Customer Reviews

Hitler, A Career [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this movie for the first time upon its release in 1977 in a theatre in Germany. I've seen it subsequently in VHS format and was decidedly disappointed in the quality. However, this DVD version is as crisp as the original theatrical release, and the audio remains excellent. The entire quality of this version is really commendable. It's impossible to do justice to Hitler's career in two and half hours, but Fest's film remains the standard by which other Fuehrer documentaries must be judged. To its credit, the film focuses on Hitler's early rise to power, and there's great film from the 1927-1932 era. The period of 1933-39 is also strong, though the WWII years as a little hurried. A weakness is that few of Hitler's personal relationships are exlored, either with his various girlfriends or with the Nazi hierarchy.

There has been more early film of Hitler unearthed since this film was released, but they include an abundance of rare material that is not found elsewhere. The background music is not grating and the narrator is pleasing. There are also very few factual errors contained in this film. I highly recommend it, it's held up beautifully in the past 25 years.

You might possibly want to buy the German edition along with the U.S. one - the latter comes with considerably better video quality, the former with a noticeably better audio track. (Also, the U.S. version has been edited. Footage of Hitler praising German car producers as well as chastising foreign ("Jewish", in his language) media have been cut from it.)

There are really some insights to be gained from this renowned movie. When I, a German, first watched it back in 1977, I noticed something I had not been aware of before - namely, the utter self-assurance of the rank-and-file Nazis surrounding Hitler, Goebbels et. al. Those lower ranking Nazis were very at ease with themselves, standing unimpressed while the audience gets excited by raucous speeches, coolly taxing the impact of their leaders. They behaved quite contrary to the closemouthed, insecure lower ranks I'd encountered during visits to what then was East Germany. It is a glimpse into what made Nazism different from Communism: The Nazis got elected, and they felt so. They did obviously not feel being pushed around by a clandestine party hierarchy, they felt legitimate. The interesting extra footage of 1932 campaign events that is included in the U.S. edition adds some more proof to it. Watch the guys standing behind Hitler as carefully as Hitler himself.

A major drawback of the U.S. edition are its insufficient subtitles. The distinctive, odd, at times archaic yet often very forceful and very frightful ways Hitler used and abused German words, idioms and Grammar peculiarities is not at all being reflected in the scant English sentences. Hitler's German language was psychopathic and creative at gthe same time. The subtitles give me a clue what would happen to John F. Kennedy's speeches being translated by North Koreans. Only the combination of Hitler's brutal voice and his command of words made him the terribly efficient orator he was. American viewers without knowledge of German might not experience the real chill his speeches are still sending down the spine, though watching his facial expression in the brief yet frightening "On January 30, the die has been cast"-footage might give you an idea about it.

Furthermore, the film allows for glimpses into the two sides of Hitler - the dreamer, the artist, and the mass murderer he was. As with his speeches, this combination gave him an quixotic, perverse appeal. The whining speech to Siemens workers shown in the movie displays that quite well - the forlorn soldier, the self-pitying muscular man with emotional eyes that made quite some elder ladies feel a lot of unclear vexing feelings for him in the '20s. Hitler knew how to evoke the notion that his emotional, forlorn trait cared for Germans, whereas his brutal shouting and psycho gestures were meant for imaginary and real adversaries only. Some people like that, even today.

Most interesting is the contrast between Hitler and his Gang, and the German well-off traditional gentry. It is mostly overlooked today how young the Nazis were when they came to power - Hitler, being only 44, already the granddaddy of them all, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, most of the infamous SS under 40, even younger than 30 at that point of time. Determined youngsters fighting old ways and habits, and getting things done whereas the elder did just talking - quite some pictures in the movie let you feel what that mood might have meant for insecure young jobless Germans. Watch the former Chancellor von Papen rambling helplessly about Germany in his arrogant English, watch his pityful attempt at Napoleonic gestures, and compare that to the body language of the Nazi demagogues. You might get a feeling that politicians of his brand were a liability for the Republic. Watch President von Hindenburg addressing a huge youth rally in March 1933, the proverbial nice old somewhat gruffy grandfather (who wasn't so nice and lovely in WW I), and see Hitler wrapping it all up then with a powerful salute right after it, done, over, we are the new masters. Or see Prince August Wilhelm, clad in shorts, cigarette in his fingers, greeting a U.S. reporter in the U.S. edition's extra footage. He rants about Germany's plight in grotesquely distorted yet funny English, a man who did not grasp what was at hand, who nevertheless thought of him as embodying the natural upper social stratum. Those politicians weren't a match for the Nazis. (But see the young Countess looking warily as Hitler and Hindenburg walk by on that infamous "Day of Potsdam", 1933. She clearly senses something coming on.)

The German edition has been narrated by a then-famous German theatre actor, while the U.S. edition employs a professor. The U.S. narrative is by and large a translation of the German one, albeit with a slight, purposeful German accent and some new wording that sometimes adds a palpable anti-German perfume to the narrative. That is unfortunate, for it would hamper some viewers' willingness to grasp the tragedy, the feeling of betrayal, of shame, of bitterly and slowly accepted self-delusion (and self-pity) that marks the German original. It would also make some viewers to side with the depicted Nazis, just out of dislike for being patronized.

That said, the movie is a unique opportunity to delve into what and who made Germany go genocidal. As said before - it wasn't merely Hitler alone. His technique, unleashing emotions employed to attack a traditional old-fashioned society, is still a powerful example of what man can do to each other. I watched the movie as a warning not to believe that I, had I been exposed to that force, might have been surely immune to it. I have been lucky to not having been put up to that test.

This DVD covers Hitler's rise to power and subsequent fall. It runs for around 2 1/2 hours and is very thorough and interesting viewing
It shows some of his speeches in full (with English subtitles) - one speech is over 5 minutes long - this enables you to see how his powerful oratory and his practiced use of it, captured the minds of people of the time.
The background to his rise is excellent. We see post WW1 Germany and the chaos that existed at the time -the breeding ground for the National Socialists.
Through the use of archival footage and an excellent commentary we follow Hitler from his early days as a rabble rouser, through the infamous Putsch to his final days in Berlin.
We see how he used the system to gain power, and how he used the youth of Germany to build his powerbase into the future.
This DVD does not attempt in any way to excuse Hitler or defend him (nor does this review). What it shows is how he came to power and how people followed him.
If you want to know how such an evil person could rise to such power then watch this DVD.

The commentary that accompanies this film is so bad that one is tempted not to recommend this DVD. However, for those who want to see excellent footage of Hitler and the Third Reich, this is worth the purchase. I cannot overemphasize how bad the incessant remarks are throughout the film. To give an example, at one point Hitler is surrounded by throngs of adoring supporters, many of whom are women dressed in traditional clothing. In the speech given, Hitler talks about the importance of the merging of the people and the government. The commentator states at many of Hitler's speeches the tone was orgiastic, the people writhing in sexual overtones, the man merging with his supporters. Every single comment made about Hitler was his messianic, maniacal ways, thoughts and behavior. It is really over the top.

Just dates and facts about the footage would have been plenty of information and would have made this an excellent DVD.

I borrowed this from the library. Glad I didn't purchase it.
I don't think the cause of the rise of fascism in Germany can be so easily explained as is attempted here. As so sagely said by 19th century social critic, Alexis de Tocqueville: "the public will believe a simple lie rather than a complex truth".
This wise perception applied as much to Germany in the thirties as much as it does today to us.
Ironically it also applies very aptly to this documentary.
Otherwise if the thesis presented in this documentary were accurate how to explain why and how fascism gained such popular support elsewhere in Europe (Britain with Moseley, Spain with Franco and Italy with Mussolini)?
To suggest that the Germans were so very different to every other nationality in Europe in the forties, as Joachim attempts to do in this documentary, seems to me like some form of self-denial.
And that we still today fall into the same failing that Tocqueville discerned is evident by the rave reviews this DVD has been given. i.e we still haven't learned the lesson.

The reason why Germany was particularly ripe for fascism is better explained by the unjust and humiliating Treaty of Versailles, which stripped it of its colonies and forced it to compensate the allies for war damages, thus plunging it into a major economic crisis.

Both Italy and Germany, (the one a "winner" and the other a loser in WW1), were both bitter about the Treaty of Versailles and anxious to reverse its verdict.

If you want an accurate analysis of the rise of Hitler and Fascism in Germany then this I regard as so deeply, deeply flawed that despite its fine collection of footage, it gives a distorted and superficial understanding that I regard as worse than no clear understanding.

As written by another reviewer this documentary is just more inaccurate propaganda that resorts to easy demonisation of Hitler and Nazi Germany without giving any proper understanding of the rise of each.

Not just another History Channel Special, this DVD covers more of
Hitler's rise to power with refreshing never seen before clear footage.
Disappointing narrative with the usual dribble, (To conquer, to siege absolute power, deceive the masses, actor, pretends) etc.
Again, we see millions upon millions of Germans lining the streets, crying, desperate to catch a glimpse of the man they absolutely adore and love. The man who made a tiny depressed country into a World Super Power from a belief in Nationalism.
A love of own country and culture! Not multicultural...Own culture! Amidst a great world depression. Somehow this just doesn't fit with the narrative? As Hitler tops record numbers of fan mail.
Typical liberal minded dribble. Only war is a reality here. Achieved prosperity and happiness can only be an...illusion? How dare those Germans love Germany for it rich European culture, history, literature, arts, etc...bad Germans!
Wave a magic wand and all Germans become Automatons! No one can excuse genocide, but let's tell it like it is! Bias, of course. Turn the sound off.

This is prolly one of the best documentarys on dvd about the third reich that i have watched yet. I have seen alot.The film is made up of actuall footage taken back in the 30's and 40's and had some of the best,informative narration i have heard. Nicely edited and presented.Contains a ton of information that would take a year of watcheing the history channel to get what is presented here in this 2+hour film. A must for any history buff or anyone interested in hitlers raise to power.