RHUMBELOW FILM CLUB

ON THE BIG SCREEN

Cunningham Rd, Umbilo

THE WORLD AT WAR

narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier

FROM JUL 2024 – OCT 2025

3^RD TUESDAY MONTHLY

(Venue opens 90 minutes before show for snacks/drinks)

Running Time:  52 min per Episode (excluding 15 minute interval)

26 Episodes plus Bonus Features

We will be screening 2 Episodes each time

Public Screening licensed through

           MPLC (Motion Picture Licensing Company). License No  5929

The Film & Publication Board -  Exhibitor License FPB8/2022/233051

The series has twenty-six episodes. Isaacs asked Noble Frankland, then director of the Imperial War Museum, to list fifteen main campaigns of the war and devoted one episode to each.[2] The remaining eleven episodes are devoted to other matters, such as the rise of Nazi Germany, home life in Britain and Germany, the experience of occupation of the Netherlands, and the Holocaust. Episode one begins with a cold open describing the massacre at the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane by the Waffen SS. The same event is referenced again at the end of Episode twenty-six, accompanied by the "Dona nobis pacem" (Latin for "Grant us peace") from the Missa Sancti Nicolai, composed by Joseph Haydn. The series ends with Laurence Olivier saying "Remember".

Screening 01 – 6.30pm Tuesday 30 July 2024

1          "A New Germany (1933–1939)"    - 52 min – Disc 1

The rebirth of Germany and growth in power of the Nazi Party leading up to the outbreak of war. Interviewees include Konrad Morgen, Hugh Greene, Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, Werner Pusch, Christabel Bielenberg, Siegmund Weltlinger and Emmi Bonhoeffer.

2          "Distant War (September 1939 – May 1940)"     - 52 min – Disc 1

The invasions of Poland, the Winter War, the sinking of the Graf Spee, the "phony war" and failure in Norway and the elevation of Winston Churchill to Prime Minister. Interviewees include Lord Boothby, Lord Butler, Bernard Kops, Lucy Faithfull, Lord Chandos, Admiral Charles Woodhouse, Sir Martin Lindsay and Sir John "Jock" Colville.

Screening 02 - 6.30pm Tuesday 20 August 2024

3          "France Falls (May–June 1940)"   - 52 min – Disc 1

French politics, the Maginot Line, the Saar Offensive, Blitzkrieg warfare and the Nazi invasion of France and the Low Countries. Interviewees include General Hasso von Manteuffel, General André Beaufre, Lawrence Durrell, General Siegfried Westphal, Gordon Waterfield, General Walter Warlimont, and Major General Edward Spears.

4          "Alone (May 1940 – May 1941)"   - 52 min – Disc 2

The Battle of Britain, retreats in Greece, Crete and Tobruk, and life in Britain between the evacuation at Dunkirk and Operation Barbarossa. Interviewees include Anthony Eden, J. B. Priestley, Sir Max Aitken, Lieutenant General Adolf Galland, Sir John "Jock" Colville, Robert Wright, Ray Holmes and a group of survivors of The Blitz.

Screening 03 - 6.30pm Tuesday 17 September 2024

5          "Barbarossa (June–December 1941)"     - 52 min – Disc 2

After dominating southeastern Europe through force or intrigue, Germany begins Operation Barbarossa, the massive invasion of Soviet Union. Despite several quick victories, the invasion ultimately stalls after a failed assault on Moscow during Russia's harsh winter. Interviewees include General Walter Warlimont, Albert Speer, Paul Schmidt (interpreter), Grigori Tokaty, W. Averell Harriman and Sir John Russell.

6          "Banzai!: Japan (1931–1942)"       - 52 min – Disc 2

The rise of the Japanese Empire, the Sino-Japanese War, the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, Pearl Harbour and the early Japanese successes in the fall of Malaya and Singapore. Interviewees include Kōichi Kido, Toshikazu Kase, Minoru Genda, Mitsuo Fuchida, Masatake Okumiya, Takeo Yoshikawa, John Smyth and Ichiji Sugita.

Screening 04 - 6.30pm Tuesday 15 October 2024

7          "On Our Way: U.S.A. (1939–1942)"         - 52 min – Disc 3

The opposition by various factions to the United States of America’s entry into the war, Lend Lease, U-boat attacks on Atlantic convoys and America's graduated responses, the mobilisation of America after Pearl Harbour, the loss of the Philippines, the Doolittle Raid, Midway and Guadalcanal. Interviewees include W. Averell Harriman, George Ball, Norman Corwin, Ken Galbraith, John J. McCloy, Edison Uno, Paul Samuelson, Isamu Noguchi, Jimmy Doolittle, Richard Tregaskis, Minoru Genda, Mitsuo Fuchida, J. Lawton Collins, and Vannevar Bush.

8          "The Desert: North Africa (1940–1943)"  - 52 min – Disc 3

The desert war, starting with Italy's unsuccessful invasion of Egypt and the successive attacks and counterattacks between Germany and Commonwealth forces, and the Afrika Korps's eventual defeat at El Alamein. Interviewees include General Richard O'Connor, Major General Francis de Guingand, Siegfried Westphal, Field Marshal Lord Harding and Lawrence Durrell.

Screening 05 - 6.30pm Tuesday 19 November 2024

9          "Stalingrad (June 1942 – February 1943)"  - 52 min – Disc 3

The mid-war German situation in Southern Russia resulting in the Battle of Stalingrad, and its ultimate German catastrophe.

10        "Wolf Pack: U-Boats in the Atlantic (1939–1944)" - 52 min – Disc 4 

The submarine war emphasising the North Atlantic. Tracks the development of both the convoy system and German submarine strategy. Interviewees include Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Otto Kretschmer, Captain William Eyton-Jones, Captain Gilbert Roberts, Vice Admiral Sir Peter Gretton, Air Vice Marshal Wilfrid Oulton, Peter-Erich Cremer, and Raymond Hart.

Screening 06 - 6.30pm Tuesday 28 January 2025

11        "Red Star: The Soviet Union (1941–1943)"         - 52 min – Disc 4

The rise of the Red Army, mobilisation of Soviet production, the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet partisans and the Battle of Kursk. Interviewees include General Ivan Lyudnikov and Ivan Chistyakov.

12        "Whirlwind: Bombing Germany (September 1939 – April 1944)" - 52 min – Disc 4

The development of British and American strategic bombing in both success and setback. Interviewees include Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Harris, Albert Speer, Brigadier-General James Stewart, Hamish Mahaddie, William Reid, General Leon W. Johnson, General Curtis LeMay, Wilhelm Herget, Werner Schröer, Lieutenant General Adolf Galland and General Ira C. Eaker.

Screening 07 - 6.30pm Tuesday 18 February 2025

13        "Tough Old Gut: Italy (November 1942 – June 1944)"  - 52 min – Disc 5

Emphasises the difficult Italian Campaign beginning with Operation Torch in North Africa, the invasion of Sicily; Salerno, Anzio, Cassino; and the capture of Rome. Interviewees include General Sir Kenneth Strong, General Mark Clark, Field Marshal Lord Harding, Bill Mauldin, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and Siegfried Westphal.

14        "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow: Burma (1942–1944)"       - 52 min – Disc 5

The jungle war in Burma and India—what it "lacked in scale was made up in savagery". Interviewees include Mike Calvert, Sir John Smyth and Vera Lynn (the episode title is the name of one of her songs), and Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

Screening 08 - 6.30pm Tuesday 18 March 2025

15        "Home Fires: Britain (1940–1944)"           - 52 min – Disc 5

Life and politics in Britain from post-Battle of Britain to the first V-1 attacks. Interviewees include Lord Butler, Lord Shinwell, Lord Chandos, Tom Driberg, Lord Avon, Michael Foot, Cecil Harmsworth King and J. B. Priestley.

16        "Inside the Reich: Germany (1940–1944)"          - 52 min – Disc 6

German society and how it changes as its fortunes of war are reversed. Censorship and popular entertainment, the transformation of German industry, the recruitment of female and foreign labour, Allied bombing, German dissent—including the 20 July plot, and the mobilisation of the Volkssturm towards the war's end. Interviewees include Christabel Bielenberg, Friedrich Luft, Albert Speer, Emmi Bonhoeffer, Otto John, Traudl Junge, Richard Schulze-Kossens, and Otto Ernst Remer.

Screening 09 - 6.30pm Tuesday 15 April 2025

17        "Morning (June–August 1944)"     - 52 min – Disc 6

The development and execution of Operation Overlord starting with the failed Dieppe Raid, followed by the allied breakout and battles in the Bocage and at Falaise. Interviewees include Goronwy Rees, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Kay Summersby, James Stagg and Major General J. Lawton Collins.

18        "Occupation: Holland (1940–1944)"         - 52 min – Disc 6

Emphasises life in the Netherlands under German occupation, when citizens chose to resist, collaborate or remain passive. Interviewees include Gerben Wagenaar, Florentine Rost van Tonningen, Loe de Jong (who also served as adviser for this episode), Jetty Paerl, and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

Screening 10 - 6.30pm Tuesday 20 May 2025

19        "Pincers (August 1944 – March 1945)"    - 52 min – Disc 7

Operation Dragoon, the liberation of Paris, the Allied breakout in France and the failure of Operation Market Garden, the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine. In the East, the Romanian coup and the Soviet advance through Ukraine to East Prussia. Interviewees include Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, Wynford Vaughan Thomas, General Sir Kenneth Strong, General Hasso von Manteuffel, Major General Francis de Guingand, W. Averell Harriman, General Siegfried Westphal, and Major General J. Lawton Collins.

20        "Genocide (1941–1945)"    - 52 min – Disc 7

Begins with the founding of the SS and follows the development of Nazi racial theory. It ends with the implementation of the Final Solution. Interviewees include Karl Wolff, Wilhelm Höttl, Rudolf Vrba, Primo Levi, Richard Böck, Anthony Eden and Rivka Yosilevska.

Screening 11 - 6.30pm Tuesday 17 June 2025

21        "Nemesis: Germany (February–May 1945)"       - 52 min – Disc 7

The final invasion of Germany by both the Western and Eastern Allies, the bombing of Dresden, and the events in the Führerbunker during the fall of Berlin. Interviewees include Albert Speer, Traudl Junge, Carola Stern, Elena Rzhevskaya, Heinz Linge, Eberhard Bethge, Major Anna Nikulina, and Friedrich Luft.

22        "Japan (1941–1945)"          - 52 min – Disc 8

Japan's society and culture during wartime, and how life is transformed as the country gradually becomes aware of increasingly catastrophic setbacks including the Doolittle raid, defeat at Midway, the death of Isoroku Yamamoto, the Battle of Saipan, Okinawa and the relentless bombing of Japanese cities. Interviewees include Toshikazu Kase and Naoki Hoshino.

Screening 12 - 6.30pm Tuesday 15 July 2025

23        "Pacific (February 1942 – July 1945)"      - 52 min – Disc 8

The successive and increasingly bloody land battles on tiny islands in the expansive Pacific, aimed towards the Japanese heartland. Following the bombing of Darwin, the over-extended Japanese are progressively turned back at Kokoda, Tarawa, Peleliu, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa. Interviewees include Butch Voris and Frank Manson.

24        "The Bomb (February–September 1945)"           - 52 min – Disc 8

The development of the atomic bomb, the ascendency of President Harry Truman, emerging splits in the Allies with Joseph Stalin, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, ultimately leading to the surrender of Japan. Interviewees include Toshikazu Kase, Yoshio Kodama, Marquis Koichi Kido, Major General Charles Sweeney, Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, Alger Hiss, W. Averell Harriman, Lord Avon, McGeorge Bundy, John J. McCloy, General Curtis LeMay, Hisatsune Sakomizu and Kiyoshi Tanimoto.

Screening 13 - 6.30pm Tuesday 19 August 2025

25        "Reckoning (April 1945)"    - 52 min – Disc 9

The situation in post-war Europe including the allied occupation of Germany, demobilisation, the Nuremberg Trials and the genesis of the Cold War. The episode concludes with summations about the ultimate costs and consequences of the war. Interviewees include Charles Bohlen, Stephen Ambrose, Kay Summersby, Lord Avon, W. Averell Harriman, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Hartley Shawcross, and Noble Frankland.

26        "Remember" - 52 min - Disc 9

How the war – both good and bad experiences – was experienced and remembered by its witnesses. Interviewees include Lawrence Durrell, J. Glenn Gray, Bill Mauldin, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, and Noble Frankland.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Some footage and interviews which were not used in the original series were later made into additional hour or half-hour documentaries narrated by Eric Porter. These were released as a bonus to the VHS version and are included in the DVD set of the series, first released in 2001.]

Screening 14 - 6.30pm Tuesday 16 September 2025

"The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler" - 47 min - Disc 9

"Hitler's Germany: The People's Community (1933–1939)" - 75 min  - Disc 10

Screening 15 - 6.30pm Tuesday 21 October 2025

"Hitler's Germany: Total War (1939–1945)" - 76 min - Disc 10

Screening 16 - 6.30pm Tuesday 18 November 2025

"The Final Solution - Auschwitz: Part One" - 97 min - Disc 11

Screening 17 - 6.30pm Tuesday 20 January 2026

"The Final Solution - Auschwitz: Part Two" - 91 min - Disc 11

Screening 18 - 6.30pm Tuesday 17 February 2026

"Warrior – Reflections of Men at War" - 50 min - Disc 12

"Secretary to Hitler – Traudl Junge"[7] – 23  min  - Disc 12

"From War to Peace – Professor Stephen Ambrose" - 23 min - Disc 12

Screening 19 - 6.30pm Tuesday 17 March  2026

"The Making of the Series: The World at War" - 48 min - Disc 12

"Experiences of War" - 58 min - Disc 13

Screening 20 - 6.30pm Tuesday 21 April 2026

"Making of the Series – A 30th Anniversary Retrospective" - 123 min - Disc 13

Food available at the venue.

Attendance is restricted to

 RHUMBELOW FILM CLUB MEMBERS - NO CHARGE

MOTH MEMBERS AND SPOUSE – NO CHARGE

GUESTS – R 100-00

Limited secure parking available    

Booking is essential. 

Bar Available

(no alcohol may be brought on to the premises)

Cell 0824998636          

BOOKINGS ON EMAIL PLEASE : roland@stansell.co.za 

Private Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/887792919282200

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