Product Details

• Actors: Robert Ley, Adolf Hitler
• Directors: Spiegel
• Format: Black & White, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: International Historic Films, Inc.
• VHS Release Date: August 31, 2001
• Run Time: 54 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000646UD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #493,011 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Turn Your TV Off, January 17, 2005

By 

David S. Jenkins (On the Road) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Television Under The Swastika: The History of Nazi Television (DVD)

I saw this film on a big screen at the Goethe Institute in LA in 2001 and have never forgotten the experience. To watch TV conceived and managed by Hitler's henchmen is unnerving in light of what we now know was really going on in Germany and what was to come for much of Eastern Europe in the next five years. Daily cooking shows, news, interviews, singers and musicians and dancers, sports events, all with subtle undertones of racism, subtle warnings that the elite and the artistic better conform, it's chilling, very Twilight Zone except it came true. There really were monsters under the bed. Hitler and Goebbels were no dummies, they saw early on that television could dull the senses of the masses and diminish their capacity for critical thinking, in essence turning them into couch potatoes. Anyone who is concerned about where contemporary American society is headed might want to watch this, it speaks volumes, and then read two great books, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and "The Unreality Industry." Then think about what you're being told by the talking heads on your TV. Because you're being lied to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Documentary on TV Pioneers, January 29, 2007

By 

Steven A. Bibb "Varied Interests" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Television Under The Swastika: The History of Nazi Television (DVD)

This 1999 German documentary is an excellent overview of television in Germany. Germany was the first country in the world to have television programming on a regular basis, beginning in 1935. This documentary shows highlights of some of the earliest German television programs, which were found on 35mm film in a German film archive. The scenes shown of the actual TV programs are not from kinescopes, but are rather from 35mm film which was shot to be shown on television, there are no kinescopes available for tv programs from this point in history as no way to record the programs as broadcast had yet been aired. Highlights of the footage include coverage of the Olympic Games, early Nazi rallies, cooking and gardening shows and musical "vaudeville" type entertainment. Highly enjoyable/

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten piece of history, February 23, 2008

By 

James D. Crabtree "Doc Crabtree" (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Television Under The Swastika: The History of Nazi Television (DVD)

Television was considered the wave of the future in the 1930s and as such Nazi Germany invested resources in becoming a leader in the field. This program discussed programming more than the technology that was involved, but even so is was very interesting. Due to the novelty of television and the inordinate amount of resources it took compared to radio the medium was not used much during the war, when everything had to be justified as being vital to the war effort.

Some very rare footage (recovered from East German archives) and interviews of surviving participants in German TV makes this a must if you want to learn more about early television.