The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler
Director: James Hogan
Year: 1943
Rating: 4.5
Not sure what people at Universal were smoking,
but it was the War and propaganda films were popular - so someone Ok'ed this
nutty film. The script came from Joe May and Fritz Kortner who had both been
in the film industry in Germany before wisely leaving after Hitler came to
power. May was considered one of the top producers and directors during the
Weimar period. Most of the actors in the film are also refugees from Nazi
Germany or Austria. There are a few nice speeches about freedom and killing
all the Nazis to bring peace. And the two sweet young boys who turn in their
mother for her anti-Hitler thoughts still holds power. This is all told from
the perspective of Germans or Austrians during the War.
Franz (Ludwig Donath) is a loyal German
official in Vienna who has an aptitude for imitation. One that he does a
fine job on is Hitler, repeating Hitler's speeches with the same fervor.
This comes to the attention of Nazi higher-ups in Berlin who arrest him and
bring him in. They force him to do his impersonation and nod approvingly.
He is knocked out and when he comes to, he is the spitting image of Adolf.
They send a wire to his wife that he has been executed as a traitor. The
wife is played by the wonderful Gale Sondergaard, who was actually American
born. Their two sons learn to hate their dad, drunken soldiers from the Russian
front are put up in her home, she is forced to remarry to stay free - and
so she decides to assassinate Hitler. The Spider Woman! This is the sort
of film that I wish I could have watched with an audience in 1943. Would
they have laughed at the silliness of it or cheered. I wonder where Bobby
Watson was? He was usually the go to guy to play Hitler during the war.
