He says:
Would you pay $1,500 to take a class I’m selling? Here’s my closing: “The starting date won’t be set until we sell all the remaining spaces in the class. You will receive a letter with the time and date of the orientation session to which you can bring one or two guests. Now, I’ll need a check for the full amount to reserve your spot now. Yes, now. It’s customary.” (You pay for something when you buy it, you know.)
The first year I was in that business, I earned national recognition for sales. My mentor said that I had an ability to “inspire trust.” True story. Selling Hitler, directed by Alastair Reid and starring Jonathan Pryce, Alexei Sayle, and Alison Doody, is a British comedy based on the true story of the Hitler diary hoax. Stern journalist Gerd Heidemann was the go-between for the forger and his publisher. He was also a much better salesman than I.
Selling Hitler is filmed in “film noir” color with frequent dark settings and atmospheres. What appears to be authentic “Movie Tone” style black and white footage is interspersed to add support to the story and document factual information. There are a few truths mixed in with the forgeries. This production originally aired as five television episodes in England and will be released July 13 in the states as a DVD.
If Heidemann was in on the scam from the beginning, it isn’t clear from this production. He soon became enamoured with the potential for profits and quickly succumbed to temptation. He convinced his financiers to trust him and the forger and pay in cash to protect the forger's brother, a supposed German officer in hiding. The “brother” was supplying the goods in a clandestine manner for his own safety. After the first transaction was complete, Heidemann’s marks convinced themselves that it wasn’t a scam with the logic of “We’ve spent so much money already, it couldn’t possibly be fake. We wouldn’t spend that on fakes!” Heidemann even manages to have the document experts compare the diaries with another piece of forgery from his contact.
Article comments
1 - jeff allee
Great review. This is one of my all time favorite mini-series and I always thought it was criminal that it never aired in the U.S. There have also been home video releases in Canada and the Netherlands that cut out 50 minutes from the first 3 episodes. It took almost 20 years, but I'm glad this classic series is finally available uncut on home video.
2 - the fake she
Oh my. Now I want to watch them both.