Hitler: Dead or Alive

******SPOILERS******Off the wall war movie about a bunch of gangsters who become patriotic, well the million dollar reward helps too, and are dropped into Germany to get, as the movie title says, Hitler dead or alive. Hitler, a highly decorated WWI combat veteran, is made out to look like a coward or a fool as he begs for his life when captured or runs and hides from the slightest sound or danger when he's in charge! Watching all this now, in 2003, I can only imagine how people watching "Hitler Dead or Alive" back then, in 1942, would have wondered just how Hitler and his Nazis got as far as they did in the first place.

Totally insane plot, even for a movie made during wartime, where there was stories going around that Hitler had doubles. With this in mind the boys from the mob had to make sure that they caught the real Hitler they brought along someone with them who knew Hitler,from back in the beer hall days of the 1920's. The Hitler expert, as well as former friend, recognized him by a scar that he had over his upper lip that resulted from a bottle thrown at him during a beer hall brawl! Believe it or not were told that's the reason he grew a mustache! Oh really! When Hitler is caught the gangster's in order to find out that he's the real McCoy, or Hitler, shave his famous mustache off and there's the scar! At that point Hitler knowing that the jig is up, as well as mustache off, cries out hysterically to his captors "Please spear my life and I'll give you half of my kingdom".

This movie is even funnier then "The Producers" which is a comedy about Hitler and the Third Reich made for laughs years after Hitler and his regime was history, and no longer a threat to anyone. Unlike that film "Hitler Dead or Alive" that was made in all seriousness as a moral boaster for the "War Effort". Where the ending of the movie could well have lost the war for the allies if it was taken seriously just for the false and moronic information that it presented.

Just before Hitler is shot by is own troops because they didn't recognize him without his mustache, I kid you not, the commander of the SS execution squad that was about to do Hitler in says disgustedly to him "how did Germany produce a piece of scum like you". A moment later at the same time thinking that Hitler got away from the gangsters he says triumphantly about his beloved Fuhrer, whom he's just about to have executed, in complete awe "The Man Is Pure Genius"! I had to take my heart medication pills to keep from getting a heart attack just from laughing!

Oh yes the end of this ridiculous movie tells us that Hitler was actually killed in 1942 and the Hitler you see in the papers and newsreels is just a double. I guess that's how in the end the allies won the war according to this outrageous film: Hitler wasn't around to lead the Germans to their final victory! But you know what you'll never read this amazing "fact" in any history book or see it on the History Channel! Oh yeah do you wanna bet!

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.

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!

Yes, the movie "Hitler, Dead or Alive",was sub-par for that time period's genre, but I believe that the basic theme could be currently remade, with success! Using an all-star cast & more expensive sets, this "B" movie plot could capture a new audience, since World War II movies have become in fashion again, in recent years! I also think a film, like the "Dirty Dozen" was also influenced by it!

If you look at numerous 'war' films, actually made during WW II, they were done quickly & cheaply, to capitalize on the times.

Even the great "Casablanca", made in 1943, was done mostly on back-lots & to take advantage of the recent 'action' there, so please look at "Hitler, Dead or Alive" through the eyes of war audiences, who had no television & were anxious to see anything about world events!

Aesthetically speaking, this is not a good film in the least. The plot is stupid, the dialog is beyond just stupid and the film can only be enjoyed as a silly piece of kitsch. However, I liked it because it represents the extreme in how bad an American propaganda film can be. Like "First Yank in Tokyo", any attempt to make a believable story went out the window with this one! The film stars some actors who are usually there for support--Ward Bond, Paul Fix and Warren Hymer. While I liked them as colorful characters in films, without a strong and more competent leading man, the film is a bit doomed at the onset. The three play gangsters who lead a Three Stooges-like covert mission to kill Hitler. And, as for Hitler and his henchmen, they are about as smart as you'd expect from a Stooges' film! It's all very dopey and silly but I could also see someone today watching it precisely because it's so bad--so over the top.

This film has nothing going for it other than goofiness. It is so weird and wacky that it makes for a wonderfully strange evening of movie watching--and it's easy to, as the film is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free.