They Saved Hitler's Brain

I am a B Movie Whore. I get perverse pleasure out of really bad movies. Plus, you can learn a lot about movie making by observing other people's mistakes. Some of my favorite Bad movies include "Teenage Zombies", "Plan 9", "The Beast of Yucca Flats" and "Shriek of the Mutilated".

But nothing prepared me for "They Saved Hitler's Brain". This is a disjointed mess, with mismatching scenes (which were filmed over 10 years apart) laughable special effects and abysmal acting.

This movie was originally made in the 1950s and then some acting students purchased it and added some new scenes. But the students forget to dress as if they were in the fifties. Consequently, there are sixites hairstyles and cars in one scene, and then fifties styles and cars in another. Totally bizarre.

The special effects look as if they were created by 8 year olds for a 3rd grade school play. The scenes with Hitler's head in a glass tube are unforgettably absurd. The plot lacks any sort of coherence.

Now, some bad movies are fun to watch because you can laugh at them. But this movie just makes you stare at it with your mouth open, in stunned confusion and utter disbelief.

The scenes with Hitlers Head in the jar, especially when he is riding in the front seat of his henchman's car, are so wacky and silly, that they alone are worth suffering through this mess.

But be forewarned. This one is tough to watch. So far, it is the worst movie I have ever seen.

I assume everyone knows that They Saved Hitler's Brain is basically two bad movies crushed together as one. The first 20-30 minutes were produced in the mid-sixties, and the rest was produced in the late fifties...a fact that really comes through in the production values.

I actually prefer the first half of the movie, and do have at least one good thing to say about this film...the editing in in the first half is excellent. The chase and crash footage from Thunder Road is edited in rather seemlessly...if I hadn't seen Thunder Road first, I would have never recognized it or realized it was stock footage.

Of course, all the characters introduced in the first ten minutes are dead by the halfway point, and the fifties-half of the movie begins, which actually takes you down to South America (or at least San Diego) to meet Mr. H, his goons, and his inane plan for immortality. We go from bad but moderately interesting sixties film to bad and boring fifties sci-fi/nazi movie.

"Is this a bad joke?!" utters a character when the plot is explained. In all fairness, I can't see how anyone would elevate this to ANY list, good or bad; mediocre but not Ed Woodian or as as bad as "Mesa of Lost Women." The oddity of the film is that some 1970's people added some footage at the beginning, which doesn't advance the plot but does highlight that the ORIGINAL, in contrast, had higher production values which viewers dismiss. Why they added more is a mystery: to finish the film? to change its politics (women's lib)? Given the fact that it was probably too expensive to replicate the "look" of the original footage, it was probably a money-making scheme. The original was on a par with other low-budget films like "Beatniks," "Teenagers from outer space", etc., with a few recognizable actors. Add to that it's intentionally funny moments (husband-wife banter, a beatnik sister, an improbable marriage at the climax) makes this NOT a topper for movie Baddom. What would have been interesting was if the amateur 1970's filmmakers had disassembled the film, like Steve Martin's "Dead men don't wear plaid" or Woody Allen's dubbed spy movie "What's up tigerlily"(surely the granddaddy of MST3K). As for the misnamed title, 2 other 'head' films also avoid using "head": "Brain that wouldn't die"(though they change the movie title at the end from brain to head) and "Thing that couldn't die." I guess "head" just doesn't sound scary. And the other complaint that 'Mr. H'(aka Hitler) doesn't say anything, well, it's not the Biography Channel; besides, what else would he say?: "Will someone PLEASE scratch my nose?!" For this invasion he's literally just a figurehead/paperweight (one of the characters alludes to this), and his head without a body aptly metaphors the Nazi totalitarian society where noone must feel anything (what would Nazis do on a Saturday night?). As Mr. H's plans backfire again, you'd think he'd learn from history: two wrongs don't make a Reich.

It seemed that towards the end of the Second World War the Nazi's not only came up with a game plan to escape from the advancing allies to a South American country named Mandoras to regroup their forces and wait until the time was right to launch their second attempt to take over the world. They had a far more deadlier and sinister plan in how to do it then the use of any Atomic or Hydrogen bomb. The Nazis dreamed up a most intriguing idea of how they can take their leader, Adolf Hitler, along with them by putting his head, well really his brain, in a sealed and vacuumed-packed jar and have it, the brain's, super intelligence direct and guide them to total victory.

You would wonder why his brain? or even his head? why not Hitler's whole body? A movie that has to be seen to be believed with footage taken from two totally different films spliced together to try to make some sense to what the story is all about. With the results of the movie starting out like a porno flick,without any sex, and ending up like a bunch of out-takes of a very bad imitation of "Mission Impossible".

We have Hitler's head popping up all over the movie like some jack-in-the-box giving orders to his Nazi henchmen and evilly smirking every time someone gets beaten, shot or killed by them.

It had to be a miracle of science that they could have Hitler's head severed from his body and not only live but be able to communicate with them and instruct them on how to conquer the entire world. All this when he was not able to do so when he was still in one piece during the war before he was smuggled out of Germany by them. Did somehow by him becoming bodiless make Hitler smarter?

The plot also revolves around something called G-gas being released into the air and thus making it possible for the Nazi's hair brain plan of world domination to become a reality. Theirs only one hitch to their evil scheme, they have to stop a US scientist who's working on an antidote to the G-gas that would short-circuit their entire operation.

You know what, that after all these years since the release of "They Saved Hitler's Brain' I can't for the life of me see why Hollywood hasn't made a sequel.

I don't think this movie is as bad as a lot of people seem to think. It actually has a little bit of charm all its own. Of course,you see that I said "a little bit". But it was enough to keep me interested to watch the entire film. It was a blast from the past. The clothes,the cars,the gun play,the black and white grainy film,and the bad acting! It is a genre that is long since gone with the wind. And the extra footage was a real riot!! Night scenes shot(I mean filmed)in broad daylight reminded me of another flick in this genre,"Plan 9 From Outer Space". You might say that "...Hitler's Brain" is so bad that it's good. Then again,you might not. I plan on watching this movie several more times and savor all the crazy antics again and again. It is no "Indiana Jones" but it may just provide a laugh or two on a dark winters night with the wind howling outside your door. Turn the lights down low,lock your doors and windows,and pop the movie in your DVD. You'll laugh,you'll cry,and you'll kiss 92 minutes good-by!!!