tracyfigueira It seems only fitting that Sir Alec Guinness, the world's greatest actor, was chosen to play Adolf Hitler, the world's greatest evildoer. Although Hitler was only fifty six when he died, he managed in those 56 years to do more evil than the rest of humanity has in 200,000 years, or however long we've been on the planet. This movie has moments of absurdist black comedy worthy of Samuel Beckett--indeed, Hitler in his bunker was probably the inspiration for the mad tyrant Hamm in Beckett's "Endgame," who also lived in an underground bunker. The frequent playing of Johann Strauss's jaunty "Fledermaus" overture provides ironic comment on the on screen action. Guinness was at a low point in his career when this film was made--his glory days of the 1940s and 1950s were long gone, and his comeback role as Obi Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars" was still in the future--but he gives a commanding performance and is never less than believable as the mad dictator. The mostly Italian-British cast has a number of interesting performances, particularly Adolfo Celi (Number One in "Thunderball") as General Krebs, the one relatively sane person in the bunker, and Diane Cilento as the female aviator Hanna Reich, who is clearly in love with Hitler and jealous of Eva Braun (the lovely Doris Kunstmann). Excellent as history lesson and entertainment.

gunnarvl Alec Guinness becomes Hitler, and it is the most realistic portrayal I've ever seen. Derek Jacoby and Anthony Hopkins come no where close to this in their respective films, Inside The Third Reich and The Bunker. This is like a color camera capturing Hitler speaking in English. It is frightening yet has touches of humor, especially when the announcement of Hitlers death is made to the other residents of the bunker, you see a pretty blond woman reach for her small case containing cyanide capsules and cigarettes. She chooses the cigarettes and she and everyone else in the room light up. The most memorable line in the film is Hitler trying to conjure up some of the old charismatic magic of the past, addressing a young captain played by Simon Ward. "The Gods give their love only to those who demand the impossible. Mankind is ruled by will, by determination. When the will is thrust by genius, it generates a force which throughout history has proved irresistible"

hokeybutt HITLER: THE LAST TEN DAYS (2 outta 5 stars)Alec Guinness does a fine job of portraying Adolph Hitler in this okay movie chronicling the final days of WW2 when the masterminds of the Third Reich were holed up in a bunker awaiting their final defeat. Interesting film has some good scenes and dialogue but it isn't always as compelling as it might be. Except for Guinness the other actors are kind of wooden and unmemorable. Even Guinness has a few off-moments when his ranting and raving seem a little too over-acted. The movie starts out well with some documentary footage that sets the stage. Unfortunately the ringleaders of the war, as portrayed in the film, come off more as banal than they do evil. Not a bad movie but a truly definitive Hitler movie still needs to be made. (Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" still comes the closest, I think.)

zardoz12 Truly on the level of "Dr. Strangelove", "Hitler..." details the last 240 hours of Mr. Schicklegruber's life. We see him surrounged by his bug-eyed, fanatical Party people (the liar Goebbles and the piglike Bormann), paralyized Army Fieldmarshalls, the SS schemer Fegelein, and the rest of the army, navy, SS, and air force hangers-on who are mostly young, drunk, and making love to the female staff. For some reason, all shots outside the bunker are monochrome (to represent reality?) while everything within those 60 inch thick walls is in a gauzy technicolor. The action is seen by a young blonde Army officer who arrives to brief his Fuehrer on his General's advance. He is made Gen. Kreb's deputy and hangs on untill the 9th night. Though him we witness the general insanity of Hitler staying on in his mangled capital, the plotting of Hitler's entorage to hide the truth from him, listening to Adolf's interminable stories, etc. In short, you get to see what sort of madness goes on when a country invests absolute leadership in one man. Hitler's rant to his three Army commanders and Bormann is hilarious as we see him scream them against the walls of his war room. Nothing comes out right for the title character, an inverted Chaplin. Hitler walks stiffly, is bag-eyed, and has a semi-useless arm thanks to the 1944 bombplot. All of these aspects, and Hitler's general character, are masterfully acted by Guiness. This film is only depressing if you are a Nazi or a Buchanan supporter; others will cheer when the credits roll. I didn't know smoking was such a central component of the failure of the III Reich...maybe tobacco company execs will use this film in an anti-anti-smoking campaign.