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thehauntologicalsociety · 3 years

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Nigel Kneale’s The Quatermass Conclusion

In the last quarter of the 20th century, the whole world seemed to sicken. Civilised institutions, whether old or new, fell … as if some primal disorder was reasserting itself. And men asked themselves, “Why should this be?”

The fourth and final television outing for Nigel Kneale’s rocket-scientist hero, Quatermass was made for LWT (the three previous series were made for BBC), and reached television screens in 1979, more than 20 years after the character’s last appearance in Quatermass and the Pit (BBC 1958-59, filmed in 1967).

Quatermass is set in an alternative Britain of the near future, a country which has disintegrated into virtual anarchy, beset by muggers, with gang wars in the streets and state-sanctioned ‘gladiator’ killing replacing football at Wembley stadium.

Played here by John Mills, the professor is no longer a decisive man of action, but a weary, confused old man, adrift in a Britain he barely recognises, and desperately searching for his missing granddaughter. She has become a member of the Planet People, a cult of young believers who see their salvation beyond the stars, but are actually willing victims of an extraterrestrial force which causes them to gather in vast numbers across the planet, before 'harvesting’ them, like animals killed for their scent. In a wry demonstration of grey power, the young are finally saved from annihilation when the professor assembles a team of aged scientists who are immune to the alien attraction.

Kneale’s script was written some 10 years earlier, which might explain its preoccupation with hippie-like religious cults and stone circles. But a year after the 'Winter of Discontent’, in which Britain was crippled by strikes and power cuts, rubbish was piled high in the streets, and unemployment reached levels not seen since the 1930s (with worse yet to come), the series’ vision of societal collapse may have seemed all too contemporary.

Ideas of what was acceptable for television had moved on since the 1950s, as had the standard of special effects, with the result that Quatermass was a good deal more explicitly horrific than its predecessors. The mass deaths of the young Planet People were chilling, as was a scene in which a young girl levitates from her hospital bed, then explodes into dust.

Kneale’s plot perhaps owes something to the New Age theories of Erich von Däniken, author of Chariots of the Gods, in which he claimed that Earth had once been visited by advanced alien beings which left their mark in the form of the Egyptian pyramids and other ancient architecture.

An edited two-hour version, The Quatermass Conclusion, was shown in cinemas outside the UK.

Mark Duguid

Written by Nigel Kneale. Directed by Piers Haggard. Cinematography by Ian Wilson. Film Editing by Keith Palmer. Producer: Ted Childs. Executive producer: Verity Lambert. Music by Nic Rowley and Marc Wilkinson. Starring: John Mills, Simon MacCorkindale, Barbara Kellerman, Brewster Mason, Margaret Tyzack, Ralph Arliss. Euston Films/Thames Television. 4 x 50 minute episodes. 24 October – 14 November 1979.

#The Quatermass Conclusion #Quatermass #John Mills #1979 #Mark Duguid #Piers Haggard

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djohnhopper · 3 years

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FAVOURITE FILMS:

Title: The Wicked Lady (1945).

Director: Leslie Arliss.

Music by: Hans May.

Based on: novel Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton by Magdalen King-Hall.

Cast: Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Patricia Roc, Griffith Jones, Michael Rennie...

In 17th-century England, Barbara Worth (Margaret Lockwood) lives a privileged yet humdrum life as the wife of well-heeled landowner Sir Ralph Skelton (Griffith Jones). To stave off boredom, Barbara begins impersonating famed highway robber Capt. Jerry Jackson, stealing precious jewels and valuables from coach passengers. A chance encounter with the actual Jackson (James Mason) propels Barbara into a dangerous double life with potentially lethal consequences.

#margaret lockwood #james mason #the wicked lady #gainsborough films #favourite films

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vaudevillefuntimes-blog · 6 years

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The Devil´s Crown (Trailer) with Chubby Oates 1978

A short clip of comedian and actor Chubby Oates in "The Devil's Crown"- This is an excerpt from Episode 7 - "Lion of Christendom"

I will be bringing the full 13 part series to my channel in the next few days

More about The Devil´s Crown

The Devil's Crown was a BBC television series which dramatised the reigns of three medieval Kings of England: Henry II and his sons Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland. It is also known as La couronne du diable in French.

The series was shown in the United Kingdom in thirteen 55-minute episodes between 30 April and 23 July 1978.

As a very brief explanation...Henry Plantagenet (later King Henry II), sees his opportunity to seize the crown of England and create a kingdom of law and order. The series stars Jane Lapotaire, Christopher Gable, John Duttine...

More about the plot can be found on my playlist page here

The cast for this series is fairly huge so I will leave you with the main names and as you watch the series you will find each episode´s cast in the information box. Hope you enjoy.

Cast

Brian Cox as Henry II of England

Michael Byrne as Richard I of England

John Duttine as John, King of England

Jane Lapotaire as Eleanor of Aquitaine

Christopher Gable as Philip II of France

Ralph Arliss as Geoffrey, Archbishop of York

Charles Kay as Louis VII of France

Jack Shepherd as Thomas Becket

Kevin McNally as Henry the Young King

Lynsey Baxter as Isabella of Angoulême

Freddie Jones as Bertran de Born

Peter Benson as Blondel de Nesle

Roy Boyd as Ranulf de Glanville

Lucy Gutteridge as Alys, Countess of the Vexin

Michael Hawkins as Richard de Luci

Ian Hogg as William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber

Ralph Michael as Hubert Walter

Patrick Troughton as William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke

Simon Gipps-Kent as Arthur I, Duke of Brittany

Bob Goody as Guide

Zoë Wanamaker as Berengaria of Navarre

Lorna Yabsley as Alys, Countess of the Vexin

Susannah Fellows as Rosamund de Clifford

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jennmoslek36 · 6 years

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IT HAS BEEN about a year now since my involvement with the Dozier School For Boys began taking over my world. Kicking off the whirlwind was my need to get my hands on the school’s student ledgers. I won’t rehash the entire adventure but what I will say is that it took many frustrating nights online, several emails to the Archivist, the potential of an $600+ bill to get digital copies & finally an 8 hour round trip before I’d actually have what I wanted…Well at least a quarter of what I wanted!

HAVING ABSOLUTELY NO clue what I was looking for, I spent the next several weeks trying to organize what I had. Almost immediately number of very distinct patterns began jumping out at me. The same sentencing judges over & over again, the SAME sentence length OR lack there of & a crap load of blank spaces; Specifically under the “WHEN/HOW RELEASED” columns. One would expect that any institution handling children would be required to keep detailed & accurate records of ALL of its charges, especially when it comes to their last known whereabouts BUT that would make too much sense, now wouldn’t it…

THE INFO THAT I had gotten was only from the latest volume of the ledgers & didn’t even make a dent in the number of boys that had been shoved through the doors to be reformed. I knew there were hundreds OR even thousands of names in those books. I maybe had a few hundred at the most. By now, I had gotten used to what I like to call the “Hurry Up & Stop” method of researching. Basically I’d need specific info, finally get said info ONLY to start looking it over & promptly figure out that I needed additional material OR even worse, I’d need something entirely different altogether. In this case, I had just assumed that I’d eventually be making another trip to the Archives; That is until I ended up becoming involved with Bob Straley & taking over his website…And right there on one of the site pages was a link to the detailed, handwritten notes that WHB Mr. Andrew Puel had spent hours putting together.

Mr. Andrew Puel At The State Archives…Sitting In The EXACT Same Spot That I Did When I Was There!

NOT IT!!

WHEN I SAW that link, I was beyond thrilled! I was finally going to have something reliable to validate what I had come up with! I had spoken with Andrew at Bob Straley’s memorial service & knew that any research he had done would be the best & most accurate info that I could possibly get. When the page loaded, it definitely did NOT show what I had been hoping for; In all actuality, it showed nothing but this:

ODDLY THE INFO was missing! I started clicking on some of the other older links on the website & sure enough, there were quite a few that led to nowhere. I don’t know why it gone OR where it went, only that it’s not there. I tried not to get to aggravated, thinking that there had to be a hard copy among the thousands of documents that I have. I spent the next several weeks going through EVERY page, folder, digital file, etc. & found nothing. Bob kept everything, so to say I was puzzled that he wouldn’t have a copy of something so important was a huge understatement. I did another look through, literally taking out every piece of paper, one by one; Still nothing.

Well Damn….

AN EVENING IN GAINESVILLE

ON A FRIDAY in late February, I made the 3 hour trip to Gaineville. With me was a small black bag filled with what I believed to be the most important material related to the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys. I pulled up to a beautiful home, tucked back in a quiet sub division that was surrounded by forest. Standing outside was a familiar face, Mr. Bryant Middleton. The “Whitehouse Boy” greeted me with a smile & a brief hug before inviting me inside to meet his wife. Both graciously spent several hours telling their personal story of Dozier & how the WHB’s Organization was founded. They were both lovely people & I was grateful that they had been so willing to meet with me & be as open as they were. When we finally moved into the dining room to look over the things that I had brought, I began pulling things out. I yanked a folder out that had been wedged inside of my over full bag & a stack of papers fell out. The stack was stapled together & folded in half. I picked it up to see what it was & as I unfolded it, my jaw hit the floor!

OH…MY…GOD…It was a hard copy of the list of missing boys! The same list that I had just spent weeks trying to find! The stuff inside of that bag was the stuff that I pulled out & reviewed quite frequently & there’s absolutely NO way that I would missed that thick stack of ledger pages! I slid the stack across the table, explaining to Bryant why I was a bit stunned at finding them. He thought it was strange as well. I’m not going to get into the specifics of my time with the Middletons in this post, although I will say that I’m very fortunate to have met with them. They’re great people & they continue to work toward keeping the future from repeating the past.

WHERE COULD THEY BE?

OF COURSE THERE is minimal info on the boys on this list. What is known is that most were listed as escaped but never recovered. A lot lacked permanent homes OR guardians, so there wouldn’t have been any concerned parents wondering about the whereabouts of their lost boy. It should also be noted that the last place they were seen was the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. That leaves so many unanswered questions; Could ALL 185 boys on that list have actually successfully escaped & moved on to a better life? Even if that did happen, would it be possible that NOT 1 single child ever be heard from again? I suppose it could be possible for some BUT for All 185? I seriously have my doubts & given the history of Dozier, I’d say that’s highly unlikely. Especially considering the significant proof of other burial sites on the school’s 1200+ acres.Whether or not they continued life after Dozier OR their lives were taken at the school, they each deserve to be recognized. I’ll let them speak for themselves….

☆☆☆☆☆☆

JOSEPH WILK – 17 JAME HENRY COLSON SMITH – 16 BEHARD STEPHENS – 15 JOHNNIE J. RICHARDSON – 17 AB DURDEN – 16 WILLIAM RICHARD WHITE – 16 MONROE ROGERS – 16 NOWLA (SONNY) VENOS – 16 BERNARD WILLIAMS – 15 WILLIAM NICOLAS BURNETT – 15 FRED RUSH – 16 HORACE MECHOM – 16 J.W. HARRILL, JR. – 14 EDWARD MATTHEW MITCHELL – 17 LARRY DAVIS – 14. ALFONSO DEWEY DAVIS – 16 JAMES ARTHUR HARELL – 13 CARROL PITTMAN – 15 CARL HUBBARD REWLS – 14 RICHARD PEUDRY TYLER – 15 HAROLD OLDS – 14 LYNVILLE RAY – 16 LAIRD WILDES (age unknown) ALFRED SMITH GOODSON – 16 QUINCY LEWIS – 16

☆☆☆☆☆☆

ZANE HOPKINS – 12 ROBERT WALKER – 13 WILLIE FRANKLIN FARROW – 13 EUGENE JOHNS – 14 GABE BELL – 15 WILLIAM DEWARS – 15 LELAND LLOYD BRADY – 16 JASPER ALLEN HOLDER – 15 WILLIAM JOHNSON – 16 GEORGE HENRY ABBEY – 16 HARRY L. SAULS – 15 BEN BUNDRICK – 15 LOUIS VALOIS COUTURE – 16 ROBERT GILBERT ALBRITTON – 16 LAUDRIC BASKIN – 17 JAME HENRY COLSON SMITH – 16 JOHN JOSEPH COOGAN, JR – 16 ARINAUDO MACHIN, JR – 16 JULIAN GREEN – 15 CARL UNDERHILL – 16 WILLIAM DANIEL HATCHER – 17 DWIGHT SPRINGER – 14 JASON EDWARD LOGAN – 15 PAUL HERSHEY, JR – 17 CLARENCE C. RAULERSON – 16

☆☆☆☆☆☆

EVERETT BRADDOCK – 15 HAROLD EUGENE NORMAN – 16 RICHARD RUSSEL TODD – 14 EDWARD POOLE – 14 BILLY RAY BURNS – 16 MARCO GUTIERREZ – 14 WALTER C. GREEN – 16 LEON MANNING – 16 LEONARD JAMES NELSON – 16 GODSON WHITTAKER – 15 ROBERT GORDON – 15 ROBERT LAURIN GODDARD – 15 KENNETH LEE YORK – 17 TRUBEE BYRD – 17 ROWANE HOLLIDAY – 16 BOBBY WHITEHEAD – 15 WILLIAM EDWARD LEGGETT – 16 ROBERT HELGRAN – 13 OSCAR EUGENE MCCURDY – 16 WILLIAM RIVERA EMANUEL, JR – 16 JOHN LENNARD NAVE – 16 JACKIE CREWS – 16 ERNEST WOODARD – 16 ARTHUR KENT PATTERSON (aka William S. Johnson) – 14 DAVID EVANS HARRIS – 16

☆☆☆☆☆☆

JOHN HARRIMAN – 16 GB IRWIN – 14 HOWARD MCCALL – 17 OSCAR LEE CALDWELL – 14 JD THOMAS – 13 GEORGE F. CLAY – 13 WILLIS BUNYAN – 16 JAMES CAMPBELL – 15 BERTRAM THOMPSON – 16 WILLIE JAMES MURPHY – 17 SANDY JONES – 15 RALPH HALL – 16 MELVIN FALSON – 13 HERBERT LEE COVINGTON – 14 LUKE BENJAMIN – 16 TOMMIE L. WOOTEN – 15 WALTER ADAMS – 15 DAVID JONES (aka Cockran) – 15 EDWARD BROWN – 14 EDWARD DEMERRITT – 16 WILLIAM JENKINS – 13 MATEO BENARD COLUMBUS – 14 WILLIE C. MITCHELL – 13 CLARENCE MORTON, JR – 15 JOSEPH JOHNSON – 16

☆☆☆☆☆☆

CURTIS WILSON – 10 EUGENE FULLER – 16 THOMAS BOWERS – 15 LEON DUNBAR – 16 DAVID EAGLETON – 14 HENRY JUNIOR JOHNSON – 14 EDWARD FOSTER – 15 GEORGE EDWARD THOMAS – 17 ODIS SINGLETON – 16 JAMES WILEY BRYANT – 14 CURTIS DOWNING – 15 WALTER LEE NIXON – 15 JOHN TYLER – 16 ELMORE JOHNSON – 15 HENRY MELVIN JONES – 16 DOCK SMITH – 15 ROBERT LEE KING – 16 WILLARD LAMAR SHELTON – 16 ROBERT HAYS – 16 CHAS W. CHAMBERS – 16 RUSSEL HUTTON – 15 HOWARD CAYWOOD – 15 BOBBY HAYES – 16 BILLY CAUDELL – 16 WALTER R. HAYES – 17

☆☆☆☆☆☆

ARTHUR KENT PITTEBON(?) – (age unknown) WILLIAM P. NUNES – 16 EDWIN T. FINNIE – 15 MILTON LEDBETTER – (age unknown) LEROY SMITH (aka Leroy Gregory) – 17 JOE RODRIGUEZ – 17 BENARD MIXON – 15 ROBERT WESLEY DAVIS – 16 PAUL DAVID HUGES – 12 ROY JOHNSON – 13 LENARD JAMES LOTT – 16 JERRY LLOYD – 16 GABRIEL THURMAN – 16 ROBERT LEE BOSTIC – 14 GEORGE HILL – 13 JOHN ALBURY – 14 NATHANIEL TURNER – 15 LEO COLLIER – 17 TEEVESTER JAMES – 15 FLOYD RILEY, JR – 17 GEORGE NELSON – 15 NORMAN MCAULEY – 15 LYLE MACK PAULK – 16 EDWARD GIBSON – 14 WILLIAM EDWARD CORTEZ – 16

☆☆☆☆☆☆

ROBERT CHRISTMAN – 16 HUBERT BERRYMAN – 15 CHARLES LACGUEY – 16 CHARLES EDWARD KIDDY – 15 JOHN CHARLES CLANCEY – 15 DANNY LEE BOWMAN – 16 HOWARD GEORGE FAGG – (age unknown)

ROBERT ALTON SINGLETARY – 17 ELLIS MARLOWE HASKIN – 16 JAMES PHILLIP SLAWSON – 16 JAMES JOHNS – 17 BENARD JACKSON – 14 ARLISS BLACKMON – 15 BENJAMIN UDEL – 13 NATHANIEL BOWLES – 16 ROLAHO LYLES – 16 CLARENCE BOBBY BROWN – 15 WILLIE BRADFORD – 16 BILLY JACKSON – 13 RICHARD GILLYARD – 14 LEONARD WHITEHEAD – 15 FREDERICK NATHANIEL HARREL – 16 HENRY MCLENDON – 17 SAMOLE DARBY – 17 WILLIE LEE DOUGLAS – 15

☆☆☆☆☆☆

MOZELL BRADLEY, JR – 16 J.C. STEPHENS – 15 CHARLES BROWN – 15 GRANT BERNARD KEMP – 13 RONNIE FRANKIE ROSE – 16 JOE EDWARD ALLEN – 15 VICTOR STEPHEN GRICE – 16 TOMMY COOK (Mathias) – 15 JERRY COOK – 16 JOHNNY LEON WRIGHT – 16

IT’S AN ENTIRELY different feeling you get when you’re able to put names to the children you’ve been speaking of….

♤Please Consider Helping In The Fight For Justice By Signing The 1st Petition: https://www.change.org/p/jenn-moslek-re-investigation-of-the-arthur-g-dozier-school-for-boys♤

☆ IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW SUFFERED ABUSE, PASSED AWAY, WENT MISSING OR WITNESSED ANY WRONGDOINGS WHILE AT “THE FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS” AKA “THE ARTHUR G. DOZIER SCHOOL FOR BOYS” OR THE OKEECHOBEE SCHOOL FOR BOYS, PLEASE REACH OUT VIA HERE AT findingflorida.blog OR ANY OF THE CONTACT INFO LISTED BELOW!!☆

Want More “Finding Florida?” BE SURE TO “SUBSCRIBE”!

FOR PRIVATE CONTACT SEND EMAILS TO: [email protected]

FOR ALL DOZIER RELATED INFO:

http://thewhitehouseboysonline.com

AND

http://www.whitehouseboys2007.com

FOR FULL PHOTO GALLERIES & ADDITIONAL LOCATION INFO FOLLOW ME ON FB AT: @GRAVEAdventuresFL

THE LOST BOYS OF DOZIER: Have You Seen Me? IT HAS BEEN about a year now since my involvement with the Dozier School For Boys began taking over my world.

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taiwanpuppetryproudthunderbolt · 5 years

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May 1, 1988

“Doc” Chamberlain and the Wallenberg challenge

At the end of the World War Two in 1945, 100,000 people destined to die were still alive thanks to the efforts of one man. In six short months this man achieved a miracle. By a blend of courage, audacity and ingenuity, he was able to save the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews who had been earmarked for Nazi concentration camps and certain death. Then he disappeared.

This man was Raoul Wallenberg. Until recently his name meant nothing around the world and even today few people have heard of his bravery. But this week a new two-part mini-series on TV, starring Richard Chamberlain, brings to light an extraordinary story. The chance to play Wallenberg was sought avidly by Chamberlain.

As the war progressed Raoul became increasingly alarmed about the persecution of the Jews. At the time the full horror of Nazi policy was not widely known. Rumours and dreadful stories were seeping out of Germany, but the implications were so terrible that many people could not take them seriously. They couldn’t believe that even Hitler would be mad enough to try an exterminate an entire race. However, Raoul Wallenberg was prepared to believe it. In 1944, Wallenberg was given instant diplomatic status by Sweden and dispatched to the Swedish Legion in Budapest with instructions to do whatever he considered necessary to save lives. It was a delicate situation to be launched into. Wallenberg’s mission brough him into direct conflict with the notorious Adolf Eichmann who had already despatched 400,000 Hungarian Jews and was planning to rid himself as quickly as possible of the 230,000 still living in Budapest…

There’s one other person who rubs his hands with glee when Richard Chamberlain chooses a new part. His travel agent. Foreign parts are the ones Chamberlain likes best, and for the past few years his feet have hardly touched the ground in the homes he keeps in Los Angeles, New York and Hawaii.

He has worked in Spain, Italy, Britain, Austrailia, Japan, Canad, Greenland, Yugoslavia and South Africa and holidayed in Greece, North Africa and South America.

He’s filming in Zimbabwe at the moment on a remake of King Solomon’s Mine, and when he comes ‘home’ to California, he’ll go straight to Oregon to start work on a western mini-series. After that he guarantees his itchy feet and tireless travel agent will be sending him off to another far-flung location.

Since last summer, when he started research in New York and Yugoslavia on Wallenberg, Chamberlain has travelled non-stop. It can be a lonely life -not the most gregarious type, he doesn’t socialise night and day with his co-stars- but he has it all worked out to a fine art.

“Because I travel and live in hotels so much, I’ve figured out a way to turn my room into a gym,” he says. “I do pull-ups on the door, lift chairs, and take an exercise mat with me. It’s easy to eat as if you were at home -fruit, vegetables, rice. And everywhere I go I collect things for my homes: paintings, furniture, antiques, sculpture. Sometimes, like the time I was making the Shogun series in Japan, the country and its culture take over. I got back to Los Angeles, tore my house apart and turned it into a Japanese-style house with everything I’d brought back.” It took him so long to do, he had to rent the house next door to live in while work went on at his house.

His fame as television heart-throb Dr Kildare still follows him around the world however hard he tries to shake it off and, 23 years after the series was first seen, it’s now being re-run on British television. Chamberlain cites six weeks in Peru in 1982 as the only time he has been able to enjoy real anonymity. “A bunch of us, about 20 people mostly outside showbusiness, stayed overnight in monasteries and real out-of-the-way places. I was able to enjoy immediately the kind of person-to-person contact that takes longer to establish when you’ve got to get past my public identity.” Only once, in Lima, was he bothered by a photographer chasing him around.

You get the feeling he could do with more holidays like that, for he is polite, shy and earnest, an intensely private man who still finds it difficult living in the public spotlight. Born to a middle-class family in Los Angeles, he was something of a loner and a poor student -art was the only subject he was interested in- and at 16 he was voted the most reserved, courteous and sophisticated person in class. His parents thought he would join the family manufacturing business, like his older brother, Bill. Instead he became an artist and sculptor -his work sold well- and then turned to acting, a decision that surprised everyone, as his only interest in drama had been a brief appearance in a school play.

The Raoul Wallenberg story is one that has fascinated Chamberlain for a long time. An actor who has planned his career as much for challenge and variety as the travel opportunities it offers, he started agitating for the role four years ago. “Sometimes it seems that anything I really want takes three years to come my way,” he said, once he knew he had the part. “I waited that long to get John Blackthorne in Shogun and almost as long for my role in The Thorn Birds.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Wallenberg’s disappearance, and Chamberlain says his wildest dream is that the mini-series will provide some sort of answer to the mystery. “My goal is to help influence public opinion, to apply as much diplomatic pressure as possible to find out if Wallenberg is still alive.”

Most of Chamberlain’s TV roles in recent years -like Wallenberg- have been ones that have stretched him. There was Dr. Cook in the 1984 TV movie Cook and Peary: The Race to the Pole, a man who was obsessed with his desire to become first to reach the North Pole; the Elizabethian sea captain who becomes the legendary samurai warrior in Shogun, the complex Father Ralph de Bricassart, torn between his religion and his love for Maggie Cleary, in The Thorn Birds.

Now, Wallenberg -a role well worth the wait. He smiles at his nickname -“king of the mini-series”- but such work has earned him three Emmy nominations in the past nine years. He is proud of that track record -even if he has yet to win. He did allow himself to get excited about his award chance for The Thorn Birds but was beaten by Tommy Lee Jones in The Executioner’s Song.

A confirmed bachelor, he is the first to agree that his work is the most important thing in his life. His mother worries about him being lonely -his father died recently- but he claims it isn’t a problem. “I have a lot of wonderful friends. This is a very heavily populated time in my life.”

“I’m easily amused. I like to go to the movies and to the theatre. I like to spend time with friends. I like to have a few people over for dinner. I like to go out to dinner, to go camping and I love to travel.”

Wallenberg involved him so deeply it took him a long time to recover. He still talks about the chilling research he was involved with.

“In New York I met a woman who, as a child, was literally snatched from a death march by Wallenberg. Her story was one of the most harrowing things I’ve ever heard.”

“If I can play people like Wallenberg on television, I don’t feel anything is missing from my life. I don’t need anything else.”

Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story

Directed by

Lamont Johnson

An Emmy Award-winning drama about Raoul Wallenberg, one of the most exemplary individuals of the twentieth century.

Wallenberg was born into the wealthiest family in Sweden. He was an aristocrat and a Lutheran. His country had remained neutral throughout World War II, and the fighting would be over within a year. Yet he was willing to leave everything behind and go to the storm center of war-torn Europe on a dangerous and purely humanitarian mission to rescue Hungary’s besieged Jews. He courageously — often individually — confronted the last gasp of Nazi terror.

He is credited with saving nearly 100,000 lives, one-eighth of Hungary’s Jewish community, more people than were rescued by any other individual or institution in Europe. He demonstrated a boundless talent for compassion.

Richard Chamberlain stars as Wallenberg. Others in the outstanding international cast are Bibi Andersson, Alice Krige, Kenneth Colley, Melanie Mayron, and Stuart Wilson. Lamont Johnson, who is the co-producer with Richard Irving, directs from a screenplay by Emmy Award-winner Gerald Green (Holocaust).

The Story

In April 1944, Germany has retreated from Russia. In occupied Hungary, the Nazis plan to complete the “Final Solution,” the extermination of Europe’s Jews. They are supported by the Arrow Cross, a Hungarian fascist and anti-Semitic organization. Within two months, 400,000 Jews are deported from the Hungarian provinces to the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.

SS Lt. Col. Adolf Eichmann (Kenneth Colley), chief of the Gestapo’s Jewish section, is supervising the campaign against the Jews of Budapest, one of the largest Jewish communities remaining in Europe. The Nazi bureaucrat attends a party hosted by Admiral Nikolas Horthy (Guy Deghy), the Regent of Hungary, and expresses his displeasure at the Hungarian’s protection of some Jews. Meanwhile in the city, Arrow Cross youth are burning a synagogue. Teicholz (Ralph Arliss) and Nikki Fodor (Mark Rylance), who are active in the Jewish resistance, warn the Jewish musical society, including Hannah (Georgia Slowe) and her father Tibor Moritz (Olaf Pooley), to stay off the streets.

In Sweden, at the country estate of the Wallenbergs, a rich and illustrious banking family, the scene is very different as they celebrate the beginning of spring. Maj von Dardel (Bibi Andersson) is the mother of 32-year-old Raoul Wallenberg (Richard Chamberlain), who has studied architecture in America and is now working in the import-export business. Both she and Uncle Jacob (Keve Hjelm) are embarrassed when Raoul does a satirical impersonation of Hitler in front of a German guest. Raoul’s humor masks a deeply felt anger at the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the indifference of his fellow Swedes to their fate.

When Wallenberg is approached to head a rescue mission for Hungary’s Jews sponsored by America’s War Refugee Board, he immediately realizes it is his opportunity to make a difference. He is given diplomatic rank as a secretary in the Royal Swedish Legation in Budapest. The Swedish Foreign Ministry agrees that he will be free to use unorthodox methods if necessary to save Jews.

Arriving in Budapest in early July 1944, Wallenberg is briefed by Per Anger (David Robb), a Swedish diplomat who has initiated a modest rescue operation by distributing protective passes to Jews who can establish a family or business connection in Sweden. Eichmann has begun mass arrests and deportations in Budapest, and the Embassy is swamped with requests for the passes.

After a meeting in which Eichmann tries to smooth talk the Jewish Council into providing volunteer workers for the German war effort, he is enraged to learn that Horthy, responding to an appeal from Sweden’s King Gustav delivered by Wallenberg, has turned back a train carrying 12,000 Jews to the concentration camps. Later, at a nightclub, Eichmann meets his newly arrived adversary and scoffs at his humanitarian mission. The Swede realizes why the Nazi has been nicknamed “the Bloodhound.”

Wallenberg sets up headquarters and staffs his operation with Jews, including Sonya (Melanie Mayron), a former teacher with a young son. The old protective passes are redesigned to look more official and to give the bearer the full protection of the Royal Swedish Legation. Wallenberg convinces Horthy to recognize the validity of 4,500 of these “schutz-passes” for Budapest Jews. Nikki Fodor obtains one pass, and the Jewish resistance begins forging copies.

Wallenberg arranges sanctuary for the protected Jews in “safe houses” flying the Swedish flag. Food and clothing are gathered for the refugees. His example inspires other neutral diplomats from Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and the Vatican to provide shelter and issue passes of their own. When Eichmann abruptly leaves for Germany in late August, Wallenberg and Anger wonder if they might be making progress in their fight.

All the combined efforts are jeopardized, however, when in October 1944 Horthy is forced to abdicate and the Germans move into Hungary in greater strength. Colonel Ferencz Szalasi (Aubrey Morris), head of the Arrow Cross, assumes power. Members of his party begin executing Jews in the streets. The neutral countries’ protective passes are declared invalid. Eichmann returns and announces to the Jewish Council that Jews are needed in the labor camps and will be marched there.

Wallenberg is undaunted. Armed only with books containing the names of those who have been given Swedish passes, he goes to a work brigade and demands that protected Jews be released to him. As Nikki, Hannah and Tibor Moritz watch, he stares down the SS captain standing in his way.

When the Nazi persecution and Arrow Cross atrocities increase, Wallenberg uses diplomatic ploys, ruses and bluffs to pull Jews out of the work camps. He turns to a new ally, Baroness Liesl Kemeny (Alice Krige), the young Catholic wife of Foreign Minister Baron Gabor Kemeny (Stuart Wilson). She is shocked by his account of the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews and alarmed when he warns that her husband could be executed as a war criminal if he continues to support the Arrow Cross and Nazi policies. She persuades the Baron to have the validity of the protective passes re-established.

In a face-to-face encounter with Eichmann. Wallenberg demands that he stop the deportations. The German is unmoved by appeals or threats. He orders Wallenberg killed, but the attempt fails.

The death marches commence in early November. Thousands of Jews are herded out of the city by SS and Arrow Cross guards. Sonya and her son are among those forced from one of the Swedish safe houses. In a desperate attempt to save them and some 400 other Jews, Wallenberg and Anger drive to the train station. After bribing the guards, they literally pull the Jews off the train. Later, Raoul bids farewell to Baroness Kemeny, who has been exiled to Italy. The Russians are just outside Budapest.

Wallenberg and Eichmann meet again. The Nazi boasts about his accomplishments when asked once again to spare the Jews. He leaves for Vienna after instructing his men to kill the Jews in Budapest’s central ghetto. Wallenberg intervenes and convinces the SS general in charge to countermand the order.

Russian troops enter the city. Wallenberg has designed a relief plan for Budapest and prepares now to take it to the Russian command. On the way to Debrecen, his car is stopped. On January 17, 1945, Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Russian custody. No explanation for this action is given.

Wallenberg’s Legacy

After Wallenberg was taken into what was later termed “protective custody” by the Russians as Budapest was being liberated, he disappeared into the Russian prison system. What happened to him there was never determined to the satisfaction of his family and friends. After repeated requests for information about him, the Soviet Union in 1957 announced that he died in July 1947. No evidence was produced to support the claims, and it was stated that all persons witness to his death were also dead. Nevertheless, reports from prisoners coming out of the Soviet gulag have led some to believe that Wallenberg was alive through the 1970s.

Although his fate is unknown, Wallenberg’s legacy is secure — not only in the lives of those he saved, but also in his example of compassion and courage. On the way to the Holocaust Museum on the western outskirts of Jerusalem is an avenue of trees. Each tree commemorates a Gentile who risked his or her life to save Jews during the Hitler years. The medal identifying each “Righteous Gentile” contains a Talmudic inscription: “Whoever saves a single soul, it is as if he saved the whole world.” One of them is the Raoul Wallenberg tree.

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