Pastor Hall

"IT Can HAPPEN HERE!"

1940 1h 35m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

★8.0TMDB · 10

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The village of Altdorf has to come to terms with Chancellor Hitler and the arrival of a platoon of Stormtroopers. The Stormtroopers go about teaching and enforcing "The New Order", but Pastor Hall, a kind and gentle man, won't be cowed. Some villagers join the Nazi party avidly, and some just go along with things, hoping for a quiet life, but Pastor Hall takes his convictions to the pulpit.

“IT Can HAPPEN HERE!”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Cohen Media Amazon ChannelSubscription

Cast

Wilfrid Lawson
Pastor Frederick Hall
Nova Pilbeam
Christine Hall
Seymour Hicks
General von Grotjahn
Marius Goring
Fritz Gerte
Brian Worth
Werner von Grotjahn
Percy Walsh
Herr Veit
Lina Barrie
Lina Veit
Eliot Makeham
Pippermann

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roy Boulting
Writers: Ernst Toller, Anna Reiner, Leslie Arliss
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

86 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Roy Boulting, shot by Mutz Greenbaum. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Roy Boulting shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Wilfrid Lawson and Nova Pilbeam and Seymour Hicks carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "IT Can HAPPEN HERE!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0032894 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 10 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roy Boulting directs. Mutz Greenbaum behind the camera. Roy Boulting cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Roy Boulting, shot by Mutz Greenbaum. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Roy Boulting shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Wilfrid Lawson and Nova Pilbeam and Seymour Hicks carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "IT Can HAPPEN HERE!".
6IMDB entry: tt0032894 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 10 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Mutz Greenbaum
Editing: Roy Boulting
Costume design: Pauline Hansford
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Pastor Hall (1940)

Also by

Roy Boulting

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-09-07
★ 7/10
This is quite a gruelling film to watch, this one. Wilfrid Lawson is the eponymous minister who lived in a small German village in the 1930s as the Nazi party started on it's inevitable route to power. A decent man, he tried to resist the increasingly anti-semitic aspirations of the Party but with the arrival of some stormtroopers under the command of the malevolent, but cunning, "Gerte" (Marius Goring) his task becomes much harder and his own safety, and that of his young daughter "Christine" (Nova Pilbeam) looks more and more precarious. It's based on a true character, and the story has an authenticity to it that papers over the cracks left by the limitations of an early wartime production with what I assume was a modest budget. Lawson is very effective in the title role, as are Goring and Pilbeam and there is an interesting contribution from Seymour Hicks as "Gen. von Grotjahn" - a German general officer from days gone by when honour and respect meant more than any loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Eventually sent to Dachau, the history takes quite an interesting turn at an end that I found immensely satisfying on a number of fronts. The narrative does try to explain a little of just how these fascist thugs won over an otherwise benign population - fear, lies, rumour, gossip and resentment all playing a part in galvanising a population into a complicit inactivity that allowed persecution and brutality on a scale that they knew little about, but about which they cared even less. Out of sight... etc. There is a particularly harrowing storyline featuring the young "Lina" (Lina Barrie) which rather summed the whole thing up - and showed the bravery and decency of this man of not just God, but of his congregation too. Rarely seen nowadays, but thought-provoking and well worth ninety minutes if you ever come across it

Production companies