Varian's War (TV 2001)Varian Fry rescues more than 2,000 artists from Nazi persecution during World War II. Director:Lionel ChetwyndWriter:Lionel Chetwynd |
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Varian's War (TV 2001)Varian Fry rescues more than 2,000 artists from Nazi persecution during World War II. Director:Lionel ChetwyndWriter:Lionel Chetwynd |
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| William Hurt | ... | ||
| Julia Ormond | ... |
Miriam Davenport
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| Matt Craven | ... |
Beamish
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| Maury Chaykin | ... |
Marcello
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| Alan Arkin | ... |
Freier
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| Lynn Redgrave | ... | ||
| Rémy Girard | ... |
Colonel Joubert
(as Remy Girard)
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| Christopher Heyerdahl | ... |
Marius Franken
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Gloria Carlin | ... |
Bella Chagall
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Joel Miller | ... | |
| Vlasta Vrana | ... | ||
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John Dunn-Hill | ... | |
| Ted Whittall | ... |
Harry Bingham
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Dorothée Berryman | ... |
Mme Fanny
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Howard Ryshpan | ... |
Konditorei Owner
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After witnessing the treatment of Jews in Nazi territory made him physically sick, cultured American gentleman Varian Fry starts en emergency rescue commission to raise funds and lobby to help intellectuals and artists, especially Jews, escape from Vichy France -where the Pétain government avoid occupation only by utter collaboration- to the US, and for lack of a better volunteer personally sets out in search of them. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt personally overcomes the reticence of the State Department. In Marseille he finds the people he specifically looked for, such as Marc Chagall, already housed by Harry Bingham, a Jewish US consulate official so he starts screening less obvious candidates and examines with Miriam Davenport and a German social democrat they pass for US clergyman Beamish how some can be rescued legally, others via a clandestine route, while colonel Joubert's State Police is at their trace... Written by KGF Vissers
I have awarded this film a ten, because a few months ago, the
Secretary of State, Colin Powell, gave a posthumous award for "constructive dissent" to Hiram (or Harry) Bingham, IV
recognizing that he issued 2500 visas against the wishes of the
State Department and President Roosevelt. The people he saved
included the artists Marc Chagall and Max Ernst and the family of
the writer Thomas Mann.
Bingham's father (on whom the fictional character Indiana Jones
was based) was the archeologist who unearthed the Inca city of
Machu Picchu, Peru in 1911.
He has now been honored by many groups and organizations
including the United Nations and the State of Israel.
The TV film Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985) is a great
companion piece. Bingham passed away in 1988 practically
penniless, and the circumstances of Wallenberg's death remain a
mystery.
It is truly a tragedy that the great principled human beings are
recognized after their passing. But the film industry does do the
world a service when it brings important history to the attention of
those who would ever have known.