eagles put you off. This is one of those wonderful viewing experiences, so rich, so deep, that while watching it the first time, you resolve to watch it again, because you know that characters and events will fall into place, in a seamless, poignant, often maddening saga of real people, caught up in real events, rushing like lemmings to their dooms or, in one case, to a pitiful denouement.

And speaking of the Kaiser, Fall of Eagles is not just a routine chronicle of events, but a particular interpretation of history, not only in its choice of dialog but in its perspectives and emphasis. For example, the actual trigger of the Great War depicted here is more complex than what you may recall from your generalized history lessons. So, yes, there is a bit of revisionism here -- that the Kaiser by no means bears sole responsibility for this tragedy -- which you may or may not be inclined to accept. (As a history buff, I do.) Though Fall of Eagles is conventional, i.e. top-down, in perspective, it makes clear that history is not only driven by individuals in power but by the currents and events confronting them and, in this history, overwhelming them.

If you are truly concerned about how we got where we are today, you owe it to yourself and your children to witness this amazing epic.

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Further thoughts:

1. There are two soundtracks, one for the opening credits, the other for the end credits. (Opening theme is Mahler, I think.) Both are in perfect accord with their subject, the closing music, in particular, a chilling depiction of the title.

2. There is an indispensable program guide included with the DVD. Each episode is supplemented by well-written capsule biographies. There's even a genealogical chart to help keep the dynasty members and their relationships (one might say incestuous relationships) straight in our minds.

3. There are three interviews with two players (not including Patrick Stewart, alas) and a director. Gayle Hunnicutt, in particular, stands out for her insightful observations.

Many of the BBC's mini-series dealt with Britain's loss of Empire - "Jewel in the Crown" was just one. Here the subject is the end of monarchy and the collapse of major royal houses of Europe: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia.

The history is grand and sweeping, but the focus of these television dramas is not on spectacle, but on the personalities of the participants. On that basis it succeeds wildly. The cast is huge and the acting is splendid.

Patrick Stewart gives the performance of his career as Lenin, and the same goes for Barry Foster's Kaiser Wilhem. An astonishing array of acting talent strides through, often with only a few telling moments on screen: Michael Aldridge, Pamela Brown, Rosalie Crutchley, Marius Goring, Michael Gough, Charles Gray, Freddie Jones, Curt Jurgens and the list goes on.

Plus it's always fun to see major talents near the beginning of their career, such as Tom Conti and John Rhys-Davies. It's also surprising how little overlap there is with the cast of "I, Claudius" which followed only two years later. What a deep bench the BBC had in those days!

The scripts are uniformly intelligent, though the budget often requires major events to be described rather than shown. However the art department does a valiant job of differentiating among the splendid apartments of different countries, so you almost always know where you are before anyone starts speaking.

If you want to see thousands of extras tumbling across the giant screen, watch "Nicholas and Alexandra" or "Dr. Zhivago" instead. But if you want to meet fascinating people in an absorbing story of the decline and fall of the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollerns, and the Romanov's, this is grand television.

Back in 1974 my father encouraged me to stay up late and watch this mini series, which initially I hated. As I watched I became engrossed in this real life soap opera, that eventually caused more death through two world wars than any Hollywood fiction could. It is a superb recreation of the period 1880-1917, full of atmosphere and a great history lesson. Nowadays this would be considered a factional series as it is all based on fact but with extensive supposition, however it is all believable. The cast is extensive and full of well known actors in their early years. The subject is large and the BBC did well to make everything understandable using realistic sets, but no grandiose outdoor scenes that would been ineffective. For example, Archduke Ferdinand's assassination is referred to rather than portrayed, as the procession would have been too expensive to do realistically.

I long to rewatch this, so I hope a video or DVD will be reissued, if only for schools to use as a history lesson.