Review of Hitler In Colour

Introduction

It seems to be the thing these days to release DVD`s of new TV programmes just after they transmit, and here is another one. Hitler In Colour is an ITV programme that has only just aired within the last week, and the review copy arrived a week before that. Not that I`m complaining, mind, as it`s rather good. I have more than a passing interest in this period of history as the Nazi`s had a strange stranglehold on their people and a naivety that saw them once again fight a war of two fronts with disastrous results that almost destroyed the nation. It is also incredible to me that a political party as extreme as the National Socialists could have so captivated the German population and made massive plans for expansion without considering the cost of what they wanted to do. Ultimately, in my opinion, it was a combination of bad decision-making and lack of supplies that allowed us to defeat the Nazi`s in 1945. We should all be grateful that Hitler was not quite the tactical genius he thought he was.

Made by the same people who produced the BAFTA award-winning "Britain at War in Colour", this documentary follows Hitler`s election to power in 1933 through to the fall of Berlin in 1945. Along the way we see raw footage of some of the pivotal moments during Germany`s history at this time such as the invasion of Poland, Nazi rallies, Hitler`s meeting with Lloyd George, the horrors of Buchenwald concentration camp, Warsaw`s Jewish ghetto, the Battle of Britain and the fall of Berlin.

The documentary is part narrated by Brian Cox and relies heavily on testimony of people involved in the events of the time. Part of this documentary also examines the relationship between Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun, and included here is some footage taken by Braun herself.

Video

This is all old footage so the quality varies between good and not-so-good. Given the age of the viewing material, most of it is still in pretty remarkable shape.

Audio

Brian Cox`s narration is pretty irritating after a while as he generally says just one line before introducing the next spoken testimony. Hardly worth him being there, but that`s down to the scriptwriter. I would have preferred him to say much more. The German accents used by some of the people narrating the eyewitness testimony also border on `Allo `Allo-esque lameness.

Features

Extra footage - 10 minutes of extra footage left out of the original documentary due to the footage showing the aftermath of Nazi Germany. Not quite sure this is true of all of it, and it would have been interesting to see this incorporated. Personally I think it was left out due to the pressures of commercial running time, and it makes a nice extra anyway.

Biographies - text biographies of leading Nazi`s

Timeline - text timeline of the `highlights` of Nazi Germany

Interactive Concentration Camp map - map displaying location of major concentration camps and some information on each.

Poster Gallery - interesting collection of Nazi propaganda posters

A nice but not too extensive set of extras round this off quite nicely, and add to the educational element of this disc.

Conclusion

Well, if you can get past the banal narration and ludicrous German accents (and yes, I know the person narrating Hitler`s testimony was probably German…), then this programme was quite interesting. I find it a little odd that the existence of all this colour footage was unavailable until the makers decided to make this programme, but still… Generally all the footage we see of this era is in Black and White, which means that you don`t always connect with it. Seeing this era in colour brings the events home much more vividly.

Some of the footage is quite banal in the extreme, which makes this even more interesting. You now get a broader picture of what life might have been like during that era in that country. Of course, there is action footage from the War and some of the rallies as well, so you still get to see the glossy side of Nazism and also the horrors of war. A good mix of the different types of footage gives a bit of balance to the whole thing.

Some of the most interesting footage is part of the extra footage and shows masses of Allied troops released from POW camps walking home through France. I`ve never seen anything like that before and had never even considered how these ex-POWs ever got home. Well, they all walked together in their hundreds.

As someone with an interest in this period of history, it is a good addition to that genre of documentaries in educating people albeit only superficially. A nice companion to sit alongside the heavyweight documentaries by Lawrence Rees, Nazi`s: A Warning From History and the recent Auschwitz.