Cenizas sin gloria

The character of Adolph Hitler will fascinate historians for more than the thousand years he wanted his Reich to last and for psychiatrists even more than that. The folks who are schooled in both disciplines get something to analyze with this film Hitler and Richard Basehart's performance in the title role.

As for performance the reason for Hitler being the nasty dude that he was that the Fuehrer was a dud in the bedroom. That was something Geli Raubel played by Cordula Tantrow said and signs her death warrant in saying same. In fact she more than hints at the reason, possible incest with his mother. Something that Hitler himself would reject after all psychiatry was simply "Jew science".

Eva Braun portrayed here by Maria Emo is another ill defined role. If we believe Albert Speer's memoir Eva was basically a nice girl without a political thought in her head, but was simply a power groupie and a celibate one at that.

Such familiar faces as Hogan's Heroes Sgt.Schultz played by John Banner is Gregor Strasser, John Mitchum is Hermann Goering, and the obligatory Martin Kosleck is Joseph Goebbels. Berry Kroeger is Ernst Roehm with barely a hint of the homosexuality that later offended Hitler so mightily after when he had to make a deal with the army. The Code was still in place, but you'll spot it in the film.

Richard Basehart gives a sincere portrayal of Hitler. But the film is badly written and directed.

I was very excited to see the film being a History Major in college and somewhat of a World War 2 buff , but I found the movie to be slow and silly. Eva Braun was nothing like the portrayal of her done in this film. She was a silly, and light hearted girl who laughed a lot. This movie portrays Hitler as a sexually frustrated weirdo who is obsessed with his mother, when those who lived around Hitler swear that he had a healthy sexual relationship with Braun. The acting was good, but the script was just not even close to accurate. Also, Stauffenburg was not hanged..he was shot. The film takes to many liberties with the historical record in my opinion.

Richard Basehart is OK as Hitler, even if a bit over the top. The rest of the cast is horrible, frankly. The film is an attempt to render Hitler from a psychological perspective, but the insights it offers are cartoonish oversimplifications at best, and can't make up its mind what Hitler's "problem" was. At one point it is implied he was impotent, at another point it is suggested he was homosexual. And always the business about his mother. The film offers more speculation than fact. The time frame of the film is a bit skewed too. Nothing of Hitler's youth is presented for a supposed psychological study. The year 1934 takes up nearly half the film; World War II gets at most ten minutes start to finish. In the end you have no more understanding of Hitler's personality, or his appeal to Germans, than you did at the outset. Which marks the film as a failure.

I have seen Richard Basehart in many things and I always thought he had potential but I never saw him do anything that made me go WOW!! That was good! That is until I saw this flick. I have read volumes on Hitler and have viewed and listened to Hitler's speeches at Nuremberg and the Reichstag and I think I have some sense of how he was and I think Richard Basehart did the best and most believable portrayal of him that I have ever seen. Hitler was of course extremely enigmatic and charismatic so he would be difficult to portray and I never saw anyone do a good portrayal of him until this film. The rest of the actors do a good job and the movie itself is fair to good; although it suffered from a low budget. Historically accurate as best I can recall. I think they relied heavily on Hughe Trevor Ropers history of him. But for all its good points see it for Richard Basehart he really shines in this!!

This movie suffers to a greater extent than "average" from the common weakness of Hitler movies. The caricature that it presents of the man is one of a completely unlikable, overbearing and deranged individual. This depiction of the man is utterly unsatisfactory in its failure to offer even a clue as to how such a purportedly totally unsympathetic character could mesmerize and captivate millions by the shear power of his personality. Alec Guinness, despite a camp movie script, was able to give us glimpses of the charismatic side of the Hitler persona in "Hitler: The Last Ten Days;" not so Richard Basehart in this movie. Much more revealing and insightful is the portrayal of the man in the movie "Downfall," although, tellingly, it has received much criticism for "humanizing" Hitler.