Hitler – Dead or Alive
4.2 /10 1 Votes
1.7/5 Mubi Produced by Ben Judell Edited by Jack Dennis | 4.9/10 IMDb Music by Leo Erdody Initial release 12 November 1942 Music director Leo Erdody Written by Sam Neuman, Karl Brown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cast Similar Ward Bond movies, World War II movies, Comedy-dramas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hitler dead or alive 1942 hol c sc na 2
Plot summary
The plot of this film was inspired by true events. During the early stages of World War II a prominent American businessman offered a reward of one million dollars to bring Adolf Hitler to justice, dead or alive. Russell Hicks plays the part of the American businessman in this film who hires three gangster ex-convicts released from Alcatraz prison. The gangsters are played by Ward Bond, Warren Hymer and Paul Fix.
The three join the Royal Canadian Air Force to enter Germany and pose as musicians to gain access to Hitler, played by Robert Watson. The gangsters quickly cut Hitler’s hair and shave off his mustache as SS soldiers try to break the door in. When the SS manage to enter the room they fail to recognize their leader and drag all the men, including Hitler, outside to be shot.
The quasi-comic tone of the film turns dead serious at the end, when a desperate Hitler makes a break for it and is shot by the SS officer in charge, who states disdainfully (and ironically): "To think that Germany could produce a piece of filth like you", and Bond makes a long patriotic speech while facing a firing squad.
Cast
In other media
In November 2012, while being interviewed by Playboy magazine, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino admitted the inspiration for his film Inglourious Basterds came from Hitler - Dead or Alive.