Alicia I love this movie so much
Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Moe12 Moe12 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.
howardeisman 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.
bkoganbing 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.
grasshopper54 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!
