Churchill's Bodyguard (2005, 2009)

Churchill’s Bodyguard is a documentary film (in 13 episodes) that was shown on television in 2005 and released on DVD in 2009. Each episode runs for ca. 46 minutes. The total running time is almost 600 minutes, i.e. ten hours. Here are some basic facts about it:

** Produced for the BBC and UK-TV-History
** Directed by Jonathan Martin and Philip Nugus
** Written by Jonathan Martin
** Narrated by Robert Powell

Walter H. Thompson (1890-1978) was Churchill’s bodyguard during two long periods: the first 1921-1932; the second 1939-1945; the total span was almost 18 years. At the end of World War Two, Thompson completed a detailed manuscript about his experience, but for reasons of security he was not allowed to publish it. A short, censored version appeared in 1951 under the title I Was Churchill’s Shadow.

An authorized biography written by Tom Hickman was published in 2005. It has the same title as the film: Churchill’s Bodyguard. Both the biography and the film are based on Thompson’s complete memoirs that were discovered in an attic several years after his death.

Excerpts from Walter Thompson’s memoirs are read by Dennis Waterman. Most of what we see on the screen is old footage (pictures and film). But not everything is original: some scenes are re-enacted. John Tradewell plays the role of Walter in these scenes. There are two consultants:

 

(1) Linda Stoker, who is Walter’s great-niece

(2) Harold Thompson, who is one of Walter’s sons

Each episode covers one topic. In addition, the thirteen episodes follow a more or less chronological line from 1911 until 1945. Here are the titles of the thirteen episodes:

# 01. Walter meets Winston

# 02. Lawrence and Walter save the day

# 03. Nearly killed in New York

# 04. Indian nationalist assassin

# 05. Nazi sniper plan

# 06. Dangerous travels

# 07. Surviving the blitz

# 08. Attack at the flying boat bock

# 09. Winston’s double

# 10. Suicide attack in Tehran

# 11. The kiss of life?

# 12. The sewer bomb

# 13. Love him to death

PART ONE

Numerous books and documentary films have been written and produced about World War Two. Important topics, events, and persons - such as Churchill and Hitler - have been described, analyzed and interpreted several times. It is not easy to come up with something that is new, something that has not already been done several times over.

This project seems to have a new and interesting angle, because the focus is not on the leader, but on his bodyguard. It sounds good. And it works quite well, because Churchill had the same bodyguard for almost 18 years and because this man wrote a detailed manuscript which the producers could use.

Thompson was literally closer to Churchill than anybody else, while he was his bodyguard. Whenever Churchill went from A to B, Thompson would follow him. Whenever Churchill attended a ceremony or a meeting, Thompson would be there, standing right behind him.

The two men had very different backgrounds and personalities, but soon they came to like and respect each other. It was not always easy for Thompson to protect Churchill, because he did not care much about his safety; he was an adventurous type, who wanted to get as close to the action as possible, while Thompson would try to persuade him to stay back and not take any unnecessary risks.

Based on the complete memoirs of Thompson, this film offers a personal portrait of Churchill. It is not an objective account. It does not pretend to be. It is Thompson’s impression of his boss. Whether we agree with Churchill or not, it is an undeniable fact that he played an important role in the history of the UK, of Europe, and of the world for several decades of the 20th century.

PART TWO

Churchill’s Bodyguard is a fascinating, gripping, and interesting film because of the special angle that is employed here. Having said this, I have to add that it is not perfect in every way. There are some flaws. In the following I will mention the flaws I noticed while watching the film.

# 1. There are many repetitions. Each episode opens with the same introduction which runs for more than 2 minutes. With 13 episodes, the introductions take up more than 26 minutes, almost half an hour.

Some photos and some clips are used over and over again. Some of the clips which are used many times are not even old footage, they are re-enacted: whenever we hear about Thompson and his memoirs, we see a clip of a person who is writing with an old-fashioned fountain pen. Whenever Churchill and Thompson have to get from A to B, we see a clip of two persons who are walking along a footpath.

# 2. The film is a bit heavy on the audio side. The narrator Robert Powell has a lot to say; and when he does not talk, Dennis Waterman takes over, reading excerpts from Thompson’s memoirs. Both of them talk and talk.

# 3. Episode # 2 is about the Cairo Conference of 1921, which re-designed the map of the Middle East. Since Churchill was in charge of this event, it is fair to say that he re-designed the map of the Middle East. Summing up the results, the narrator claims the conference was considered a success. Perhaps it was considered a success back in 1921, although I think it depends on who you are asking. You will get different evaluations from different groups of people.

With the benefit of hindsight we can see that the results of the conference were not exactly a success. A critical evaluation of the conference can be found in the book Winston’s Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq by Christopher Catherwood (2004, 2005).

# 4. The title of episode # 3 is “Nearly Killed in New York.” It is true that Winston was nearly killed during a visit to New York in 1931. But not because there was an attempt on his life. He was in a traffic accident, and he himself was to blame for it. When we see the title of episode # 3, we might think that someone in New York tried to kill him and almost succeeded, but this is not true at all. The title of this episode is misleading.

# 5. The Amritsar massacre of 13 April 1919 is mentioned in episode # 4. Troops under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on unarmed civilians. According to the narrator, the number of people killed was 379. This is the official figure. We can be sure this is a minimum. Most Indian observers offer higher figures. I think the narrator should have said “at least 379 were killed.”

For more information about this event, see The Butcher of Amritsar by Nigel Collett (2005, 2006).

# 6. In several episodes we hear about Churchill’s long distance travels, for instance his journey to Cairo and to Moscow and back again (in 1942). Churchill and his team travelled in an unarmed plane. The journey was long and dangerous, but nothing bad happened to them. One reason for this is that the pilot and his crew were highly qualified.

In the film we do not hear anything about them. You can find more information about the pilot and his crew in a documentary film called Flying the Secret Sky: The Story of the RAF Ferry Command that was shown on US television (PBS) and released on DVD in 2008.

# 7. Episode # 10 is about the Teheran Conference that was held from 28 November to 1 December 1943. In the film we are told that German agents planned to kill the big three – Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin – during the conference. The German plan is known as Operation Long Jump.

This claim is controversial. Scholars do not agree on this. It seems the story of the German plot comes from Soviet intelligence sources. But it cannot be confirmed by western sources.

CONCLUSION

The team behind the film – Jonathan Martin and Philip Nugus - went on to make another film using the same angle: Hitler’s Bodyguard (shown on television in 2008 and released on DVD in 2009). Unfortunately, the result was a disappointment, because they did not have the same kind of evidence that they had for the film about Churchill and Walter Thompson.

Churchill’s Bodyguard is about Churchill and his bodyguard. It is about the safety and security of Churchill from 1921 to 1945. The producers had a unique kind of evidence and they used it to explore a new and interesting angle. This is why the result is quite good.

Watching this film we get really close to Churchill. But it is not perfect. As you can see, there are some flaws. And I cannot ignore them. While the film is quite successful, I have to remove one star because of the flaws mentioned above. Therefore I think this film deserves a rating of four stars.

PS. The following article is available online: David Smith, “Fresh light on Churchill’s shadow,” the Guardian, 13 November 2005.

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Churchill’s Bodyguard,

Shown on television in 2005,

Released on DVD in 2009,

13 episodes

***

 

 

Hitler's Bodyguard (2008, 2009)

 

Hitler’s Bodyguard is a documentary film (in 13 episodes) that was shown on television in 2008 and released on DVD in 2009. Each episode runs for ca. 46 minutes. The total running time is almost 600 minutes, i.e. ten hours. Here is some basic information about it:

** Produced by UK-TV-History

** Directed by Jonathan Martin and Philip Nugus

** Written by Jonathan Martin and Tim Newark

** Research by Jonathan Page

** Narrated by Robert Powell

Each episode covers one topic. In addition, the thirteen episodes follow a more or less chronological line from ca. 1920 until 1945. Here are the titles of the thirteen episodes:

# 01. How Hitler’s bodyguard worked

# 02. Early attempts on Hitler’s life

# 03. Kill the new chancellor

# 04. Night of the long knives

 

# 05. Jewish and émigré attempts to kill Hitler

# 06. Kill Hitler before war starts

# 07. Bombs and paranoia

# 08. Dangerous car journeys

 

# 09. Flights into danger

# 10. Hitler’s dangerous train journeys

# 11. Attempts to kill Hitler at Wolf’s Lair

 

# 12. Nearly assassinated at the Berghof

# 13. Poison gas plot in the bunker

Numerous books and documentary films have been written and produced about Germany and World War Two. Important topics, events, and persons have been described, analysed and interpreted several times. It is not easy to come up with something that is new, something that has not already been done several times over.

This project seems to have a new and interesting angle, because the focus is not on the leader, but on his bodyguard. It sounds good. Unfortunately, the result is a disappointment. There are many problems with this film. In the following I will try to explain what is wrong with it.

PART ONE

# 1. The producers fail to focus on the main topic. They digress so often that the main topic sometimes disappears completely. To give one example: episode # 4 is not really relevant for the topic. It seems the producers did not have enough material to fill thirteen episodes, so they decided to fill up the film with general information about Germany and World War Two.

# 2. There are numerous repetitions. A photo or a film clip will be shown several times. A piece of information or an anecdote will be told several times. One example: a scene (a re-enactment) shows a man sitting at a desk while reading a document. A magnifying glass is on the desk. He picks it up and looks closely at the document. This clip, which does not really mean anything, is shown several times. Another example: the conflict between Bruno Gesche and Heinrich Himmler is mentioned several times.

# 3. The image on the screen does not always relate to what the narrator says. As a viewer, I get the impression that the producers had a selection of images; sometimes they would pick one; at other times they would pick another, almost at random.

# 4. The narrative is emotional and moralising. The narrator keeps telling us that Hitler was a bad person. We already know that. It is not necessary to mention this fact every five or ten minutes. Repeating statements like this is counter-productive. Even if they are true, they become annoying.

# 5. Each episode opens with the same lengthy introduction where we are told that Hitler caused the death of 50 million people. The figure 50 million people is the number of casualties during World War Two, but a part of this war took place in Asia where Japan attacked many other countries. While Germany and Japan were allies, Hitler was hardly responsible for the war in Asia. In other words: the figure of 50 million is an exaggeration.

PART TWO

# 6. This film is not about Hitler’s bodyguard. It is about the life and times of Hitler with a special focus on the security forces and intelligence agencies that were close to Hitler. The producers cover the SA (the brown shirts), the SS (the black shirts), and the SD (the security service). We do not hear much about attempts on Hitler’s life. But there is a lot of information about the infighting between the different agencies that were close to Hitler. While much of what is said and shown may be true, it is not really relevant for the main topic.

# 7. A few old witnesses were interviewed for the film. Apparently, the producers were not sure how to deal with their testimonies, so they used three different methods when they appear.

A. The witness speaks German. But after a few seconds the original voice is muted and an English translation is heard instead.

B. The witness speaks English. But since the witness is old, pronunciation is not clear, and since the witness does not speak English very well, it is not always easy to understand what the witness says.

C. The witness speaks German and the statement is covered by English subtitles.

The third method is the right way to go. It is best for everyone. Best for the witness, because he is allowed to speak his own language. And best for the viewer, because we can hear the original German statement and in addition we can read it in English on the screen. This method should have been used in every case. Not only once in a while.

# 8. In episode # 5, the producers cover Jewish emigration from Germany to Palestine and German assistance to the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. While these topics may be interesting, they are not relevant for a film about Hitler’s bodyguard. These examples demonstrate how far the producers allow themselves to get side-tracked.

# 9. In episode # 5, the producers mention David Frankfurter and his attack on Wilhelm Gustloff in 1936. But this attack took place in Davos in Switzerland, so how is it relevant in a film about Hitler’s bodyguard?

In the same episode, the producers also mention Herschel Grynszpan and his attack on Ernst vom Rath in 1938. But this attack took place in Paris in France, so how is it relevant in a film about Hitler’s bodyguard?

# 10. Hitler is sometimes quoted in the film. But these quotes are translated into English and read with a pompous voice and a strong German accent. I think it is supposed to sound like Hitler, but the result is awful.

As far as I know, these quotes are read by Stephan Grothar. This method is not a good idea. I wonder who decided to quote Hitler in this way. If the producers wanted to quote Hitler, the words should have been spoken in German and covered with English subtitles.

PART THREE

The team behind this film – Jonathan Martin and Philip Nugus – had already made another film using the same angle: Churchill’s Bodyguard (shown on television in 2005). This project was quite successful, because the team had the necessary evidence to build a film:

Churchill had the same bodyguard for many years (1921-1932 and 1939-1945), and this man wrote a detailed manuscript about his experience which they could use.
 
Since the series about Churchill and his bodyguard has 13 episodes, the series about Hitler and his bodyguards must also have 13 episodes, even though the team did not have the same kind of evidence for this case. Hitler did not have one bodyguard; he had many; over the years they changed, and they did not write detailed manuscripts about their experience.

The story about Hitler’s bodyguard does not need 13 episodes. It could have been told in five or six episodes, but since the story about Churchill and his bodyguard had been covered in 13 episodes, the producers had to make sure the story about Hitler’s bodyguard had the same length. Even if it meant they would have to digress and get side-tracked time and again.

CONCLUSION

The Martin-Nugus team has a new and interesting angle, but the result is a disappointment. It worked quite well with Churchill and his bodyguard, but this was no guarantee that it would work well with Hitler and his bodyguards.

The topic of this film is the life and times of Hitler. This story has been told many times before. There could and should have been something new here, but the new angle does not really work. This film is a disappointment. That is why it cannot get more than two stars.

PS # 1. Among Hitler’s bodyguards, the following names can be mentioned:

** Julius Schreck, 1898-1936

** Ulrik Graf, 1878-1950

** Erich Kempka, 1910-1975

** Bruno Gesche, 1905-1980

** Rochus Misch, 1917-2013

PS # 2. For more information, see the following books:

** Guarding Hitler: The Secret World of the Führer by Mark Felton (2014)

** Hitler’s Personal Security: Protecting the Führer, 1921-1945 by Peter Hoffmann (1979, 2000)

** Hitler’s Last Witness: The Memoirs of Hitler’s Bodyguard by Rochus Misch (2014) (a French version of this book was published in 2006)

** I was Hitler’s Chauffeur by Erich Kempka (with an introduction by Roger Moorehouse) (2012) (the first version of this book was published with another title in 1951)

** Killing Hitler by Roger Moorehouse (2007)

PS # 3. After the end of World war two, Walter H. Thompson (1890-1978) completed a detailed manuscript about his experience, but for reasons of security he was not allowed to publish it. A short, censored version appeared in 1951 under the title I Was Churchill’s Shadow.

An authorized biography written by Tom Hickman was published in 2005. It has the same title as the film: Churchill’s Bodyguard. Both the biography and the film are based on Thompson’s complete memoirs that were discovered in an attic several years after his death.

***

Hitler’s Bodyguard,

Shown on television in 2008,

Released on DVD in 2009,

13 episodes

***