Hitler--Dead or Alive (1942) User Reviews (22)

Only Hollywood back in 1942 can come up with a story like this

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 18 October 2003]

******SPOILERS******Off the wall war movie about a bunch of gangsters who become patriotic, well the million dollar reward helps too, and are dropped into Germany to get, as the movie title says, Hitler dead or alive. Hitler, a highly decorated WWI combat veteran, is made out to look like a coward or a fool as he begs for his life when captured or runs and hides from the slightest sound or danger when he's in charge! Watching all this now, in 2003, I can only imagine how people watching "Hitler Dead or Alive" back then, in 1942, would have wondered just how Hitler and his Nazis got as far as they did in the first place.

Totally insane plot, even for a movie made during wartime, where there was stories going around that Hitler had doubles. With this in mind the boys from the mob had to make sure that they caught the real Hitler they brought along someone with them who knew Hitler,from back in the beer hall days of the 1920's. The Hitler expert, as well as former friend, recognized him by a scar that he had over his upper lip that resulted from a bottle thrown at him during a beer hall brawl! Believe it or not were told that's the reason he grew a mustache! Oh really! When Hitler is caught the gangster's in order to find out that he's the real McCoy, or Hitler, shave his famous mustache off and there's the scar! At that point Hitler knowing that the jig is up, as well as mustache off, cries out hysterically to his captors "Please spear my life and I'll give you half of my kingdom".

This movie is even funnier then "The Producers" which is a comedy about Hitler and the Third Reich made for laughs years after Hitler and his regime was history, and no longer a threat to anyone. Unlike that film "Hitler Dead or Alive" that was made in all seriousness as a moral boaster for the "War Effort". Where the ending of the movie could well have lost the war for the allies if it was taken seriously just for the false and moronic information that it presented.

Just before Hitler is shot by is own troops because they didn't recognize him without his mustache, I kid you not, the commander of the SS execution squad that was about to do Hitler in says disgustedly to him "how did Germany produce a piece of scum like you". A moment later at the same time thinking that Hitler got away from the gangsters he says triumphantly about his beloved Fuhrer, whom he's just about to have executed, in complete awe "The Man Is Pure Genius"! I had to take my heart medication pills to keep from getting a heart attack just from laughing!

Oh yes the end of this ridiculous movie tells us that Hitler was actually killed in 1942 and the Hitler you see in the papers and newsreels is just a double. I guess that's how in the end the allies won the war according to this outrageous film: Hitler wasn't around to lead the Germans to their final victory! But you know what you'll never read this amazing "fact" in any history book or see it on the History Channel! Oh yeah do you wanna bet!

A "B" with potential!

[rongendron1946 · 5/10 · 23 January 2017]

Yes, the movie "Hitler, Dead or Alive",was sub-par for that time period's genre, but I believe that the basic theme could be currently remade, with success! Using an all-star cast & more expensive sets, this "B" movie plot could capture a new audience, since World War II movies have become in fashion again, in recent years! I also think a film, like the "Dirty Dozen" was also influenced by it!

If you look at numerous 'war' films, actually made during WW II, they were done quickly & cheaply, to capitalize on the times.

Even the great "Casablanca", made in 1943, was done mostly on back-lots & to take advantage of the recent 'action' there, so please look at "Hitler, Dead or Alive" through the eyes of war audiences, who had no television & were anxious to see anything about world events!

Wanted: Dead or Alive, Hitler: Dead or Alive is a must-watch. A whacky WWII propaganda film that will make you laugh.

[ironhorse_iv · 5/10 · 10 August 2014]

One of the most unusual U.S. WWII propaganda films, Hitler, Dead or Alive isn't your typical wartime film. This movie is so over the top that it's so bad, it's good. Inspired on an actual true event, in which a businessman promised a reward of one million dollars to anyone to bring Adolf Hitler to justice, dead or alive. The movie took the idea and place a story about three gangsters, Steve Maschick (Ward Bond), Hans "Dutch" Havermann (Warren Hymer), and Joe "The Book" Conway (Paul Fix) accepting that challenge. Bond was the sturdy rock of the gang, Hymer the comic relief and Fix the brains. Seeing how film noir and Warner Bros gangster films were popular at the time; it was no surprised that the film director Nick Grinde & writer Sam Neuman made the controversial choice of portraying American criminals as heroes than the soldiers fighting overseas at the time. It's kinda upsetting in a way, as hundreds of servicemen were dying in the battlefields during the making of this film. You can tell that the movie is so absurd and preposterous, that the movie has a series of improbable scenes that lead them to Hitler (Bobby Watson) like jail-breaking and hijacking a plane. The gangsters are lump-heads idiots who somehow found a way, not to get themselves killed within 10 minutes in Germany. The Nazis in the film are portray like Col. Klink dummies, allowing them to last that long into 70 minute film. In real life, this movie would had ended, once they paratroop into Germany. The movie is full of dumb things happening like Ward Bond taking down an airplane with a tommy gun, while flying. Do not question the probability of one man standing in the open door of a flying aircraft and successfully shooting down another plane. Don't ask. Another highlight of the film is the gangsters shaving off Hitler's mustache and cut off that big lock of greasy hair that hangs in his face. It was funny as hell. The movie recent got back in the public eye, due to that director Quentin Tarantino quoting that he got some influence from this movie to help him make his masterpiece film, 2009's Inglourious Basterds. You can honestly, see the influences, as both movies have Americans going behind enemy lines, causing chaos like prison breaks, and trying to kill Hitler. There are also the same type of female German characters that helped the Americans get closer to Hitler, as in this film, it's Countess/ Dancer Greta (Fee 'Faye' Wall). What a dame! More dangerous than a pocketful of loose razor blades. The movie also influence Mel Brooks, whom got the idea for 1967's The Producers. The acting is mediocre. Ward Bond's pathos-laden delivery is laughable. The studio had to make due with Bruce Edwards who may look the part, but can't convincingly read dialogue. Bobby Watson, Hollywood's #1 Hitler. Between 1942 and 1962 Watson was cast a record ten times in the role of Best Fascist Dictator. Call about being typecast. Gees. He sounds like a cartoon, German stereotype. The professional good actors were either off fighting or unattainable due to budgetary limitations. The movie is bit dated even at the time. There was a pre-infamous Dachau scene; that was a bit haunting. It really shows that Americans really were that clueless on what was really happening in concentration camp around Europe. The quasi-comic tone of the film turns serious at the end, when a desperate Hitler got a weird irony death. I love that speech by the SS guard. "To think that Germany could produce a piece of filth like you". It made my day. The movie did had a bittersweet ending, but it was needed for the time. It still present a powerful war-time message. The movie had a low production budget, as there wasn't much action in this supposedly action pack film. Germany sure looks a lot like Southern California. Most of the sequences were taken from stock footage that didn't match well. The movie hasn't aged well. Since it's in the public domain, most DVDs that copy or transfer this footage had fuzzy or grainy condition. It's hard to find, a great copy of this. The audio is at less decent. You can also find this movie on Youtube or the Internet for free. Overall: Its hammer-over-the-head patriotism is indeed funny. It's a so bad, it's good type of a watch makes it appealing.

Made for Kids Who Loved It

[howardeisman · 3 September 2009]

I saw this movie when it first came out. My age group cohort, the males anyway, still remember this movie fondly. Every kid saw it. Of course it's ridiculous, in the same way the Three Stooges are ridiculous. We wouldn't criticize our three stooge friends for not being realistic.

At the time this movie came out, Americans didn't know about concentration camps and the Holocaust. Thus, the silliness of this film can be expected to fall flat for adults who watch it now. However, laughing at Hitler gang movies was quite common in 42, 43, 44. It was a common recreation.

I will also add that this was Ward Bond's only starring role in his long movie career.

This Has To Be Seen To Be Believed

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 24 January 2004]

If you were looking to take out a contract on Hitler, would you hire the trio of Ward Bond, Paul Fix, and Warren Hymer? I'm glad this film is preserved if only for the fact it is the best example of World War II propaganda film run totally amuck. I can't believe it was taken seriously even back in 1943.

The plot simply is that an unknown, but wealthy American businessman hires these three gangsters to kill Hitler and shorten the war. Clever guy that Hitler is, he makes frequent use of doubles to prevent assassination attempts. But the intrepid trio reaches someone in the underground who knows that Hitler has a scar on his upper lip from the aborted Beer Hall Putsch. They eventually get the real Hitler and identify him by shaving off the mustache he's grown to hide it. And the S.S. coming to rescue him, shoot him as he is trying to escape because nobody recognizes Hitler without the mustache.

Two things of note. Warren Hymer made a career of playing dumb henchmen and I can't believe anyone would give him so vital a mission. And Ward Bond has the distinction of being in seven of the hundred greatest films voted on by the American Film Institute, most of any thespian. Hard to believe his career survived this.

By all means get this if you want to see where Mel Brooks got the idea for The Producers.

Super low-budget stinker! Makes the Germans in Hogan's Heroes look dangerous!

[grasshopper54 · 2/10 · 8 April 2002]

I was always interested in viewing a Bobby Watson vehicle. Recently I purchased this film solely for that reason. Film historians tell us that Mr. Watson was a dead ringer for Adolf Hitler and I had to see this for myself. Watson only shows up in the film after about two thirds of the way through.

All in all, this film is so bad that it's pathetic. Putting aside propaganda reasons, it boggles the imagination why an accomplished actor like Ward Bond (Gentleman Jim, Wagon Train, Gone With the Wind) would actually star in such a farce. My only guesses are that 1) he was hard up for money or 2) he felt it was his patriotic duty to do this stinker.

The Nazis in this film are shown to be idiotic boobs and incompetent to the point of not even being able to keep POWs from escaping from Dachau. Actually, Dachau wasn't even used as a POW camp. At any rate, that aside, they are depicted as a group of nincompoops, much like the ones in the TV program, Hogan's Heroes. I always thought that Stalag 17 spawned the idea for Hogan's Heroes, but now I think that Hitler Dead or Alive may have been the movie that influenced Bing Crosby to air that TV classic!!

Simply put, this movie is nonsensical, moronic and unrealistic. It's worth the time to view it once, just for laughs, but to view it a second time is a waste of time!

funny, but point taken

[winner55 · 2/10 · 31 January 2009]

Not quite as awful as some would make it out - but definitely in the 'so bad it's funny' category. In fact, it could have been worse - I smiled a lot but I never laughed out loud as I do with Ed Wood films.

There's nothing credible about the story whatsoever - no, don't even try. At one point Hitler gets his mustache shaved off, and people who have known him for years can no longer recognize him! Theshoddy sets and preposterous plot devices have been remarked by other reviewers, why belabor such points. And Ward Bond's performance isn't simply "over the top," it's shot out to the stratosphere. There are some funny lines, and the German accents are Monty-Pythonesque caricatures of human speech. The first half drags a bit, but the second half moves along at a fair clip.

One other piece of plotting non-sequitor: The narrator of the story makes out that he can report a dead hero's last words - unfortunately, nobody present at the death could possibly report these to him. Is he just clairvoyant? And that hero - racketeer, bank-robber, murderer - "A great man," one character calls him, "a great American" says another. Hmmm....

Oh well; one positive piece of propaganda does show up toward the end, when the Nazis line a group of children up against a wall and shoot them. A bit of a brutal throw-away in a film like this, but since this is really something Nazis did, it was important to communicate it to American audiences, so they could get a glimpse at their real enemy - which, since this is the point of the film, made this brief brutal moment worth the whole effort, I guess.

Al Capone meets the Gestapo: So bad that it's fun.

[astrea · 1/10 · 14 June 2001]

This film is what _Desperate Journey_ (Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan) might have been if it had been a B-film. (I know: _Desperate Journey_ isn't that good to start with---that's the problem!) Three ex-gangsters take up a wealthy man's offer of 1 MILLION dollars to anyone who can bring in Hitler--dead or alive. The three join the RCAF(why?) and parachute their way into Germany, bringing along their hapless pilot. I wish I could say that the film builds to a tension-filled climax, but every scene becomes even more (unintentionally) hilarious. The leaden dialogue is more than matched by the mind-bogglingly-dreadful German accents affected by the leading players. ("Vat? Ve haf only until Sursday, hmm?") In one scene, a sneering guard actually checks passes by repeating "So! So! So!" In hindsight, some of the portrayals of wartime Germany are actually touchingly innocent: the small prison holding the three gangsters is identified as "Dachau," a name that did not yet have horror associated with it. Now we know...

Like many an earnest wartime film, _Hitler: DoA_ had a sincere message (there is more to the Nazi menace than Adolf Hitler). Yet I have a hard time believing that, even in wartime, its schlocky delivery moved very many Americans to consider the deeper meaning of the war in which they wre engaged (yeah, right!) This one was definitely for the kids, an attempt to re-make the American gangster film with a wartime theme, proving that even American criminals have a basic grasp of decency and heroism, far above that shown by the evil Nazis. Throw in lots of chases and shoot-em-ups, and voila! You have a gangster film magically metamorphosed into patriotic material. If you don't expect too much, you can enjoy this one as an almost-fun bit of camp.

One of my nominees for most over the top and silly American propaganda films of WWII.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 29 April 2010]

Aesthetically speaking, this is not a good film in the least. The plot is stupid, the dialog is beyond just stupid and the film can only be enjoyed as a silly piece of kitsch. However, I liked it because it represents the extreme in how bad an American propaganda film can be. Like "First Yank in Tokyo", any attempt to make a believable story went out the window with this one! The film stars some actors who are usually there for support--Ward Bond, Paul Fix and Warren Hymer. While I liked them as colorful characters in films, without a strong and more competent leading man, the film is a bit doomed at the onset. The three play gangsters who lead a Three Stooges-like covert mission to kill Hitler. And, as for Hitler and his henchmen, they are about as smart as you'd expect from a Stooges' film! It's all very dopey and silly but I could also see someone today watching it precisely because it's so bad--so over the top.

This film has nothing going for it other than goofiness. It is so weird and wacky that it makes for a wonderfully strange evening of movie watching--and it's easy to, as the film is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free.

American Propaganda

[sbibb1 · 7/10 · 7 February 2005]

This film has been reviewed many times already by other watchers, and I will not add a recap to the plot as that has already been done. This is a film made in 1942, mere months after the United States entered Wolrd War II. This film is a prime example of American propaganda. And yes, America did make Propaganda films just as Germany and Japan did, its just harder to see an American propaganda film.

The plot is somewhat silly, the Nazis are portrayed as buffoons (but honestly who would want to see a film with clever Nazis anyway?), and the film today does not hold up well. But the honesty of the performance of Ward Bond, an actor who is best known for his Western roles is worth watching. Yes, the Nazis are seen murdering innocent children, and Ward Bond does give a heartfelt speech that he manages to choke out even though he is shot and dying, but this film is American propaganda, and is a very interesting piece of what patriotic movie making was like in 1942. Silly, yes, by todays standards, but if you watched this film in 1942 while the war was going on, you would not have felt the film was silly, but hopeful.

Patriotic gangsters

[ejrjr · 5/10 · 4 November 2006]

After eleven years at Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay, several gangsters are released and immediately concoct a scheme to kill Hitler in exchange for a bounty. Why will they succeed? Because they previously assassinated a fellow gangster. If you can accept that premise then the other contrived actions and subplots will be immaterial.

This film is far-removed from Plan 9 From Outer Space not that it is better. This film was produced in 1941 or '42 which was in the early days of the War, long before the German Army retreated from North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Greece, Romania and France. This is a simple story exploiting the hopes and dreams of many Americans.

It is especially interesting that gangsters are cast as heroes and at the end proclaimed "great Americans". J. Edgar Hoover and his star agent Eliot Ness at the FBI must have been livid after spending the 1930s claiming bootleggers and minor gangsters were the greatest threat to America since abolitionists.

While some scenes provoke a smile, this is far from the lunacy of Plan 9. The writer, producer and director of this film are mere apprentices or hacks compared to Ed Wood, Jr. To even compare the two films is a travesty. Unlike Plan 9, I recommend renting this because one viewing is more than enough.

This would have been great comedy if the Three Stooges had been cast as the lead actors. But, they were not and therefore, this is merely a mild broth that is less than filling. However, it does have one redeeming characteristic and that is the ending when "war lords and profiteers" are proclaimed a greater threat than Hitler. It is mind-boggling that the screenwriter foresaw Dick Cheney, the president of Halliburton corporation who loudly advocated during 2003, invading Iraq allegedly to destroy non-existent weapons of mass destruction. And, subsequently out of sheer coincidence received contracts totaling more than $12 billion to rebuild Iraq.

Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds

[steve-roche5 · 10/10 · 23 September 2009]

It was interesting to see that Hitler Dead Or Alive originated a plot device used in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The device? A renowned glamorous woman artist invited to an event accompanied by potential Hitler assassins ith false credential (posing as subordinate artists). Known of the male assassins spoke English or German ( or Italian) to well either).

Tarantino consistently borrows only from the best, and, in some measure at least, Hitler DOA is the one of the best.

Hitlor DOA certainly carries a serious World War 2 anti-Nazi message. While Hitler DOA is certainly Grade-Z entertainment, produced on a $10 budget with ghastly dialog and a great cartoon-ish plot, it presents a nice alternate universe twist to World War Two.

Shut Up. Dutch!! What I tell you about talking'??

[CelluloidRehab · 2/10 · 2 February 2007]

I am continuing my "dead or alive" theme with this little war-time propaganda soporific. Before Blood Diamond, Gorillas in the Mist and The Forbidden Dance, Ward Bond went in to Germany via Canada and Great Britain, to kill Adolf Schicklgruber (a.k.a Adolf Hitler). Now I see where the inspiration for Coleman Francis' Red Zone Cuba came from. I will summarize the main points : Steve Maschick (Bond) has just been released from Alcatraz for tax evasion, after serving an 11 year of 12 stint, with his cronies "The Book" (Paul Fix, Alumni of Night of the Lepus) and "Dutch" (the handicap-able Warrne Hymer). The same day a rich tycoon puts up a $1,000,000 reward for the killing of Schicklgruber (Hilter.... oh Monty!!). To set the record straight. A bunch of beer swilling low-level criminal mobsters want to infiltrate the deepest corners of the Third Reich and assassinate Hitler. The plan, none. It's all improvised. Colonel "Hannibal" Smith would have said something about "jazz" at this point.

I'm done with the plot at this point. I will continue by sharing with you some of the intricacies of this sublime stain. They must have been working with a very, very limited budget. The cockpit of the paratrooper plane looks like a giant room, with an oval arch. The pilot is sitting down in a chair, "acting" like he's looking out the window and may be (through some miracle) holding a flight stick. Ed Wood's production would have looked like Steve Spielberg's by comparison. And of course there the hackney stock footage. We have a musical score that boils your blood at the same time it melts your heart. Yankee Doodle is drawn out into a 2 minute epic, describing the griping and stress-filled mood of hiding under the stairs in the sitting room. It's melody is wave-like, moving from eerie to patriotic to melancholy. It also moves to nausea. We also have yet another movie where Hitler is right handed. If I remember correctly, Herr Schicklgruber was of the left persuasion. We also cannot forget about characters such as Else, the German Duchess with a sometimes German, sometimes French accent from London, who doubles as a double agent. Have you noticed Germany looks a lot like California? Yeah, I've had enough already. How about you ?

Ward Bond worked on 25+ movies with John Ford and who knows how many with John Wayne. He was always the lone-cowboy backing you up. Were the times really that tough or was it the damn old studio system again, with its contractual obligations that lead to his involvement in this production? Ward has committed his energy and effort into this role. It is sad that there is nothing there to keep you . Ward is by far the only reason to keep watching. It is to see his over the top performance as a leading man. This movie also seems a bit ironic when thinking what happened to Ward during the blacklisting in Hollywood and all his Communist comrades.

This is a collection of celluloid film which adds up to a ridiculous premise, that is remarkably forward thinking considering the idiocracy of the 26th century to come. It has influenced numerous movies from the Dirty Dozen to Invasion U.S.A to Delta Force. Ward's Anti Nazi-Pro Child message at end, would go on to influence a certain man from Cuba. And inspire millions to "Say hello to his little friend..."

Worse Than Plan 9 From Outer Space???

[donnielee46 · 7 November 2004]

Three gangsters head for Nazi Germany to capture Adolph Hitler and claim a big monetary reward. With a lot of Fuherer imposter's, how would they find the "real" Hitler: Simple, he had a beer stein cut on his upper lip delivered during the famous Munich Beer Hall Putsch, and grew his trademark mustache to cover it up. All the boys had to do was keep shaving "Hitlers" until they found the real one with the scar. And how did they learn to speak German??? Simple: (in Ward Bond's words) "...from driving a beer truck in Milwaukee..." To everyone who tells me that "Plan 9 From Outer Space" was the worst film ever made, I simply reply: "You haven't seen 'Hitler: Dead or Alive." Watch it for laughs!

A patriotic gangster propaganda film

[gullwing592003 · 5/10 · 4 March 2011]

The only reason I wanted to see this World War Two propaganda film was the presence of Ward Bond in a leading role which he handled very well & was completely convincing & believable. He had an enormous screen presence & personality & he could've easily became a leading actor if he really wanted to but he was content in small & distinguished supporting roles. He was quite versatile & is often associated with John Wayne in the John Ford directed films. Ward Bond was literally in just about every film to name a few like "It Happened One Night" (1934) he was an extra in "G-Men" (1935) "Night Key" with Boris Karloff (1937), "Dead End" (1937), "Prison Break" with Barton Maclane (1938), "Gone With The Wind" (1939) he was an extra in "Son Of Frankenstein" (1939), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946), "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" with James Cagney (1950) etc. He was in hundred's of movies.

He often played cops & gangsters & I thought he did a good job in the leading role of the patriotic gangster. The cast is solid with established actors like Paul Fix & Warren Hymer who often played stupid gangsters. Sure the plot is far fetched but it was 1942 & WW2 was a very popular war inspiring national patriotism. The film was obviously a wartime moral booster while at the same time trying to sustain & save a dying genre: the gangster film & in 1942 what better way to sell a gangster movie than to turn the gangsters into patriotic American hero's on an improbable mission to knock off Adolf Hitler. It may be a little campy today but in it's day this movie was probably taken seriously by 1942 audiences. Think about it, the film was obviously intended to be serious & it's not a bad watch & I would watch it again & it's by far superior to the Ed Wood films.

There is really no comparison & there is a lot worse movies out there than this. Don't forget Ed Wood was voted the worst director of all time, an honor & title he fittingly deserves. It doesn't get any worse than Ed Wood not even an Elvis Presley movie.

Comedy or drama? Neither, just a complete fiasco.

[mark.waltz · 1/10 · 13 May 2020]

Unless you're Hal Roach spoofing the ridiculousness of dictators with a complete farce that shows them as cowardly buffoons or Mel Brooks ridiculing their complete existence or even the character comics of "Hogan's Heroes", you can't really make a serious film or TV show about the Nazis if you don't have a proper structure to revolve a script around. this film is comedy for the first 15 minutes, boring war propaganda for the next 45, another five minutes of farce and then the message summed up in a way that sends this Z grade bunch of nonsense straight to the compost. I couldn't believe what I was hearing in dialogue from the very beginning, and at least I thought I would have something to laugh at for the next seventy minutes. What results from the rest of the movie is perplexing in every way. It is a film with 10 different personalities and everything seems out of place once it is all jumbled together.

Poor Bobby Watson, having to go through life being told that he looked like the most hated man in the world in the 1930's and 40's. but he took it all in stride, crying all the way to the bank as he made a living playing Hitler, sometimes comically as in "The Devil with Hitler", or seriously as in "The Hitler Gang". The fault here is not his, nor is it Ward Bond's or Roscoe Karns, as they are playing what is in the script. Certainly a story about an assassination plot against Hitler makes for good drama, and that has been done several times. But the mood in which this is written is inconsistent, and the audience will feel guilty about laughing earlier when they see the horrific things that happened towards the end.

The basic premise of the film is an offer of a million dollars for someone to kill Hitler. Where does the alive part come in then? To be honest, it doesn't, and that makes the title rather inappropriate. Karns of course plays his typically dumb crook, and he delivers his idiotic lines with his usual gusto. Bond is the heart and soul of the story, delivering his lines as if he was reciting Shakespeare. obviously, he's taking apart seriously even if he realize how horrible it was.

However, it is the performance of Dorothy Tree that ends up being the embarrassment of the film, an over-the-top, melodramatic performance as a German countess who secretly hates the Nazis even though she's dating one. She seems to be a precursor of the Bullwinkle bad girl Natasha. the color shade performances of the actors playing the Germans are so outlandish that they best not even mention by name. This is a one-time viewing necessity for those who are interested in wartime propaganda through Hollywood, and it is definitely one of the great humiliating moments of the film industry in an era that's all many classics released that seriously told a good story or provided worthwhile entertainment.

Hitler's Close Shave With Death!

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 27 July 2011]

Three mobsters fresh out of Alcatraz, where they served eleven years for income tax evasion, take a wealthy industrialist up on his offer to ice Adolf Hitler for a cool million bucks. "White Bondage" director Nick Grinde and a stalwart cast headed up by Ward Bond combine chuckles with cringes in this outlandish World War II thriller. Scenarists Karl Brown of "White Legion" and Steve Neuman of "The Hoodlum" have a blast ridiculing the Nazis as these jailbirds field one lucky break after another. Hollywood made its share of propaganda potboilers during World War II to bolster morale at home and paint a portrait of America as a bastion of democracy to the world abroad. Naturally, nothing about "Hitler: Dead or Alive" is remotely credible, but it is fun to watch. The Office of War Information objected to wartime melodramas like "Hitler: Dead or Alive" because they contained more fiction than fact. Typically, the Nazis were depicted as morons who were as easy to knock over as tenpins in a bowling alley.

When Steve Maschick (Ward Bond of "The Searchers"), Joe 'The Book' Conway (Paul Fix of "Red River") and Hans 'Dutch' Havermann (Warren Hymer of "Police Bullets") meet Samuel Thornton (Russell Hicks of "Scarlet Street"), they cannot malinger because the local police have given them 24 hours to clear out of town. They want to take Thornton up on his deal to knock off the Führer. Basically, Thornton wants Hitler dead because the Gestapo murdered his brother while he was serving as an exchange professor in Germany. Thornton's attorney draws up a contract for Steve and company, and they enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force, cross the Atlantic in a convoy, and train as paratroopers in England. Later, they commandeer a transport plane and compel the pilot, Johnny Stevens (Bruce Edwards of "Bombardier"), to fly them to Germany. When an enemy fighter attacks them, Steve shoots the German plane down with his tommy gun. Reluctantly, Stevens has to bail out with Steve and his stooges, and they figure that they are 200 west miles of Berlin.

Our intrepid heroes steal a Nazi transport truck. No sooner have they stolen the truck than the Gestapo stop them. Joe and Steve explain that they have just flown from England and must see somebody-in-charge. The cretinous Gestapo officer agrees to top off their gas tank, get them some grub, and escort them to headquarters. The Gestapo take them to Dachau. Camp commandant Colonel Hecht (Felix Basch of "None Shall Escape") refuses to believe their story about a secret message for Hitler. Hecht places them under protective custody in a cell until morning. It doesn't take Steve long to locate a hidden microphone in their cell. The commandant confides in his girlfriend, Countess Else von Brandt (Dorothy Tree of "The Asphalt Jungle"), that he wants to obtain the message so he can deliver it personally to Hitler. She convinces Hecht to let them carry out their mission. As it turns out, Else is none other than a notorious anti-Axis resistance leader code-named 'Rosebud' hiding out in Germany. She has an Ace of Spades poker card slipped in with their meals with instructions. Our heroes break out of Dachau, masquerade as Nazis, and steal a car with Else in it. During their flight for freedom, Dutch is crouched on the running board when the sentries kill him. Steve and company manage to breakout. Else leaves them in the woods and arranges for another resistance agent to help them. She returns to Dachau and tells Hecht that the Americans terrorized her. Hecht and his troops examine Dutch's body and find that the Americans have come to the Fatherland to murder Hitler for a million dollars.

Later, Else meets Steve, Joe, and Stevens in a cellar at her estate. Steve reveals his designs to kill Hitler. Naturally, Else is skeptical about Steve's chances of rubbing out the Führer. Moreover, she believes that slaying Hitler will not stop the war because his generals would continue fighting. The following morning our heroes learn that Meyer (Frederick Giermann of "Hotel Berlin"), the guy who guided them to the cellar, once knew Hitler. Meyer tells them about how he saved Hitler's life after the future Führer was beaten up in Munich. Hitler's assailants carved him up broken beer bottles and left a permanent scar on his upper lip. Hitler grew his Charlie Chaplin mustache to conceal the scar. Steve assures his pals now he will not be fooled when he gets his hands on Hitler. Upstairs, Hecht shows up with troops at Else's house to search the premises for the escapees. During the search, Steve eavesdrops on Hecht as he talks about how Hitler will kill children in reprisal for attempts on his life. Finally, Steve's patriotic impulses trump his mercenary ones. Anyway, Hecht looks forward to his date with Else at a party thrown for Hitler. The Nazi High Command invites Else, and she insists her own personal orchestra accommodate her.

Hitler (Bobby Watson) shows up during the final quarter hour for a dance at his headquarters with Steve and company masquerading as musicians. Everything go awry, but Steve abducts Hitler. He shaves Hitler's mustache to be sure he has the dictator. When Hecht's men captures Steve, Hitler, and the others, they refuse to believe that Hitler is who he claims to be. In route to the firing squad, Hitler pleads for mercy and runs. Hecht shoots him in the back. They line up Steve and Meyer and kill them. The action concludes with Thornton telling two newspaper reporters that it was unrealistic of his part to believe that killing Hitler would end the war.

The last four minutes of "Hitler: Dead Or Alive" bristles with patriotic speeches. Mind you, it is doubtful the Royal Canadian Air Force would have let ex-convicts like Maschick, Conway, and Havermann join up. Nevertheless, logic has little to do with this kind of fantasy.

Bad, Ridiculous, and Stupid, All Rolled Together!

[ETO_Buff · 1/10 · 10 November 2015]

This is the most ridiculous movie I have ever seen. If it had been the Marx Brothers or Laurel & Hardy, the level of stupidity of this movie would almost be acceptable. However, neither of those comedy teams would have done a film this bad. This is not meant to be a comedy, although one cannot help laughing at it. It is truly inconceivable that a film studio would release something like this. Here's the premise: a group of bootleggers that have just been released from a prison stretch are approached by the United States government to go into Berlin undercover and assassinate Hitler. Not only is premise stupid, the execution is even worse. It's no wonder that so many American civilians had no idea what the war was really like for those that experienced it first-hand, what with films like this on the big screen to reduce reality to comic proportions!

Outrageous comedy thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 3 March 2017]

I thought Hitler--Dead or Alive was a serious men-on-a-mission war film before I started watching it, but before long it slowly dawns on the viewer that this is an out-and-out comedy in which a group of inept buffoons are parachuted into Nazi Germany in order to kill old Adolf himself. Chief interest arises from the casting of familiar character actor Ward Bond in the title role for the first and only time of his lengthy career.

This film attempts to be a madcap comedy but it's anything but. Shots of the concentration camps and the like kill the comic mood stone dead. Bond tries his best but he's mired in a muddle of middling material. I suppose some scenes, like when the Americans jaunt down the road in Germany and encounter the locals, are funny in an outrageous way, but overall the effect is to cringe rather than laugh. The ending, in which Hitler gets his moustache shaved off, has to be seen to be believed.

Amazing There Are So Many That This Film Upsets

[verbusen · 9/10 · 2 June 2022]

I found this film online and started to watch it a few times but shrugged it off as the beginning is mediocre and uninteresting. Later on in my life I went back to it, to the last part when Hitler enters the film and I was stupefied at the sequence of events and was highly entertained. Its a film which will probably surprise you in a good way all the way up to the end. One reason for all the low votes (other then it is a low budget film), a lack of imagination that this is a fictional film, not real life? Perhaps, maybe the reviewers are offended at a certain ignorance of the Nazi characters? Maybe. I went back and watched the rest of the film after being fascinated by the violent ending and found it very funny and exciting.

In the Shadow of Heydrich's Death?

[theowinthrop · 26 April 2004]

Reportedly, in April 1865, upon hearing the dreadful news from Washington, D.C., Benjamin Disraeli made the comment that "Assassination has never changed history!". A brave statement, but dubious. Lincoln's murder took a first rate political mind and spirit out of an office that needed him, and put in a misguided, ill prepared man with some sense of his office's importance. The result was that Lincoln's hope to restore the Union with a benign peace was wrecked by the inept President Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republican Congress which sought a harsher peace on the South. John Wilkes Booth had changed history indeed.

Same happened in 44 B.C. when Julius Caesar was killed. Same happened in 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed and World War I broke out. Assassination does effect history.

In 1942 two Czech patriots were parachuted into their homeland to carry out a mission. They did - they killed Reinhart Heydrich, the "Hangman" "Protector" of Bohemia, and creator of the Final Solution. Heydrich was in a car that was blown up, and it is pleasant to announced that the creep actually died from being skewered by eight heavy springs in the seat that he was seated in - it took him over a week to die. Given his involvement in the Holacaust and other atrocities, one can only say he died the way he deserved. Unfortunately, the Germans destroyed two villages, and killed hundreds of people in retaliation. Because of that the Allies did not carry out any other assassination plots in Europe against Nazis.

But the notion of killing Nazi leaders was instilled in the air, and I think that is why this film was made soon after. To Americans Heydrich was vaguely known (after the destruction of Lidice and the other village interest in the "Hangman" led to two films being made: Fritz Lang's HANGMEN ALSO DIE and Douglas Sirk's HITLER'S MADMAN). HITLER, DEAD OR ALIVE is not a good film - it is really rather stupid. The idea of hiring three American criminals to kill Der Fuhrer is outlandish. But to be fair, this idea of criminals fighting the good fight against Nazis was fairly common in Hollywood films. Nazis never fought fairly, so we needed someone who also fought unfairly. Witness Humphrey Bogart and his co-horts in ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT (against Conrad Veidt) or Alan Ladd in THIS GUN FOR HIRE (admittedly against traitors working for Japan, not Germany) or LUCKY JORDAN. Still, if you want to kill the most vicious government leader in history, why use three gunman instead of working out a plan with the government. So if you have problems with this, you will have problems with the entire film.

The only thing I liked about this movie was when Bobs Watson (as Hitler) makes a comment to a cohort that he eventually plans to doublecross Mussolini. Perhaps it might have happened sooner or later, but Der Fuhrer actually had a high regard for Il Duce, and later in the war sent his leading special agent, Otto Skorzeny, into Italy to rescue the imprisoned ex-head of the government. Still it was amusing to hear that. Otherwise, the film was a total wash-out.

DIRTY THREE

[searchanddestroy-1 · 21 September 2023]

More fun than anything else, this is a cute exciting little yarn, announcing DIRTY DOZEN; more or less. Bobby Watson playing Adolf Hitler will make it two years later for John Farrow's HITLER GANG. This is an excellent grade B picture from Nick Grinde which will give you much surprise and an awesome twist ending that you won't forget. I repeat, don't take it too seriously and you'll appreciate it. After all, this is a propaganda movie, an anti Nazi feature made in 1942. What could we expect else? I nearly forgot this movie and it was so refreshing to watch it again...A curious gem that deserves to be seen.