A Kitten for Hitler

Plot

In 1941, a Jewish boy named Lenny is watching a newsreel at a theatre in Brooklyn with his mother when one featuring Adolf Hitler appears. The crowd boos. The child questions why no one likes him and wonders what Santa will give him for Christmas. His mother tells him that no one will get Hitler anything for Christmas. The boy travels to Germany to give Hitler a kitten for Christmas. Once he arrives, he presents the boxed gift to Hitler, who initially thinks it is a bomb, and throws it to Eva Braun. She opens it and gives the kitten to Hitler, who is apparently deeply moved. Hitler's mood changes when he discovers that the child is Jewish and has a swastika-shaped birthmark on his stomach. Hitler orders Eva to kill the child and make his skin into a lampshade, which the couple then have on their bedside table lamp. Following the war, the lamp is returned to the boy's mother who keeps it as a memento. When she touches it, it supernaturally lights up of its own accord and the swastika magically transforms into a Star of David. A miracle is proclaimed. The president awards the Purple Heart to the lampshade.

Cast

Production

Following a discussion about film censorship with British broadcaster Melvyn Bragg while they worked on The South Bank Show, Russell was challenged by Bragg to create a film which Russell himself would want banned. A Kitten for Hitler was the result of the process that followed. After Russell sent Bragg an initial draft, Bragg responded "Ken, if ever you make this film and it is shown, you will be lynched."

Adolf Hitler was played by Phil Pritchard. Those auditioning for the part were asked to attend the casting dressed as Hitler, creating a bizarre waiting room scene. Due to the content of the film, dwarf actor Rusty Goffe was hired to play the role of the boy as Russell could not convince any child actor's parents to allow their son to appear. The child's mother was played by Russell's wife Lisi, and the costumes were organised by his daughter. The entire film was filmed in a studio in Shoreditch against a green screen with the backgrounds added in digitally later. The film was broadcast on Comedybox.tv, after Russell was introduced to Dan Schreiber by screenwriter Emma Millions.

Reception

Ken Russell later described A Kitten for Hitler as his most bizarre and shocking, even more so than his banned 1971 work The Devils, although he also described it as a comedy. Russell told the story of the film to fellow director Quentin Tarantino at a film festival, who reacted favourably. In 2012, it was included in a list of six alternative Christmas films by British newspaper The Guardian.