All the King's Men (1999 tv film)

HOME

TheInfoList

Click Here for Items Related To - All the King's Men (1999 tv film)

OR:

All the King's Men (1999 tv film) on: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Amazon]

''All the King's Men'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

television drama by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

starring

David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom '' Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector ...

, first broadcast on

Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in Nov ...

, 14 November 1999. The film derives its title from a line in the

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. ...

nursery rhyme and is based on a 1992 book, ''The Vanished Battalion'' by the film's co-producer,

Nigel McCrery Nigel Colin McCrery (born 30 October 1953 in London) is an English screenwriter and ex-police officer. He is the creator of the long-running crime dramas ''Silent Witness'' (1996-present) and ''New Tricks'' (2003-15). Early life Because of his fa ...

Book

The drama was based on co-producer

's non-fiction book ''The Vanished Battalion''. The book was first published in 1992 and was republished in 1997 and 1999 as ''All the King's Men: one of the greatest mysteries of the First World War finally solved''.

Plot

The film and book are based on the story of the 1/5th (

Territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

) Battalion of the

Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

which included men from the King's estate at

Sandringham House Sandringham House is a country house in the parish of Sandringham, Norfolk, England. It is one of the royal residences of Charles III, whose grandfather, George VI, and great-grandfather, George V, both died there. The house stands in a estat ...

who had initially been formed in a " Sandringham Company". The battalion suffered heavy losses in action at Gallipoli on 12 August 1915 and a myth grew up later that the unit had advanced into a mist and simply disappeared. The film dramatises these events and the origins of the myth back home, in the process following an investigator sent after the war on behalf of the Royal Family to find the truth about the company's fate. As represented in the film, after becoming separated from other British troops and suffering heavy losses the remnants of the former Sandringham Company were taken prisoner by Ottoman soldiers and then massacred. One survivor wakes in a German military hospital and is told by a doctor that he was fortunate to have been found by German troops accompanying the Turkish forces. The scene in which prisoners are killed as they tried to surrender was criticised by both the Turkish Ambassador in London, and by a grandson of the central character, Captain Frank Beck, as being unsupported by evidence.

Background to claimed massacre

The book itself only hints at the possibility that a proportion of those who died were "executed" after being captured. The Reverend Pierrepoint Edwards, who discovered the mass grave, was reported to have revealed, much later, in a private conversation that the bodies he'd found had been shot in the head. The veracity of that claim has remained unproven, the suggestion being made in the film that it was not revealed at the time to protect the feelings of the King and Queen, and relatives of the deceased. There is stronger evidence though in the form of the account of one survivor, Private Arthur Webber of the Yarmouth Company, taken prisoner during the battle. He was wounded to the head and claimed to have both heard other wounded being bayonetted and shot by Turkish soldiers, and to have been attacked in the same fashion himself, only being saved by a German officer. In addition, at least one British officer was seen being taken prisoner during the battle but was not heard from again. The book suggests that, based on evidence from the time, the Turkish soldiers struggled with the concept of taking prisoners as opposed to a deliberate execution policy. The film does go beyond the book in the way it portrays a larger group of men taken prisoner being deliberately executed, in a confused and fast-moving scene. From the accounts of the time, as related in the original book, it would seem that far from being tamely slaughtered as prisoners, most of the men who died did so in heavy fighting, either being killed outright or dying from the wounds suffered. The unit had advanced beyond other British troops in the line and found themselves isolated some distance behind Turkish lines. Ultimately, a group of anything up to 200 men had been surrounded at a farm house and wiped out during the fighting. As to the fate of Captain Beck, who is shown among the prisoners being executed, the film makes assumptions as well. The last sighting of Beck was by one of the survivors, who saw him slumped under a tree some time before the end of the battle, with his head to one side. The survivor could not be sure that he wasn't already dead at that point.

Production

Filming took place at Sandringham and

Holkham Hall Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for the 1st Earl of Leicester,The Earldom of Leicester has been, to date, created seven times. Thomas C ...

, on the

North Norfolk Railway The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the towns of Sheringham and Holt. The North Norfolk Railway is owned and operated as a public limite ...

and elsewhere in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, with

Andalucia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

in Spain serving as Gallipoli.

Reception

David Jason won Best Actor in the

TV Quick Awards ''TV Choice'' is a British weekly TV listings magazine published by H. Bauer Publishing, the UK subsidiary of family-run German company Bauer Media Group.Norfolk dialect East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English, which has largely replaced it. However, it has r ...

in the film was criticised by the Friends of Norfolk Dialect, formed to preserve and promote the proper recreation of it; "All the King's Men from Sandringham assembled proudly, then marched into the same old murky Mummerzet waters."

Cast

Principals

– Captain Frank Beck – the Sandringham estate manager * Maggie Smith –

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 t ...

David Troughton David Troughton (born 9 June 1950) is an English actor. He is known for his Shakespearean roles on the British stage and for his many roles on British television, including Dr Bob Buzzard in ''A Very Peculiar Practice'' and Ricky Hanson in ''Ne ...

–

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

* William Ash – Sergeant Ted Grimes

Other

Sonya Walger Sonya Walger (born 6 June 1974) is a British actress who also holds American citizenship. She had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms ''The Mind of the Married Man'' (2001–2002) and ''Coupling'' (2003) before landing her role as Penny W ...

– Lady Frances *

Stuart Bunce Stuart Alexander Bunce (born 21 October 1971) is an English actor who is best known for his portrayal of the First World War poet Wilfred Owen in the film '' Regeneration'' directed by Gillies MacKinnon. Biography Bunce was born in Beckenham, Ke ...

– 2nd Lt. Frederick Radley * James Murray – Pte. Will Needham *Ed Waters – Cpl Herbert Batterbee * Tom Burke – Private Chad Batterbee *

Ben Crompton Benjamin Lorton Crompton (born 1974) is an English actor and standup comedian, best known for his performance on the BBC sketch show ''Man Stroke Woman'' and as Colin in the BBC Three sitcom ''Ideal''. From 2012 to 2019, Crompton portrayed Edd ...

– Private Davy Croft * Eamon Boland – Arthur Beck *

Jo Stone-Fewings Jonathan Stone-Fewings (born 1967) is an English actor. He studied at Hereford College of Arts and at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, and began his career in 1989. He has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) since 1994. H ...

– Lt. Alec Beck *

James Hillier James Hillier, (August 22, 1915 – January 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American scientist and inventor who designed and built, with Albert Prebus, the first successful high-resolution electron microscope in North America in 1938. Biography B ...

– 2nd Lt. Evelyn Beck *

Emma Cunniffe Emma Cunniffe (born 3 July 1973) is an English film, stage and television actress. Early life Cunniffe was raised in Frodsham, Cheshire and attended Frodsham High School. She was in the local Frodsham panto group whilst growing up and was on ...

– Peggy Batterbee *Adam Kotz – Oswald Yeoman *

Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in '' The Inspec ...

– Capt. Claude Howlett *Gaye Brown – Queen Mary *

Phyllis Logan Phyllis Logan (born 11 January 1956) is a Scottish actress, known for playing Lady Jane Felsham in ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes (later Carson) in ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer f ...

– Mary Beck *

Ian McDiarmid Ian McDiarmid (; born 11 August 1944) is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen, best known for portraying the Sith Lord Emperor Sheev Palpatine / Darth Sidious in the ''Star Wars'' multimedia franchise. Making his stage debut in '' ...

– Rev. Pierrepoint Edwards *Danny Worters – Private George Dacre *Laurence Dobiesz – Luke Grimes *Roland Oliver – Mr Adams *Jamie Beddard – Roland Adams

Crew

*Gareth Neame – producer *Alma Cullen - screenplay *Ruth Maturuas –

associate producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

– co-producer *

Rebecca Eaton Rebecca Eaton (born November 7, 1947) is an American television producer and film producer best known for introducing American audiences to British costume and countryside dramas as executive producer of the PBS ''Masterpiece'' series. In 2011 ...

, Hilary Salmon,

Jane Tranter Jane Tranter (born 17 March 1963) is an English television executive who was the executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base from 2009 until 2015. From 2006 to 2008, she was the BBC's controller of ...

– executive producers *Original Music by Adrian Johnston *Cinematography by David Odd *Film Editing by Chris Gill *Casting by Maureen Duff and Gail Stevens

References

External links

*
Costumes for the dramaInterview with Jason (audio file)BBC News, "Jason's heroic endeavour"Account of the attack from the Imperial War Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:All The King's Men (1999 Film) 1999 television films 1999 films British television films BBC television dramas Norfolk Cultural depictions of George V Films directed by Julian Jarrold 1990s English-language films