Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
by Ennio De Concini
Our Price: $15.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.85 (click here)
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Product details
Actor: Adolfo Celi, Alec Guinness, Diane Cilento, Gabriele Ferzetti, Simon WardDirector: Ennio De Concini
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Paramount
Studio: Paramount
VHS Movie Reviews of Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
Movie Review: Absolutely HYSTERICAL!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
IF one could ever possibly dream that Hitler and the Nazis could be made into a camp send-up, then this movie is the dream become reality!! I have never laughed so hard in my life. Although based on REAL events that took place in Hitler's Bunker, there is obviously a GREAT deal of theatrical license at work in the dialogue. You'll never believe what comes out of these people's mouths! When Alec Guinness declares that there is "no shortage of cream" in the Bunker, I just completely lost it... It's nowhere near as accurate as Downfall, but who needs accuracy when you've got an over the top Alec Guinness chewing up scenery and screaming at the top of his lungs. It's an absolute LAUGH RIOT!! Buy it, even on VHS.Movie Review: Good idea, Poor execution...no pun intended.
Summary: 3 Stars
Alec Guinness' portrayal of Hitler was a lot more nuanced than Anthony Hopkins', but I still found it odd. His Hitler seemed strangely amused, more than anything else, as his entire world crumbled around him. (I guess he was just keeping a stiff British upper lip.) Like with the other pre-Untergang movies, you have the impression that the writers had a checklist of Bunker events they needed to provide dialogue for, and the director threw these scenes together with no regard for cohesion, tension or drama. The supporting cast was better than "The Bunker", but the movie was interrupted several times by Holocaust indoctrination segments, and the writers made this movie ridiculous by inserting a pre-suicide quarrel between Adolf and Eva. Buy "Downfall"; this movie is a mere curiosity. Movie Review: Put it on DVD already
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great war movie and a fine performance by Alec Guiness so when are they going to transfer it to a DVD format already.Movie Review: NOT UP TO THE STANDARD OF DOWNFALL BUT PRODUCED 30 YEARS EARLIER
Summary: 4 Stars
IN A NUTSHELL: THE STORY OF THE FINAL DEMISE OF HITLER & HIS EMPIRE
"Hitler: Last 10 Days", featuring Alec Guinness in the lead as Adolf Hitler, is an historicially-significant although flawed attempt to recapture the essence of the final disposition of Hilter and his Third Reich.
Alec Guinness plays Adolf Hitler as a suffering introvert motivated by a combination of maniac antagonistic intensity and withdrawn somber resignation. Guinness portrays Hitler with strongly-emotional, often-histrionic displays of both sorrow and contempt toward the German people, almost simultaneously. This is very well done in that Guinness does reveal the broken and tortured mind of the former proud leader of the great German Reich. In essence, Germany's external destruction seems to be going on internally with what is left of Hitler's presence of mind.
WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT: WORST TRAVEL DESTINATION OF APRIL 1945 - CENTRAL BERLIN
From its set, which was almost entirely inside Hitler's Berlin bunker, 'Hitler: Last 10 Days' attempts to narrate a kind of historic journal for posterity to depict the dying days of Hitler and his Third Reich as the Russian army comes ever closer to his underground lair in central Berlin.
In this dark underground setting, Hitler is portrayed as a broken leader attached to a sorrowful band of followers whose former imperial swagger has literally turned into a sort of collective drunken stagger. Hitler, it seems, is the only sober one in the bunker, but he has obviously found his escape within his collapsing sanity. The film utilizes a series of vignettes that are strung together to make this immense subject with dozens of players fit into a feature-length film, in English, for a general, moviegoing audience. Obviously this limits the scope of the project. Here are some examples of the scenes:
Hitler summons the new head of the defunct Luftwaffe [Eric Porter as Gen. Von Greim] to Berlin to be promoted to Field Marshall, only to have what was left of the Luftwaffe destroyed trying to escort the new Field Marshall to Berlin for the meeting and tea. Of course, Hitler's tailor made Von Greim a Field Marshall's uniform with which for him to return to his empty post. Of course, this tale is essentially true and is included in other books and films about this epic historic moment. The sense of proportion is the only thing I would question here as other chronicles of this event seem to give the 'Luftwaffe Debacle' relatively little importance in the grand scheme of the last days. It does, however, demonstrate that the once-sharp mind of the leader of the Third Reich was not functioning rationally.
Another scene, which also shows up in other films and literature, is what happens when Hitler finds out that there was NO COUNTER-OFFENSIVE, which was to have been led by Steiner, against the Soviet forces. In this scene, we can see most clearly the flaws in the film, whereby certain literary licenses are taken for the sake of dramatization during Hitler's 'public/private' reaction to this "betrayal" by the General Staff. It is very well done by Guinness as Hitler, but it is a bit theatrical, even for Adolf Hitler. The film 'Downfall' depicts the scene rather poignantly and probably closer to what really happened. To be specific, in the film, Hitler portrayed by Guinness promised to have the chiefs of the German General staff 'Drawn and Quartered' and to have them 'Drowned in their own blood', and much more, while in a closed-door session that everyone could hear despite the cataclysmic cacophony that was always in the bunker's background.
Lastly, the scene depicting Hitler having an argument that compelled Eva Braun to take poison during Hitler's final madman-monologue while he was cursing at her is a bit too much. The coup de grace shortly followed as Hitler, staring at Eva's suddenly lifeless body shouts, "YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME" before shooting himself.
BOTTOM LINE: NOT A PERFECT FILM BUT WHAT ELSE WAS THERE IN 1973 ON THE SUBJECT
Though this was made to be as accurate as possible, time and careful analysis has shown that some of what we see in this film is somewhat fictionalized, but the bulk of what is depicted is shown rather well. One must bear in mind that this film was released in 1973 when accurate depictions of the end of Hitler and the Third Reich were only known to scholars and prosecutors. The rest of us were given "The 3 Stooges," "Charlie Chaplin," and "The Marx Brothers" to come to terms with Hitler and his cartoonish cronies which served to further deepen the myth of Hitler the Caricature. Only with the more recent releases of groundbreaking films such as "Downfall" and "Inside the Third Reich" do we clearly see this film's shortcomings. In other words, "Hitler: Last 10 Days" was, at the time of its release, a rather revolutionary film and was the first of several better films and books that followed. For all the aforementioned reasons this is a film worth watching, but it is best to be somewhat familiar with the subject before viewing.
Movie Review: The Most RIDICULOUS Portrayal of Hiter Ever
Summary: 1 Stars
Having watched the four "bunker" movies (Inside the Third Reich, The Bunker, Downfall and Hitler: The Last Ten Days) I can say beyond a doubt that this is not only the briefest, but the worst of the lot. If Hitler with a British accent doesn't turn you off the lame performances from the rest of the cast will. The script is 90% fiction with Hitler saying one moronic thing after another that he never actually uttered or doing things that never really happened, such as Eva committing suicide after she and Adolf have an argument. Pure fiction. About 10% of this film is old archival footage which serves only to slow down the story and waste valuable time when it is already in very short supply and needed to explain a quite complicated story. Without having read any of the books about the last days of Hitler ("The Bunker" being the best) the average viewer will learn very little about the final days of Hitler from this film and will probably just end up being quite confused. Among many things it was almost impossible to pick out who the characters were among the many actors running about in two hours of general confusion. If you really want to understand what the final days of Hitler were like and need to do so in a film I'd check out "Downfall" or "The Bunker". "Downfall" is probably the best but requires patience as it is only available in German language. For those of you with less patience go with "The Bunker". "Inside the Third Reich" is also a great film although it covers the complete life of Albert Speer, not just the bunker and Hitler. Whatever you do, do NOT pay some preposterous price for this garbage movie.
Biography Video
Video Genres
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Biography Video
Triple CrossWarner Home Video; Release date: 1995-05-24; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
Edvard MunchNew Yorker Video; Release date: 1998-01-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
Brother Sun Sister MoonParamount; Release date: 1996-03-05; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.79
Price in other shops:
GandhiRCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video; Release date: 1992-12-07; Published: 1982-12-06; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.14
Price in other shops:
Farinelli: Il CastratoSony Pictures; Release date: 1996-02-13; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $19.98
NapoleonUniversal Studios; Release date: 1992-03-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $39.95
KafkaParamount; Release date: 2001-04-03; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $47.99
1492 - Conquest of ParadiseParamount; Release date: 1998-01-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $35.25
Andrei RublevFox Lorber; Release date: 1997-11-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $8.86
Price in other shops:
Mayerling (1968)MGM (Warner); Release date: 1998-09-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $49.77
Similar Video, DVDs, Audio CDs
Thirty Seconds Over TokyoWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $11.31
Price in other shops:
Countdown to WarRelease date: 2008-01-22; DVD
Best price: $12.38
Price in other shops:
Elmer GantryRelease date: 2001-03-06; DVD
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
The Death of Adolf HitlerRelease date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $11.56
Price in other shops:
Blind Spot - Hitler's SecretaryRelease date: 2003-10-28; DVD
Best price: $15.55
Price in other shops:
Nicholas and AlexandraRelease date: 1999-07-27; DVD
Best price: $12.56
Price in other shops:
Hitler: The Last Ten DaysRelease date: 2008-06-03; DVD
Best price: $7.10
Price in other shops:
Hitler - The Rise of EvilRelease date: 2007-10-09; DVD
Best price: $13.13
Price in other shops:
Death in the Bunker: The True Story of Hitler's DownfallKoch International; Release date: 2006-08-08; DVD
Best price: $9.18
Price in other shops:
The BunkerWarner Brothers; Release date: 2006-05-30; DVD
Best price: $6.24
Price in other shops: