Unity (27 page)

In age when other countries forced to camouflage imperialist ambitions, Israel flaunts them (chosen people/special case).
Meanwhile
, world looks on in silence. National myths founded on repelling invaders: blood, toil, sweat etc in Britain; heroes of
Resistance
in France. So why won't they raise voices on behalf of
Palestinian
struggle against occupying Israeli state?

Question rhetorical. Zionists and allies who control world media conspire to prevent free discussion, instead devoting airtime/column inches to Jewish claim that Chairman Arafat wants to annihilate entire race. Slander doubly despicable from people who were victims of blood libel.

eve: Condolence visit to Mahmoud. Express disgust at Germans, so obsessed by search for 1 worthless old Nazi that they ignore arrest of 1000s of innocent Palestinians. M. in such deep shock that he appears indifferent. Talks only about W[olfram].

Leave after frustrating hour.

a.m. Führer's private cinema. With Unity, Hitler & Göring watching newsreel of Anschluss. W[olfram] neatly using Hitler's fascination with films of his triumphs to avoid need to stage them.

R[alf] strides on set and makes public announcement. Claims no honour left in Germany (Hitler moustache bristles). Has just heard on radio that government has rejected Italian request for extradition of some war criminal escaped from military hospital in Rome.
124
Demands that unit make formal protest. W. demurs, insisting that Leftwing action merely incites Rightwing backlash. ‘12,000,000 people read
Bild am Sonntag
. Are they going to back you?'

R. looks to me for support. Offer it psychically. Feel inhibited by our relationship & my reputation. Pressure relieved by F[elicity], who declares that if Right are going to use force, Left has to
pre-empt
them. Hit them where it hurts: banks; office blocks;
department
stores.

Henry astonished: ‘You can't mean to advocate violence?'

F. defiant: ‘Sometimes there's no choice.'

Good on her! Not only stands up to voice of English liberalism (in H.'s case, adopted) but contradicts Wolfram (a first?).

Clear she has been reading the books.

W. taken aback. ‘Let's make the film.' R. refuses to give up. ‘About what? The relationship between a sexual pervert and a hysteric? Shouldn't it be something more?'

W. & R. hammer & tongs in German. F. persuades interpreter to give us gist. W. says film will be about a lot more if only R. lets it. R. replies that he is deeply disappointed in W. Promised a radical political film only to end up with an anti-romantic melodrama. Charlie Chaplin's Hitler a more valid interpretation. May have been played for laughs but accurate portrait of little man harnessing historical forces. Not freak from pages of Krafft-Ebing.

Argument peters out. Scene shot in single take. Even newsreel synch worked without hitch. Returned to
COMMUNAL TRAILER
(lost cause!). Discussed dispute with H[enry], who'd been there, and G[erald], who hadn't. [Carole] Medhurst, who was neither in scene nor included in conversation (not, as
Sunday Times
readers can vouch, that that has ever stopped her
125
), opined that problem with making Hitler a freak was that it let rest of us off hook. In her view, it was normal not abnormal cruelty that needed explaining.

H. countered that it was neither humanity nor Hitler that needed explaining but God. The same God whom the rabbis at Auschwitz put on trial and found guilty.

‘But didn't they say a prayer to him straight after the verdict?' (Medhurst).

‘Perhaps that's the ultimate Jewish joke?' (F.).

‘Or God's ultimate joke on the Jews? After all, if mankind was made in God's image, who's to say that Hitler rather than Moses or Jesus isn't his true reflection? So, I repeat, we merely have to play Hitler. We have to explain God.' (H.).

At which point G., inevitably excluded from intellectual discussion, put in his 2p'sworth. ‘That's all very deep, but,
unfortunately
, I can't see God on the call-sheet.' Went through pantomime of examining it. ‘No. No God. Who's playing him? By rights, it should be my old friend, Sir Hallam Bamforth CH. But that doesn't seem to be the case.'

Broke off in embarrassment as others ignored him.

Medhurst to H.: ‘Then you have no explanation for Hitler?'

H.: ‘On the contrary. I think he was a man so traumatised by the carnage of the Trenches that he went mad. Only a madman would kill one person, let alone six million. Only a madman would fail to recognise that every human being has an inalienable right to life. There are, however, different degrees of madness. The pitiful delusion of the man who thinks he is Hitler is far removed from the genocidal mania of the Hitler who thinks he is God.'

Vow never to make another film where I don't have my own trailer.

Bayreuth.

Nazi equivalent of Ascot. Party leaders & fellow travellers (incl Unity & Diana) join Hitler in annual beanfeast. This year (37? 38?), unique production of
Lohengrin
since W[olfram] plans fantasy sequence in which Hitler as L. rescues Unity as Elsa from wicked guardian, played (incongruously) by Sir H[allam].

Entire day shooting scene of arrival: cavalcade of cars; SS guard of honour; crowds waiting for glimpse of Hitler; women fainting (cf
June Bridesmaid
premiere).

100s of onlookers include, disconcertingly, Winifred Wagner, standing just a few foot away from her past. Little old lady who might be selling pretzels. Spoke only once, when Hitler walked up to the portico and shook the hand of her younger self. ‘No!' came
an imperious cry ‘This will not do. The Führer always kissed my hand. He knew how to show respect.'

W. modified gesture against protests from R[alf] who preferred false note to offering sop to Nazi. R. nevertheless relieved by her accent. English high priestess at Aryan shrine = proof that infamy not confined to a single nation.
126
The burden of guilt could be shared.

A theme that developed throughout the day.

Dieter and Sir H. comparing Bayreuth and Stratford.

D.: ‘Is it true that Shylock was one of your most celebrated roles?' Sir H.: ‘So people are kind enough to say. It's the nose, you see. Plus, I didn't play for sympathy.'

D.: ‘The Nazis loved
The Merchant of Venice
. In 1933 alone, there were 20 separate productions in Germany.'

Sir H.: ‘Really? How splendid! I had no idea. I doubt that we could have matched that in England.'

D.: ‘Between 1934 & 1937, there were another 20. Your friend, Mr Auden, regretted that nothing he wrote saved any of the Jews from Auschwitz.
127
Do you think that Shakespeare could have said the same about the words that sent them there?'

Sir H.: ‘Shakespeare was resolutely non-aligned. A literary Switzerland. That's his greatest strength. You can't tell from the plays what, if anything, he believes.'

Cue anecdote of Hattie Lanchester fighting losing battle with moustache when disguised as lawyer in trial scene.

Sir H.: ‘Take it from me, the quality of mercy was highly strained when she finally caught up with her dresser.'

Story trivial but salutary. British cultural life in a nutshell. Crucial issue of artistic responsibility shrugged off in favour of gossip.

12 hour shoot.

Up and down staircase like Grand Old Duke of York. Quick greeting from Hitler and Goebbels, then process repeated. Ad nauseam. Literally for F[elicity] who was sickened by fumes from generator. Or it may have been the diet. Unit catering far worse than Munich. Even stars given sausages!

Sir H[allam] caustic about frankfurters. ‘Just salt and grease. Only the Germans could have invented them, let alone made them their national dish.'

Henry rebuked him for perpetuating stereotypes.

Sir H.: ‘I know. It's naughty of me. But it saves so much time. I remember when I was playing Vanya in Dublin and asked this pungent local character the way to St Patrick's Cathedral. He replied: “From where?”'

New low! In 20 years of keeping journal, never before been reduced to writing about food.

p.m. Dispensed whisky & sympathy to R[alf] who'd stormed off set after big bust-up with Wolfram. Conflict brewing for weeks but immediate cause was Wolfram's insertion of scene in which Hitler's niece Geli shits on him.

Confused about context (Geli = fantasy, ghost or flashback?), but, given R.'s mood, it seemed inappropriate to ask.

Whatever the background, R. refused to play scene. Asked for rationale. W. ran through evidence of Hitler's sexual perversion (impossible for me to assess since R. claimed that it didn't bear repeating). Linked to accounts of his impotence, supposedly
confirmed by Eva Braun's home movies in which he places hands protectively over crotch the moment anyone draws near. Even cited the famous salute – keeping arm up for hours in absence of anything else.
128

R. dismissed it as flimflam. Offered series of ripostes. Unsure whether aimed at me or W. or both.

W. apparently suggested he start by taking responsibility for his role and leave him to take responsibility for film. The shit was non-negotiable. R. declared (to his face!) that W. so warped he took comfort from company of fellow-deviants, even if they included Hitler. Then he quit set and headed straight for 4 Seasons. Filming cancelled for rest of day.

G.M. cautious. Danger of being too closely identified with R. Keeping options open not the same as sitting on the fence.

eve: F[elicity] filled me in on turn of events. Crisis meeting of W., Werner and Thomas (backer). Latter Jewish, so of course sides with W. Suits purposes if Hitler a pervert rather than making considered – if excessive – attack on international finance.*

* Conscious even in journal of need to weigh words. If Nazi
criticisms
of Jews were intemperate, now have opposite problem in world where forbidden to make any criticisms at all.

Painful confrontation with R[alf].

He insisted he would not back down. Urged me to stand alongside him, demanding right as workers to have some control over production/as actors over interpretation. If I show solidarity, Wolfram & Werner bound to take note. Pair of us in too many scenes.

Tried to explain that, while I supported him 100%, my case different (unique). Returning to screen after 10-year absence. If I walk out now, people will say I'm unable to stand the strain: a gifted child not an actress. I'll never work again.

R. piled on pressure.

1) Appealed to my convictions.

Replied that I'd be in far better position to achieve common goal from position of power.

2) Appealed to our relationship.

Explained (gently) that he'd read too much into it. Two people away from home seeking solace in one another's company. No harm – but no more. Circumstantial intimacy.

R. v. cold & vengeful. Thank G. found out this side of him before serious involvement. Declared me as cheap & corrupt as W. (For so-called revolutionary, depressingly unreconstructed vocab. Even resorted to stock device of storming out & slamming door.)

p.m. On set. Not called but needed company. Grateful for communal trailer (Close up on actress eating hat).

Cast/crew shell-shocked.

W[olfram] to take over as Hitler! Alarm bells ringing. Werner worried about workload: ‘Wolfram is
Unity
' (echoes of Göring's ‘Hitler is Germany'). Claims that cocaine consumption already sky-high. Must be exaggeration. Seen him sniff nothing more toxic than Vic inhaler.

Everyone in huddles. Renate & Dieter concocting conspiracy
theories
. Sir H[allam] and D[ora] swapping horror stories of
ACTOR-DIRECTORS
 
I HAVE KNOWN
. L[uke] fretting that W. 6” taller than R. ∴ Unity's height-distinction lost. Only F. untroubled. To her, W. can do no wrong, either on screen or off.

2 W.s [Wolfram and Werner] poring over rough assembly. Seems that R.'s scenes less extensive than feared. Werner swears that, if all goes according to plan, switch will add no more than 4 or 5 days.

One scene (rally at Feldherrnhalle) to be ditched. Rest to be reshot. Worst news is that it means return to Bayreuth (principals not extras). What with Diana and Mosley's 2
^nd
marriage, we'll be here into early November. Revised schedule built around Henry, who's committed to cold-war epic in Finland, and Sir H., who's to play Pope in bio-pic on St Francis (‘Although with the beard they've proposed, I'll look more like one of his goats').

And journalist last week referred to magic of filming!

Depression.