The Madmen of Mandoras

Watching this movie has become a tradition for me and my friends every semester. With the possible exception of The Dead Next Door, this is the worst film ever made. Every possible ridiculous script nuance, from the name of the town (Dos Palabras) to the fact that no one knows that the guy in the car has been shot, despite the fact that he clutches his chest after a shot rings out, until they stop the car, race around to the other side, open the door, and find a bullet hole. Och. But why do I talk about such ridiculous, trivial matters? The star of this film is, of course, Hitler's Brain. That such a photogenic head in a jar never managed to have the acting career he earned in this film is a travesty. And of course, that immortal "MACH SCHNELL! MACH SCHNELL!" that makes the film come alive. I watch this film on a regular basis and you should too.

I'm not sure what this picture was meant to be, but I'm going to give the director/writer/etc credit and say they meant it as a good time political action thriller comedy on a drive-thru budget. It is sort of those things, if you are willing to accept a very loose definition of the individual terms.

Clever Plot? Not at all (actually confusing if you stop to think about it) Believable characters? Nope ... but just as I don't kick puppies I won't beat up too much on the merits of this lovable loser. It's goofy fun and doesn't take itself that seriously. Coming in just barely over an hour, it's not too much time out of your life, and I would say probably is worth it on the 'I"m just curious' dilemma surrounding all of these campy drive thru films.

Rating: 16/40

I do have the Starlite mega box containing a few grindhouse classics. By opening the DVD box containing this flick I saw that there were 2 versions available. One from 1963 called The Madmen Of Mandoras clocking in at 74 minutes and another one called They Saved Hitler's Brain made in 1968 and clocking in at 91 minutes.

But what's the difference? being a hit at the drive-ins and grindhouses somebody decided to make a TV worthy. 74 minutes can't be seen on television as a full feature so they added some new shots. But it went even further. They used amateurs to make the new footage and did it on a zero budget. it shows in so many ways. Clothes and hair didn't fit in into the older version and everybody added in the new footage had to die or disappear because they didn't fit into the original one. I saw that the first 13 minutes was new and had nothing to do with the original flick. Then they picked in with the older version and recut it still in the next minutes with new shots. It just didn't work at all. Because as I said earlier, nothing looks the same, everything was wrongly done.

Still, it's really a turkey with a goofy head in a jar from Hitler. I only saw one effect worth seeing and that's the burning of Hitler's head. Overall there's much talking going on and nothing really happens. They also used news footage from WOII when they are narrating what and who Hitler was. Also strange is the use of a real footage of an elephant dying on so called nerve gas.

I can only say that it looks like an Ed Wood flick but still it do has a few moments you will never forget due being a turkey.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

About half the reviewers here make mention of the 1970's footage added into the film when it was re-released under the title "They Saved Hitler's Brain." This just added to the cheesiness of the whole exercise.

To recap, the plot of this film is that a few surviving Nazis have managed to save Hitler's head in a big jar, while keeping it alive with a machine. Now, it's not really clear why they do this, the only words Hitler in a Jar says is "Mach Schnell". (Roughly translated, "Hurry Up!" My father, a German immigrant, was very fond of that one.) One has to wonder if Hitler in a Jar ever got a date from Jan in the Pan from "The Brain that wouldn't die". They'd have made a cute couple.

The film is C movie quality, and the scenes with Hitler in a jar are just ludicrous. The actor who played Hitler just mugs for the camera ridiculously in a way that would embarrass even Mel Brooks. (It appears he never worked again.)

Also, the Nazi plot makes little or no sense. They are going to release this "G-Gas" stuff into the air that will kill everyone, probably most of the animals as well. And they kidnap the professor who has the antidote. So, uh, why? Why not just kill him? Were they going to release this gas and they didn't have the antidote?

The version of this film usually seen had some additional footage, shot about 5 years after the original, added to it. And, in addition, it seems to have earlier had some wrapping of this sort. It looks, in other words, like a film within a film within a film. Each wrapping made things worse, and the original was remarkably bad. But I must say that some of the lighting effects in the original are quite cool.