Crisis

...or I Remember Munich...and Paris...and Oslo...and Dunkirk...and June 6, 1944.

A documentary filmed during the crisis in the Sudetenland up to the time when the Nazi army moved in and occupied the Czech territory. Produced and directed by Herbert Kline, with the full cooperation of the Czechoslovakian government, and covering all phases of the life of the people, their hopes and fears, and the final overturn as the Munich Treaty left the Czechs without the support of their "peace-in-our-time" allies, and hopeless to stop the takeover of the Sudeten territory by the "Tomorrow the World" Nazis.

The Commentary was written by Vincent Sheehan and the narration spoken by Leif Erickson. Cameraman Alexander Hackenschmidt also served (and was credited) as a (2nd-unit) co-director, as was also Hans Burger. Arthur Mayer did not produce the film but was the "presenter" on the 95-minute film distributed in the U.S. by Mayer-Burstyn Inc.

I'm currently discovering the world of Documentary as a result of lockdown I have some time to fill. I thought I'd go right back to the beginning where it all began with the first documentaries in the early 20's. 100 documentaries later (quite a few of them only last 10 minutes or so) I come to this one and it may be the best so far. It gives you a real feel of how an independent free thinking democracy will quickly evaporate into a fascist dictatorship. As it's filmed in 1939 the pure fear of nazism feels very fresh and real. I expect on my journey I will come across a lot more documentaries on the subject but I don't expect too many will be as good as this one.