Fatherland ** (1994, Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Jean Marsh, Michael Kitchen, John Woodvine, John Shrapnel) – Classic Movie Review 13,468

The 1994 alternate history thriller film Fatherland is based on Robert Harris’s novel, and stars Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson, Peter Vaughan and Jean Marsh. Harris recalled: ‘My first novel Fatherland was made into a very bad film.’ 

British director Christopher Menaul’s 1994 alternate history thriller film Fatherland is based on the 1992 novel by Robert Harris and stars Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Jean Marsh, Michael Kitchen, John Woodvine, and John Shrapnel. Harris recalled: ‘My first novel Fatherland was made into a very bad film.’

Fatherland is an odd but interestingly premised fantasy thriller, based on the Robert Harris bestseller, with a glum performance by Rutger Hauer as SS officer Xavier March, a Nazi detective linking with a US journalist “Charlie” Maguire, (Miranda Richardson) in a race against time to solve a murder and expose the deadly secret of the Third Reich. The fantasy element is the supposition that the story is set in 1964, and Hitler has won the war.

The muddled exposition and flat handling with remarkably little suspense or outstanding displays of acting brio start eroding this only moderate entertainment early on.

Great idea, great production design, good visual effects, strong cast: so the result must be counted a major disappointment. Still, it is very watchable, though.

It was filmed entirely in Prague on a cost of $7 million.

Miranda Richardson won a 1995 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

The Special Visual Effects were Emmy nominated.

Stanley Weiser and Ron Hutchinson adapt the 1992 novel by Robert Harris.

It first aired on HBO on November 26, 1994.

Harris recalled: ‘My first novel Fatherland was made into a very bad film. By the time it was shot there’d been so many artistic compromises that it ceased to have the feel of the novel. Some people like it but I have to say that I don’t. Everything about it sets my teeth on edge, especially the ending.’

Mike Nichols bought the film rights before the novel was published in the US to be made into a feature film. But he couldn’t get a film studio to back it, and it became a made-for-TV movie for HBO instead.

The cast

The cast are Rutger Hauer as Sturmbannführer Xavier March, Miranda Richardson as Charlie Maguire, Peter Vaughan as SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe, Jean Marsh as Anna Von Hagen, Michael Kitchen as Untersturmführer Max Jäger, John Woodvine as Franz Luther, John Shrapnel as Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik / “Globus”, Rupert Penry-Jones as Hermann Jost, Clive Russell as Karl Krebs, Clare Higgins as Klara, Neil Dudgeon as Hauptsturmführer Walther Fiebes, Petronella Barker as Helga Schröder, Rupert Degas as The Narrator, Pavel Andel, Sarah Berger, Jan Bidlas, and Stuart Bunce.

Rutger Hauer (23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019)

Jean Marsh (1 July 1934 – 13 April 2025)

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,468

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