Product Details

• Actors: Robert Carlyle, Stockard Channing, Jena Malone, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Modine
• Directors: Christian Duguay
• Writers: John Pielmeier, G. Ross Parker
• Producers: Christian Duguay, Diana Kerew, Ed Gernon, Ian McDougall, John Pielmeier
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Koch Vision
• DVD Release Date: October 9, 2007
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000TXNDT8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,510 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Hitler - The Rise of Evil" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Featuring a star-studded cast, this epic mini-series traces the mind of a burgeoning madman as he begins his ruthless climb to power. From his emergence out of the ashes of World War I through the birth of the Nazi Party, acclaimed actor Robert Carlyle portrays Adolph Hitler in a performance that "conveys the depths of the tyrant’s evil" (San Francisco Chronicle).

Includes the Bonus Documentaries:
"Hitler and I: Reflections of Evil" (directed by David Cherniack)
"Hitler: A Career" (written and directed by Joachim C. Fest)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly done; a masterpiece, May 29, 2006

By 

James T. Wheeler (TUCSON, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler: The Rise of Evil (DVD)

I gave "The Rise of Evil" 5 stars because that's what it deserves. The show is extremely well-constructed, cast, and directed, even if the screenplay takes some liberties with history along the way. Yes, the story could have gotten along without the dog beating scene, the one where Hitler's father abuses him violently, and probably a few others. But the dramatic effect would have been impaired.

I watched the "making of" documentary that came with my DVD before I sat down to view the 3-hour movie. Then, I watched the documentary again after seeing the show. I'd recommend this approach to others to understand why the producer and director were subject to such criticism before and after the film was finished.

When this miniseries first came out we going out of town and totally missed it. My wife and I watch very little network TV because it doesn't seem like it's designed for thinking adults. This program is very much the exception and should be a must for anyone interested in world events and the dangers of facism.

Any review of this program must include comments on the performance of Robert Carlyle who plays the adult Hitler. Although the very Scottish Mr. Carlyle may be small in stature and far-removed from Hitler's teutonic roots he is mesmerizing as der Fuehrer. Carlyle captures the part so well you worry about what he could possibly do in the future to escape type-casting. It's all there: the iron will, the vicious temper, the evil political genius. Scary, truly scary.

The other actors in the show do very well, too, and there are a lot of well-defined characters. Peter O'Toole's role in the movie is limited but he does a fine job as President Hindenburg. The decent people who are steam-rolled by the 3rd Reich were sorry victims, indeed, but that's the way it must have been.

There were some characters who were notable by their absence, like Heinrich Himmler, Reinhold Heydrich, and Martin Bormann. Also missing was much on Nazi mysticism and the occult. Maybe these missing pieces are being held for a sequel. I'd certainly be interested if there were one.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars only loosely based on fact, August 17, 2010

By 

pjf "pjf" (MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler - The Rise of Evil (DVD)

Was Hitler crazy? Yes. Was he evil? How could he not be? But one thing we know is that part of the reason he rose to power was that he was also extremely charismatic and charming. to the point of inspiring devotion in his followers.

But the Hitler character in this portrayal seems rather to be auditioning for a lead in the Omen. So bat s*** crazy that no sane person could follow him for five minutes. So evil that no one would want to stay in the same room with him for five seconds. And that anyone in his company was there because they were trapped, not because they were there willingly. But that's not what his reputation at the time he rose to power said of him.

I guess I am sort of amazed that a person who caused the death of fifty million people and brought the world to ruin wasn't considered sufficiently crazy and evil enough to be portrayed as he was, without poetic license. The gross and ridiculous fictions added to this film make a mockery of the intelligence of the viewer, of the facts, and of history.

This cartoon characterization makes it too easy for us to overlook the lessons of that time. Evil isn't always black and white as it was portrayed here. That's why evil is so dangerous. But we didn't see any of that mixture in this film. He was portrayed like a young serial killer, burning his father's bees, torturing animals, etc, when the indication was he was the exact opposite with animals. That all his associates dreaded and feared him, when in fact many were and stayed devoted, even when the worst of his acts became known.

The paradox of Hitler is not that he was pure evil but that he could charm and inspire so many people, some ordinary and otherwise sane, to follow him willingly into such dark depths. How can we learn anything from this, how can we teach people to resist fatal charm when it violates their principles if we don't recognize this from history -- that one side of him enabled and ensnared for the other.

People who watch this movie will expect all evil to be obvious and plain. It isn't so simple.

It's a shame the script and characterization were so weak, because in other respects the production values were very good. I was hoping for more historical accuracy, even in a movie. This strayed so far from the truth in some respects that it became less history than fiction, and failed to document one of the real paradoxes of that time and one that should be a warning for the future, but became lost in this portrayal,

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly well done!, January 17, 2009

By 

Evan (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler - The Rise of Evil (DVD)

Hitler: The Rise of Evil is a three-hour mini-series that originally aired on CBS in May 2003, currently available on DVD. It opens with a handful of brief vignettes of Hitler's childhood and quickly moves to his years as a penniless street artist in Vienna, a soldier in the First World War, his rise to power within the National Socialist Party in Munich, and ends with his appointment to chancellor and assumption of the presidency upon Hindenburg's death.

I popped in the DVD with low expectations, but was struck immediately by the high production values and quality acting talent on display. Robert Carlyle is frighteningly good in the title role, demonstrating both the overwhelming confidence and madness that Hitler must have possessed. Carlyle's eyes are particularly haunting, appearing at times to be impossibly black and demonic, while at other times blue and cherubic.

Some have complained of blatant historical inaccuracies in the film. For instance, an early scene shows Hitler beating a dog for not obeying his commands, but the consensus among historians appears to be that Hitler was a dog-lover and that no account exists of him ever harming a (non-human) animal. However, taken at face value as a dramatized account of Hitler's rise to power, this one sets the bar high. I hope someone rises to the challenge with a sequel following Hitler through the War and his final days in the bunker.