Kevin Brownlow, the director of the breakthrough independent 1964 movie, ‘It Happened Here,’ returned to New Radnor on Saturday, November 30, after more than sixty years.

Part of the film was shot in the Radnorshire village.

It was first shown at Cork, Mannheim and London film festivals in 1964, and portrays what it would have been like to have lived in a 1940s Britain under Nazi occupation. The film, which took eight years to complete, was begun in 1958 by Brownlow when he was only 18, having teamed up with Andrew Molio, another teenage film enthusiast.

‘It Happened Here’ was released to rave reviews, praised for its authenticity, and some controversy about its scenes involving British fascists.

The early scenes were shot, in 1959, in Water Street, New Radnor, and in surrounding countryside including a farmhouse on Black Yatt which was ‘blown up’ in a battle scene.

Central to the local shoot was New Radnor's then village doctor, Dr Dick Jobson, himself a keen amateur film maker and his wife Pauline who, though not a professional actor, became the film’s memorable lead.

Thanks to the Jobsons, most of the village also turned out as extras in the New Radnor shoot. These scenes depict with graphic detail a German military evacuation from a British war zone, and the gratuitous slaughter by German soldiers of a group of evacuees.

Some of the, then, child participants in the film reminisced about their experiences on Saturday where a large crowd gathered in the New Radnor Community Hall for a screening of the film.

Joined by Kevin Brownlow, Mark Levene and Martin Smith hosted the event and held a discussion after the film viewing. They quizzed Brownlow on the film and allowed locals to ask any burning questions surrounding the classic movie.