Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973) User Reviews (8)

Don't compare it to the book

[delandrodders · 7/10 · 6 December 2019]

Yes, i know the film has the same title as the book and yes the description sites Spike Milligans life as being the basis of the storey, but dear readers if you look at the film on its own, I believe it deserves a far better review than some would have you believe.

The trouble with films that are supposedly based on books, they usually fall short. I have lost count of the reviews that compare the film to the source material and they typically follow the same path and end with the same conclusions. Directors come under fire for either sticking too closely or veering to far away. The current film is no exception and it mauled because its strays too far from the book. Here's a thought...maybe that's because the book cannot be filmed!! As one reviewer points out, the book is too crude and filthy, which doesnt translate itself to a great film. Another reviewer complains that the film is akin to a Carry On movie, which is unfair, there are no scantily clad ladies and minimal innuendo.

It's just a light hearted look at army life in the days before troops were sent off to the front. It is very loosely based on some of the stories in Spike Milligan's excellent memoir, but it is in no way an autobiographical film. There are one or two sad moments, but much silliness and whimsy. There is little or no smut or outright softcore, which became prevalent in the late 70s. Its just a little comedy portrayed by some well known faces.

Average, but nice part-autobiography of the late, great talented Milligan

[naseby · 7/10 · 15 November 2008]

Although it could've been better, and the book may be (I haven't read it and should) it was worth watching simply for the great 'Milligoon's' foray into his war-service years.

It starts with Milligan's (Jim Dale) call-up, not taking anything seriously, ending up with a brutish baptism of fire at the hands of NCO Bill Maynard, but explores also the camaraderie in amongst the pals he is with.

Mishap after mishap happens, as does ad-lib after ad-lib from Spike. There are human moments too, when one of his number is blown up whilst guarding a 'Jerry' 'plane and another weeps, consoled by the great joker himself, when he finds his whole family have been wiped out in an air raid. Funnily enough, Milligan himself plays his father at this wartime, ironically though, as I heard Milligan once say he thought his dad had a fascist attitude in an interview once on TV.

The film precedes only up until the boys' departure for the front line - it doesn't show anything in action. I imagine that to be relevant in his follow-up book; 'Mussolini, My Part in His downfall'. (Have I got that right?)

Watchable, but not much more than that, but it should be remembered, although adapted for film from the book, he had greater moments with the Goons and his own 'Q' series in the 'seventies and the other one 'There's a lot of it about'. Now they were definitely funny!

Occasionally touches Milligan's humour but mostly just amusing

[bob the moo · 14 October 2002]

Young musician Spike Milligan is playing a gig when WW2 is announced. Spike is drafted into army and goes about training prior to joining action. On the way he and his squad experience plenty of amusing antics but also see the futility and losses of wartime. Based on the first volume of Spike's wartime memoirs.

Spike Milligan was the last goon to go and his unique sense of humour will be greatly missed, although it does live on in many of today's comedians. This is a film version of his memoirs of his time in the second world war. The plot sticks close to the book, focusing on the training rather than later in the war. However the film can't completely bring out the absolute madness inherent in Spike's writing. The film does occasionally have touches of him but mostly this feels a little like a carry on film without the smut.

The comments on the futility of war are OK but they feel like they're heavily thrown into the mix and don't sit well alongside the comedy. MASH did better than this later. This film is more like something between a Carry On film and MASH. It neither manages to do the satire well nor do the laughs as well as you'd hope. It does average with both but never feels comfortable with either.

The characters are quite well drawn. Dale does well as Spike and manages to do a good job without doing an impression but Spike himself is given little to do as his own father. The support cast are all good but don't manage to shine as much as one would have hoped. Maynard, Lowe, Davis and Hughes are all nice surprises but all the best stuff is kept for Dale to use.

Overall Spike fans will feel a little let down by the losses made in transition from page to screen. The comedy aspires to be Milliganesque but only occasionally does his hand shine through. The end result is still entertaining but never as funny as it should be. I suggest you all read the book rather than watching this. RIP Spike – happily your legacy is with us everyday and not just in this film.

Oh what a horrible mess!

[tigerboy-4 · 4/10 · 1 June 2008]

First of all I am biased as the autobiographical novel on which this film is based is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Milligan's career and the funniest thing I have ever read.

The film has a strong cast (but see below), but the script and direction are weak. It's as though they had no idea how to approach the material. Most of the time it's played as a "Carry On" style farce: then we get crude and jarring interludes of fashionable anti-war propaganda. The two styles just do not mesh or integrate.

As for the actors, they do their best, but the "recruits" are all too obviously in their mid-to-late-thirties, rather than the 18-22 year olds they are supposed to be. This problem makes their attempts at silliness and slapstick rather embarrassing, and the coming-of-age theme seems misplaced and irrelevant. Arthur Lowe is excellent as always, but could have been given much more to do. Jim Dale is just too cuddly to capture the central character, and has to resort to pulling faces and speaking in silly voices to compensate.

The one highlight comes very early, with Spike playing his own father- it's downhill from there.

A slapdash MASH variation, that should have been funnier

[allenblank · 3/10 · 9 August 2002]

I never heard of this film till I saw it's listing in the TV guide. I'm a big Jim Dale fan and love comedian Spike Milligan, so when I swa this movie was based on Spike Milligan's sidesplitting autobiography and that Jim Dale was plying Spike and the wonderfully demented Spike was playing his father I was looking foward to this film, but was very disapointed.

The film is about Spike being drafted into the army at the beginning of WWII and covered his basic training. There are some wonderful set pieces like Spike being conned into fighting a much bigger oppenant and when should have been a sidesplitting war games adventure, but the comic payoffs aren't there. It's like director Norman Cohen was influence by two then recent films, "MASH" and "Oh What A Lovely War", both anti war comic looks at war and what he should have done was a Carry On type of film.

The cast had a lot of potential too, We have Arthur Lowe of Dad's Army playing a similar role as the base Commander. There is also Bill Maynard as the sargent and fellow recruits Tony Selby and "Keeping Up Appearences" Onslow, Geoffrey Hughes but they don't do much with them Lowe who know's his character well comes off best of the supporting cast and Dale is wonderfully demented as Spike, but the film doesn't take off. It's just there, going from one situation to another with very little payoff. Like the potentilly funny scene where Spike and his sargent are being chased by a bull but find out that it's really a cow. The director let's on the joke from the beginning so when Spike and the sarge find out it's just not the belly laugh it should be. The direction and lackluster editing really let them down.

It is a pleasent hour and forty minute diversion, thanks to a fine cast, but what unfulfilled potential this film had.

Desperately boring and unfunny

[LCShackley · 4/10 · 7 November 2011]

As an American college student back in the 70s, I read this Spike Milligan book and a couple of the sequels in his never-ending saga of WW2. I remember thinking they were funny, but didn't know until recently that one of them had been filmed.

I recognized some names in the cast, including Spike himself, and Jim Dale, who has reached a whole new audience as narrator for the Harry Potter audio books. So I thought I'd give it a try. I could never watch more than about 10 minutes at a time before my eyes started glazing over. I finally gave up before the half-way mark, and just fast-forwarded to the end to see if anything interesting popped up (it didn't). Maybe if you were part of the UK's "greatest generation" you might like all the slow-as-molasses Army humor, but the rest of mankind will let this dud sink into the dust of history. There are SO many great war comedies; this is not one of them.

Terrible terrible terrible adaptation

[banagadaga · 1/10 · 18 April 2010]

Features no material at all from the book, probably because all the filthy humor and language would have been far too x rated for a 1972 film. Utterly crap film. Not funny, bad direction, bad acting, terrible dialogue. No redeeming qualities whatsoever There really is nothing more to say about this horrendously bad film, having said that, if you are a weak minded individual and you like similarly unfunny crap from the early 70's (on the buses, carry on movies) you might very well enjoy this terrible film. It's a chore to sit through, I can only imagine Spike was desperate for the money or to make a feature film or something like that. Read the book instead.

A somewhat forgettable British comedy war film.

[oscar-35 · 30 September 2009]

*Spoiler/plot- 1972, Adolf Hitler: My Contribution to His Downfall. The story follows a small group of British village band members recruited into the British artillery unit. The plot follows through their training and eventual posting.

*Special Stars- Jim Dale as lead.

*Theme- Every single person helps win wars.

*Based on- WW2 British stories.

*Trivia/location/goofs- ONLINE. Comedy. British made film.

*Emotion- A somewhat forgettable British comedy war film. The British film is full of lowly wise-cracks, puns, and dry humor.