The
lowdown: 'Selling Hitler' is a five-part miniseries based on
the novel of the same name by Robert Harris. It was
first broadcast on ITV1
between 11 June and 9 August 1991, and is a dramatisation of the "Hitler
Diaries" scandal of
the early 1980s. It stars
Jonathan Pryce as Gerd Heidemann, a reporter for a German magazine called
'Stern', who
is rathet obsessed with
Nazi memorabilia and believes that he has come across the publishing coup
of the century
when he discovers what appears
to be a genuine diary written by Adolf Hitler, in which the Fuhrer talks
about such
mundane things as flatulence,
stomach aches and his inability to sleep! Heidemann makes contact with
Konrad
'Conny' Fischer (Alexei
Sayle), the man who had allegedly found the diary. Fischer reveals that
his brother in East
Germany can obtain 27 diaries
that were written by Hitler, and which were found in the wreckage of a
plane that
crashed during the war.
Heidemann convinces the senior executives of 'Stern' to buy all of the
diaries that Fischer
can get his hands on, as
well as an opera written by Hitler and some of Hitler's paintings.
The 'Stern' executives include
Manfred Fischer (played by Tom Baker), and none of them question the authenticity
of the diaries - indeed,
they agree not to have them authenticated by an expert until they are in
possesion of all the
diaries - or the huge sums
of money being asked by Konrad Fischer, who increases the price of each
diary several
times and reveals to Heidemann
that many more Hitler diaries have been discovered! The scenes which show
Konrad
Fischer making the fake
diaries are the highlight of this entertaining series, but when watching
it one cannot helping
asking how the people at
'Stern' magazine were fooled by what were very crude forgeries
The
verdict: 'Selling Hitler' is an entertaining drama that does
a good job of chronicling what has been described by
some as the 'fraud of the
century'. The acting is excellent, particularly by Alexei Sayle (known
to Doctor Who fans as
the DJ in 'Revelation of
the Daleks'). Tom Baker unfortunately has a relatively small role as Manfred
Fischer, who is
about to stand down as the
head of 'Stern' when the Hitler diaries are "discovered". The series also
features Richard
Wilson from 'The Empty Child'
and 'The Doctor Dances'. One thing I found disconcerting was the use of
English actors,
complete with British accents,
to portray Germans. Unless you are familiar with the story of this scandal,
it is easy to
assume that most of the
scenes are actually set in England and it is an English publishing company.
However, this
does not really detract
from what is an entertaining show that is based on a true story.
Video Clips:
The Hitler diaries
8.3mb Manfred's
successor 5.2mb |
 |
