Hitler - Dead or Alive
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hitler - Dead or Alive |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 70 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nick Grinde |
| script | Karl Brown |
| production | Ben Judell |
| music | Leo Erdody |
| camera | Paul Ivano |
| cut | Jack Dennis |
| occupation | |
| |
Hitler - Dead or Alive is an American propaganda film from 1942 directed by Nick Grinde . The story is said to be based on a true story.
action
Autumn 1939, the German Wehrmacht invades Poland. The Second World War has begun. The extremely wealthy American businessman Samuel Thornton takes this terrible incident as an opportunity and offers a million dollars to those who kidnap Adolf Hitler to bring him to justice for his crimes or kill him. Three rather gruff and unscrupulous gangsters, all of them former inmates in Alcatraz , see the business of their lives in front of their eyes and are determined to earn the huge sum of money. Steve Maschick, American with Polish roots, Hans “Dutch” Havermann and Joe “The Book” Conway want to dare the impossible and attack Hitler. To do this, they register as war volunteers with the Royal Canadian Air Force , where they first hijack and hijack an aircraft with which they and the present pilot Johnny Stevens, who is inevitably also kidnapped, want to fly straight to the Reich.
In the disguise of musicians, the men hope to gain easier access to Hitler. A certain Else von Brandt, a German noblewoman, will help them with this. In fact, the three money-hungry crooks meet the "Führer" and take him prisoner. In order to be able to get him out of the country more easily, they immediately shave off Hitler's treacherous mustache. When, during this action, several SS men use force to gain access to the room where Hitler is "hairdressed", they no longer recognize their own commander in chief and drag everyone present, including Hitler, away to identify these fellows as dangerous spies Free Shoot. All complaining and pleading does not help: the commanding SS officer orders Hitler's shooting. With contempt he explains to him: "To believe that Germany could produce such filth as you ..." Finally it hits the leader of the prevented kidnappers, but before Steve dies, he gives a fiery, ardent patriotic speech.
Production notes
The B-film production Hitler - Dead or Alive was shot in the Fine Arts Studios from August 6, 1942 and premiered in Chicago on November 12, 1942. Even after 1945 the film was not shown in German-speaking countries.
useful information
In November 2012, Quentin Tarantino confessed in a Playboy interview that he had been inspired by Hitler - Dead or Alive when staging his great success Inglourious Basterds .
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide saw the film as a “low budget nonsense”.
Halliwell's Film Guide dismissed this B-strip as a "silly mixture of farce and propaganda".
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Film Daily , on Turner Classic Movies
- ^ "Hitler - Dead or Alive" on Turner Classic Movies
- ↑ Playboy - November 16, 2012 issue
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide , 1996 edition, p. 582
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide . Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 471
Web links
- Hitler - Dead or Alive in the Internet Movie Database (English)