All The King's Men (1999 Film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
television drama by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
starring
David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally as David Jason, is an English actor. He has played Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the drama series '' A Touch ...
, 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 is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...
nursery rhyme and is based on a 1992 book, '' The Vanished Battalion'' by the film's co-producer, Nigel McCrery.


Book

The drama was based on co-producer Nigel McCrery'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, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment 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 est ...
who had initially been formed in a " Sandringham Company". The battalion suffered heavy losses in action at
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
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 English country house, country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation), Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of ...
, on the
North Norfolk Railway The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage railway, heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the towns of Sheringham and Holt, Norfolk, Holt. The North Norfolk Railway is owned ...
and elsewhere in
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, with
Andalucia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It i ...
in Spain serving as Gallipoli.


Reception

David Jason won Best Actor in the TV Quick Awards for his performance. The rendition of the
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. However, it has received little attention from t ...
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

*
David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally as David Jason, is an English actor. He has played Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the drama series '' A Touch ...
– Captain Frank Beck – the Sandringham estate manager *
Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had List of Maggie Smith performances, an extensive career on stage and screen for over seve ...
Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...
* David Troughton – 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 Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...
* William Ash – Sergeant Ted Grimes


Other

*
Sonya Walger Sonya Walger (born June 6, 1974) is a British and American actress. She had a starring role in the HBO sitcom '' The Mind of the Married Man'' (2001–2002) before landing her role as Penny Widmore in the ABC drama series '' Lost'' (2006–20 ...
– Lady Frances * Stuart Bunce – 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 stand-up comedian, has appeared on the BBC sketch show '' Man Stroke Woman'' and as Colin in the BBC Three sitcom '' Ideal'' from 2005 to 2011). Crompton portrayed Eddison Tollett on ...
– Private Davy Croft * Eamon Boland – Arthur Beck * Jo Stone-Fewings – Lt. Alec Beck * James Hillier – 2nd Lt. Evelyn Beck * Emma Cunniffe – Peggy Batterbee * Adam Kotz – Oswald Yeoman * Patrick Malahide – Capt. Claude Howlett * Gaye Brown – Queen Mary *
Phyllis Logan Phyllis Logan (born 11 January 1956) is a Scottish actress, widely known for her roles as Lady Jane Felsham in ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes in ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for ...
– Mary Beck * Ian McDiarmid – Rev. Pierrepoint Edwards * Danny Worters – Private George Dacre * Laurence Dobiesz – Luke Grimes * Roland Oliver – Mr Adams * Jamie Beddard – Roland Adams * Daisy Gough – Princess Mary


Crew

* Ruth Maturuas – associate producer * Nigel McCrery – 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 – executive producers * Casting by Maureen Duff and Gail Stevens


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
''All the King's Men'' at AllMovie
*


Interview 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