Product Details

• Actors: Jonathan Pryce, Alexei Sayle, Alison Doody, Alison Steadman, Julie T. Wallace
• Directors: Alastair Reid
• Writers: Howard Schuman, Robert Harris
• Producers: Andrew Brown, Paul Sparrow
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: July 13, 2010
• Run Time: 256 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0039ZF8HI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,653 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Selling Hitler" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

"A rollicking comedy with black edges" --The Guardian (U.K.)

Based on the true story of the Hitler diary hoax

Based on a true story, this uproarious farce dramatizes the making of a modern-day publishing fiasco. Emmy® nominee Jonathan Pryce (Brazil, Pirates of the Caribbean) stars as Gerd "The Bloodhound" Heidemann, a German reporter who sniffs out a scoop that will revive his stalled career: the lost diaries of Adolf Hitler. Gerd manages to convince Stern magazine to pony up millions for the documents, not knowing that a small-time forger (Alexei Sayle, The Young Ones) keeps churning them out from a shop in Stuttgart. The scheme hoodwinks eminent historians, Newsweek magazine, and even Rupert Murdoch--until the truth leaves everyone pointing fingers in fury.

With a pitch-perfect ensemble cast that includes Barry Humphries (Dame Edna), Alison Doody (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Tom Baker (Doctor Who), and Alan Bennett (Beyond the Fringe), Selling Hitler mercilessly lays bare the greed, self-delusion, and stupidity behind 20th-century journalism’s most shocking scandal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic cynical tale marred only by a so-so print..., July 1, 2002

By 

Winthrop Harrison "winharrison" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Selling Hitler [VHS] (VHS Tape)

What if Adolf Hitler kept a diary? What would it say? Would it give an excuse - a hint of reason - for why he did what he did? And if there was a diary, how much would the world media pay for an artifact all the world wants to see?

"Selling Hitler" is a very stylish 4-hour British miniseries of just such a story. As insane as it seems now, the story is true. It happened in 1985, and if you're too young to remember, I will not give away the ending. The fun is in the telling, with corporate greed battling the ethics of good journalism, with common sense flying out the window.

Jonathan Pryce is wonderful as unstable journalist Gerd Heidemann, obsessed with both the good life and Nazi memorobilia. Heidemann acquires Hermann Goering's old yacht, but his Stern Magazine editors demand a productive story. That story leaps when he meets shady Conrad Fischer - a smart man with access to Hitler diaries. Heidemann has the bait, his editors take the hook. Then it gets rather complicated.

No action scenes, but the film digs up plenty of tension. The action is in the passion. Everyone in this story wants the Diaries on their terms at their price. Boardroom negotiations turn into smiley warfare, promotions and threats. The atmosphere is so crazed that even discredited English historian David Irving makes a memorable appearance.

At 3 1/2 hours, the delight in detail can swamp you - Rupert Murdoch vs. Newsweek, Newsweek vs. Stern Magazine, editors against each other, journalists against sources, forgers against sources, David Irving against everybody - "Selling Hitler" is a cutting character study of paranoia, hucksters and good old scheming. Perhaps it's better to watch this over 2 days. Or not - I watch it straight through every time, exhausted but grinning. The pace is excellent.

Still, I hope this film will find a DVD release, as that could eliminate my only complaint. The video print for this film is so-so, with slightly muffled sound, and visuals that seem underlit. This is a non-issue in the second half - much of which takes place in static media corporation light - but more so in the shadowy creepy early half. The film clearly wasn't released this way - DVD would be a good excuse to set this right. Still, "Selling Hitler" is perfect ammunition against those who say "Masterpiece Theater" is the best British TV has to offer. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars top-notch, March 31, 2007

By 

Robert Platt "montraville" (NY NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selling Hitler [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A tawdry and twisted boardroom farce and journalistic spoof. Top notch performances throughout. Equal in caliber in every way to Robert Harris' book, which is a tremendous beach read with serious message. It's chilling to think that the history of Nazi Germany was almost re-written by a drunken gun-nut forger and his emotionally-unhinged dupe. Although very talky, it never drags. Pacing is carefully managed and a four-hour movie goes by quickly. Owing to the length, there is more than enough technical detail about business negotiations, document forensics, historical research, and tabloid journalism to satisfy any geek, but it's never overdone.

It also has willfully goofy moments that leaven a ghastly subject with highly-appropriate satirical humor.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Obsession With the Taboo, March 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Selling Hitler [VHS] (VHS Tape)

An interesting black comedy about a man who hears rumours of lost Hitler diaries, and his growing obsession to have these objects. Based on a true story of a German reporter, he eventually gets his magazine to shell out the money to purchase these documents. Of course he is soon to discover their are more, along with paintings and other items. He becomes submerged in a strange subculture of collectors, eventually purchasing Goering's boat and seducing his grown daughter. The diaries turn out to be frauds and he looses it all. An interesting commentary on the continuing interest in Hitler and the Third Reich.