World War II: Behind Closed Doors
| World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis, and the West | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
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| Genre | Educational |
| Created by |
Laurence Rees Andrew Williams |
| Based on |
World War II German-Soviet relations |
| Written by | Laurence Rees Anjelina Keating |
| Directed by | Laurence Rees |
| Narrated by |
Samuel West (United Kingdom) Keith David (United States) |
| Composer(s) | Alasdair Reid |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Megan Callaway Philip Dunn Sharon M. Hannon Burt Harris Tené Harris-Duckworth |
| Location(s) | United Kingdom |
| Cinematography | Jacek Petrycki Martin Patmore Sergey Astakhov Krzysztof Golabek |
| Editor(s) | Alan Lygo |
| Running time | 300 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
BBC PBS |
| Distributor | BBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC |
| First shown in | 2008 |
| External links | |
| Production website | |
World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West is a 2008 six-episode BBC/PBS documentary series on the role of Joseph Stalin and German-Soviet relations before, during, and after World War II, created by Laurence Rees and Andrew Williams.
It carriers new controversial material which only became available to the public after the fall of communism from the Soviet archives, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Each episode lasts approximately one hour and features reenactments of the situations subject.
The 2008 film combines narrative-led documentary segments, interwoven by dramatic re-enactments, with actors representing main political figures of the period. The original narrative voice-over was performed by Samuel West, while Keith David, veteran of Ken Burns' PBS series, narrates the American version. Joseph Stalin is portrayed by Alexei Petrenko, Winston Churchill is portrayed by Paul Humpoletz and Franklin D. Roosevelt is portrayed by Bob Gunton.
The series delves into such matters as the British, American and Soviet cover-up of the Katyn Forest Massacre; Churchill's agreement at Yalta that Stalin should keep his gains of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, including Kresy; the Polish population transfers (1944–1946); and the betrayal or persecution of figures such as Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Vyacheslav Molotov and John H. Noble. British historian Laurence Rees did the research compilation and lead writing for the series and the drama was directed by Andrew Williams.
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