1h 24min | Drama, War | 10 June 1943
Director: Douglas Sirk
Stars: Patricia Morison, John Carradine, Alan Curtis
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036005/
I'm sort of speechless after watching this. I knew the story, but this covers the things that interest me: the impact of the war on civilian life. Nice that this was released on the first anniversary of the destruction of the village Lidice, shown in the film.
I wonder whether audiences at the time dismissed the atrocities portrayed as exaggerated. From my reading, I know that, in general, they were not; in fact, they were sanitized for the film. Here's one review from NYT 28 Aug '43; looks like a non-professional because the byline is just initials. Here are its only 2 paragraphs:
¶If P. T. Barnum had ever been swept by a wave of righteous indignation the result might not have been greatly different from "Hitler's Madman," now at the Rialto. For here in one lurid diatribe, MGM's assortment of authors have summed up practically every indictment against the Nazis that they could crowd into one film. Around the central theme of the terror that led finally to the assassination of the Nazi "protector," Heydrich, by members of the Czech underground, the authors have developed several variations on brutality. Murder, pillage and enforced prostitution of Czech girls sent to the Russian front—all are listed here in an anti-Nazi bill of particulars.
¶There are times when this violent poster method is rudely effective; what it tells is raw in the mind and emotions of every civilized man. Even in its poorly depicted scenes of brutality, "Hitler's Madman" inflames a common anger. The many crimes, climaxed by the slaughter of Lidice, shown here are too close to leave us unmoved. But the fact remains that as a film, "Hitler's Madman" is tritely constructed and badly played, with the exception of John Carradine who lends some cold reality to the central role of Heydrich. In its excess of horror the film has substituted shock for moral suasion and sensationalism for earnestness. Its anger burns too quickly. It lacks the deep fire, the grim conviction, the unspeakable resentment that will one day confront the architects of all this savagery.By today's standards, this movie does NOT qualify as horror; I would call it restrained terror. I wouldn't praise Carradine's cold reality (in fact, he portrays Heydrich as someone who enjoys the sadistic perks of his position), but I have the benefit of seeing Branagh portray him at the Wannsee Conference in Conspiracy (2001), where he slides from efficiency to charm to menace with ease.
The character of Himmler appears briefly, and I'm surprised they cast a fat actor. Himmler's weight was in normal range. It's hard for me to name an actor from '42-3 that would have been apt; the stars all have too much personality. But the name Donald Pleasance came to mind, and he actually played the character in The Eagle Has Landed (1976).
This was Sirk's first American film directing credit.
This was my first viewing of this film. I liked it because it told some Truth, and did it well enough that I was quite happy when Heydrich finally died. But I was not so invested in the villagers that I felt much when they sang an anthem as they were being killed. (Contrast that with my tearful reaction EVERY time I watch Casablanca, and the Free French start singing their anthem over the German soldiers' singing theirs.) I just talked myself down from 8 to 7.
Angelus Productions, Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), distr. MGM, dir. Sirk; 7
