Introduction

All the King’s Men is a feature-length World War I television drama by the BBC starring David Jason, first broadcast on Remembrance Sunday, 14 November 1999.

The film derives its title from a line in the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme and is based on a 1992 book, The Vanished Battalion by the film’s co-producer, Nigel McCrery.

Outline

The film and book are based on the story of the 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment which included men from the King’s estate at Sandringham House. These were grouped in a “Sandringham Company”, following recruiting practices of the period which sometimes attempted to keep “pals” of similar background together in the same units.

The battalion suffered heavy losses in action at Gallipoli on 12 August 1915 and a myth grew up later that the unit had advanced into a mist and simply disappeared. The film dramatises these events and the origins of the myth back home, in the process following an investigator sent after the war on behalf of the Royal Family to find the truth about the company’s fate. As represented in the film, after becoming separated from other British troops and suffering heavy losses the remnants of the Sandringham Company were taken prisoner by Ottoman soldiers and then massacred. One survivor wakes in a German military hospital and is told by a doctor that he was fortunate to have been found by German troops accompanying the Turkish forces.

The scene in which prisoners are killed as they tried to surrender was criticised by both the Turkish Ambassador in London as being unsupported by evidence and by a descendant of the central character Captain Frank Beck.

Book Inspiration

The drama was based on co-producer Nigel McCrery’s non-fiction book The Vanished Battalion. The book was first published in 1992 and was republished in 1997 and 1999 as All the King’s Men: one of the greatest mysteries of the First World War finally solved.

Trivia & Goofs

• In 1918, the War Graves Commission began to search the Gallipoli battlefields in an effort to locate and identify bodies belonging to the Commonwealth. A Norfolk cap badge was found buried amongst some of the bodies, which led Reverend Charles Pierrepoint Edwards to conduct a more detailed examination of the area where the cap badge was found. In all, 122 of the 180 bodies found were identified by their Norfolk badges and flashes.
• When the Turkish Officer hands Beck’s watch to the Reverend Edwards, the watch still has the chain attached. When Edwards hands the watch to Queen Alexandra the chain is missing.

Production & Filming Details

• Director: Julian Jarrold.
• Producers: Gareth Neame and Nigel McCrery.
• Writer: Alma Cullen.
• Music: Adrian Johnston.
• Cinematography: David Odd.
• Editor: Chris Gill.
• Distributor: BBC.
• Release Date: 14 November 1999 (UK).
• Running time: 110 minutes.
• Country: UK.
• Language: English.

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