Licking Hitler

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"Licking Hitler" is the 12th episode of the eighth series of the

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anthology ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' British TV series. The episode was originally broadcast on 10 January 1978. "Licking Hitler" was written and directed by

David Hare David Hare may refer to: *David Hare (philanthropist) (1775–1842), Scottish philanthropist *David Hare (artist) (1917–1992), American sculptor and photographer *David Hare (playwright) (born 1947), English playwright and theatre and film direc ...

, produced by David Rose, and starred

Kate Nelligan Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tide ...

and Bill Paterson. Photography was by Ken Morgan and John Kenway. "Licking Hitler" is about a

black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propaganda ...

unit operating in England during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Described as a work of "outstanding and unsettling power", it won the 1978

British Academy Television Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

for Best Single Play. Hare intended the work as a companion piece to his stage play '' Plenty'' (staged at the

Lyttelton Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

in April 1978 with Nelligan in the lead role of Susan Trahearne) and he wrote ''Plenty'' as he was editing ''Licking Hitler'', scene and scene about. Its theme is similar to that of ''Plenty'': the effect of war on individuals' private lives and treating their experiences as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

for the England of the present.

Theme

As with ''Plenty'', the events Hare places in the context of war are intended as a metaphor for the post-war betrayal of the collective ideals of pre-war society, with the necessary deceits of the disinformation broadcaster representing the corrupt values of modern England. The play's theme is the cruel relationship between Archie, the chief writer for an isolated black propaganda unit broadcasting to Germany in World War II, and his assistant and lover Anna. With the war won and the unit disbanded, neither Anna nor Archie can reconcile themselves to their new, mundane lives. Anna longs for the violent and abusive Archie, and for the excitement and meaning of her former work. Some critics have found this aspect of her character unrealistic, but Hare quotes poet Alan Ross to explain the spirit of the era: "The sadness and sexuality and alcohol were what everyone was wanting ... war was suddenly real and warm ... worth all the suffering and boredom and fear". To this he added his own romantic view of the period, with its undercurrents of violence and sexuality. Feminist writers have attacked the depiction of Anna, the wartime heroine, as flawed in that she passively continues to submit to Archie. Hare dismisses this view as "a clamour for a simpler morality" that fails to take account of his characterisation of a naive, vulnerable woman for whom sensuality is totally strange. It is in this abject predicament that she becomes "the conscience of the play". After the war Anna establishes herself as a successful advertising copywriter but resents lying for no higher purpose than profit, a situation she comes to look upon as symbolising the post-war political life of England. Archie becomes a campaigning documentary film-maker, but he soon declines into a writer and director of derivative and poorly regarded

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

Factual basis

Hare's immediate inspiration for the work was a chance encounter with

Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904, Berlin, Germany – 4 September 1979, Lamarsh, Essex) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Fluent in German, he became friendly ...

, a former adviser to

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

and wartime broadcaster to Germany from ''

Soldatensender Calais __NOTOC__ Soldatensender Calais (G.9) (, ''Soldiers' Radio Calais'') was a British black propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War operated by the Political Warfare Executive. It pretended to be a station of the German military broadcasti ...

''. Delmer's book ''Black Boomerang'' provided the factual basis for the play; but, using the same techniques he was to develop for his later

verbatim theatre Documentary theatre is theatre that uses pre-existing documentary material (such as newspapers, government reports, interviews, journals, and correspondences) as source material for stories about real events and people, frequently without altering ...

pieces such as ''

The Permanent Way ''The Permanent Way'' is a play by David Hare first performed in 2003. In 1991 the British government decided to privatise the country's railways. David Hare recounts the development through the first-hand accounts of those most intimately ...

'', Hare travelled Britain interviewing former propagandists and broadcasters to enhance his script.

Characters

as Anna Seaton * Bill Paterson as Archie MacLean * Hugh Fraser as Will Langley *

Clive Revill Clive Revill is a New Zealand actor, best known for his performances in musical theatre and the London stage. A veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has also starred in numerous films and television programmes, often in character parts. ...

as John Fennel *

Brenda Fricker Brenda Fricker (born 17 February 1945) is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Awar ...

as Eileen Graham *

Michael Mellinger Michael Andreas Mellinger (30 May 1929 – 17 March 2004) was a German actor in film, television, theatre and radio. He was best known for his appearances on the West End and supporting role in the film '' Goldfinger'' (1964). Biography Born ...

as Karl * George Herbert as Herr Jungke * Patrick Monckton as Allardyce *

Jonathan Coy Jonathan Coy (born 24 April 1953, in Hammersmith, London) is a British actor. He has worked since 1975 largely in television, notably as Henry in the long-running legal series ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' and as Bracegirdle in the television seri ...

as Lotterby

Production

The film was shot during the summer of 1977 at

Compton Verney House Compton Verney House () is an 18th-century country mansion at Compton Verney near Kineton in Warwickshire, England. It is located on the west side of a lake north of the B4086 about north-west of Banbury. Today, it is the site of the Compton V ...

, Warwickshire. This was Hare's first work behind the camera and he deliberately restricted himself to such camera techniques as were available in the 1940s. He notes that, as the writer, he had a clear idea of how scenes would relate to each other and so he shot no spare footage to allow for any adjustments while editing—a "highly dangerous" method.Hare (1984) p. 92

References

External links