Customer Reviews

Rise & Fall of Adolf Hitler [VHS]

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

 

 

Entirely apart from incorrect facts and dates, this documentary has very poor picture quality and is obviously extremely biased. Whenever Hitler speaks, they put it into slow motion so he sounds like a monster. Do we really need this kind of propaganda? All the quotes are taken out of the context for which they were intended. Much seems to be lost in the translation as well, especially in quotes. Any serious WWII fanactic will hate this box set.

Though there are some elements of this documentary that are stellar, ultimately it falls flat. The tinny and irritating music which accompanies various Hitler quotes (some of them translated incorrectly) begins to jar on the nerves after episode one. The interviews with various Hitler intimates are interesting, though none of them say anything new.

The highlight of the entire five hours is great film discovered of Hitler in 1914, standing on the Odeonsplatz in Munich. There is also new film of Hitler marching with the Freicorps in 1919 and some rare footage of him again in Garmisch in 1920. At least the same old dreary stock footage of Hitler is supplemented with some interesting, new footage.

A note on the film and sound quality in this package: it's substandard. When I've seen the series on the History Channel, the quality is superior to this VHS version.

This is probably still the best attempt made to document Hitler's life and times, but there is still ample room for improvement in the future.

The best thing about this series is having the majority of all the best Hitler film footage in one collection. But its not exactly a completely neutral re-telling of the story, so beware. Using a combination of many interviews with elderly Germans who say - in effect with 20/20 hindsight - "we knew he was evil, we just couldn't put our finger on it at the time" - and the technique of slowing Hitler's own recordings down to half speed to make him sound like Satan himself. This is really a piece of propaganda no less than anything Goebbels ever produced.

This is the History channel's documentary of Hitler which is very insightful into both Nazi Germany and Hitler as well as the third Reich.

Poor picture quality was just the first problem with this documentary. The information is misleading, and in some places, down right incorrect. The quotes are taken out of context to make Hitler seems as evil as possible. Do not buy this video.

This is one of the best documentaries ever made about Hitler. However, to get the best feel for the subject matter, one should watch the German language version. A lot can be lost in translations (or lack thereof), especially in the meaning of quotes.

Instead of the usual birth-to-death narrative of most historical biographies, this documentary examines six different aspects of Hitler's personality(The Private Man, The Commander, The Criminal, etc.)and manages to flesh Hitler out a lot more than most Hitler documentaries I've seen. And there is a great deal of previously-unknown information here. I had no idea that Hitler supported the leftist soviet government of Munich after the war and even stood for election to one of its councils.

That being said, this series has a drawback or two. Its approach means that it's going to be a bit repetitive. And I feel that the filmmakers place too much of the blame for the horrors of Nazi Germany on Hitler himself and nowhere near enough on the German people who supported him almost to the end. Those reservations aside, however, this is as informative an examination of Hitler as I have ever seen.

I received the item quickly, and it looked like it was in great shape. I wrapped it for a Christmas gift, so we haven't watched any of the episodes yet. I hope they are good. Maybe this set will come out as a DVD set sometime.
Thanks!

This highly touted video disappointed me. Their commentary on Hitler's art work was simpleminded, silly. Of course, being a loser, Hitler's art work had to be trashed! Had he been encouraged into going into art as a career I am sure all of us would have applauded especially after seeing what the monster did to the world as leader of Germany. Also the quality of the video images is poor. The Germans were master photographers in black and white photography.