Hitler Lives

Hitler Lives (1945)

** (out of 4)

Stupid yet very strong propaganda film made by the War Department warning U.S. soldiers still in Germany not to trust their people even though the war is over. The documentary short tells us why German's are such evil people without holding back any punches. This type of thing certainly isn't going to sit well when viewed today but I suppose it did have a purpose in 1945 but even then this thing just goes way too far. The film preaches a lot of hatred while at the same time telling us that German people are wrong because they hate others. This film preaches that Americans are better yet it puts Germans down because they think they are better. This film preaches that German's hate other races and that American's "can love all races" yet I guess that didn't includes blacks considering how they were treated in our country in 1945. This film goes even further about shaking hands of German people because those same hands are the ones that killed women and children. We get some very graphic photos of various dead bodies being burned, buried or hung. There are some really ugly images here that many are going to turn their head away from but in the end it's all to throw fear at Americans. While this film is rather unpleasant to watch there's no doubt it's rather original as I can't recall too much preaching this much hatred.

After years of war and deaths, feelings were strong against Germany and Japan. For most people, at that time, this film was not too graphic and it's likely children were not permitted to see it. Thousands and thousands of families lost sons and daughters in that war and the many refugees coming from Europe lived there to see these things first hand. Fear that the Germans would resort to a warlike stance again were well founded, like they say, you can't teach an old dog a new trick. In 1945 there still were many Nazi adherents in Germany and right here in the USA too, as there are even today. If there's fault in this presentation it is due to the profound bitterness generated by the atrocities witnessed by our fighting men. Especially notice, the curious fact, that with all those bodies shown, and the ovens too, none were identified as Jews.

Narrow minded and positively worthless, the short "Hitler Lives" is the kind of piece of filmmaking that shouldn't exist at all, and not even get an Oscar with such miserable remarks.

End of WWII, Germany defeated and it's all quiet on the front, right? Wrong, according to this documentary. The danger now is the countless Nazists hidden amidst the German people, painted here as evil people, everybody had the same goal. It's too easy to beat up someone who's down and this thing makes it perfectly by quoting that Germans are a line of people who always needs blood and conquer lands, from Bismarck to Hitler. Sure, their leader at the time said things about them being of a superior race but that didn't mean all Germans agreed with such statement and his politics.

Often sarcastic and extremely filled with some prejudice, this propaganda made by the American government isn't different than the one famously known in the world in "Triumph of the Will". Its purpose is to explain why U.S. forces had reasons to stay in Germany to make it a safer place and to impeach that new radical movements rise up to surface to cause more damage to the world, that's the idea the film promotes by stating that Germans never know how to be and stay peaceful ("War. Phoney peace. War. Phoney peace." says the narrator). One can argue that the film's message of alerting people about the possibilities of a Nazi threat born again is useful, relevant but the problem is that it does that by generalizing that all Germans were favorable, supported the regime and they're all evil.

Good and informative archive footage is intertwined with some poor segments with actors. Thankfully this is short, never getting near the epic, boring yet important Riefenstahl film and those long marches and speeches. Worths a view for the presentation, the images and the way they sell an idea. The picture as a whole it's ridiculous. 4/10

Considering that this film was made just after WWII, the virulence of this documentary isn't all that surprising. The folks who made this truly hated the German people and don't want the audience to forget that this nation is just plain evil!! The problem is that to do this, they must twist history to make their point--such as ridiculously claiming WWI was all Germany's fault and that Allied leaders apparently had nothing to do with it! You also are told that 'they' are ALL born liars, manipulators and underneath their nice exterior, they are ALL uncivilized monsters! Again, considering the millions that were butchered by the Nazis in WWII, this outright hatred isn't surprising--but it is pretty disturbing when seen today. Overall, a nasty little film that won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short! Had it simply stuck with the facts, it would have been a very potent film, but the tone and style of the film is very problematic.

"...the problem isn't the FEW but the MANY" and "...they ALL have the conquest disease"--need I say more?!

That's Benjamin Franklin's response to people who asked him, as he left the Constitutional Convention, what sort of government we had. In the same way, this short subject at the end of 1945, answers the question about what's the state of the world: a peace, if you can keep it.

Of course this short focuses on Germany, warning its audience that Germany had been a threat before, and could be a threat again, if we weren't careful. There's a tendency for people to see the past repeating itself.

As Mark Twain noted, history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Two months after this short was released, Churchill made his "Iron curtain" speech and the Cold War was on.