If you have an interest in the history of cinema, especially during Nazi Germany cinema and how cinema was used as a tool for propaganda and distorting facts, I definitely recommend Rudiger Suchsland’s “Hitler’s Hollywood”.
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DVD TITLE: Hitler’s Hollywood
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2017
DURATION: 105 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, English and German 5.1 Surround with English Subtitles
COMPANY: Kino Lorber
RATED: NOT RATED
RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2018
Written and Directed by Rudiger Suchsland
Produced by Gunnar Dedio, Martina Haubrich
Edited by Ursula Purrer
Starring:
Udo Kier (Narrator)
Hitler’s Hollywood, narrated by Udo Kier, asks what the Nazi cinema of the Third Reich reveals about its period and its people. About 1000 feature films were made in Germany in the years between 1933-1945: musicals, melodramas, romances, costume dramas and war films. Only a few were overtly Nazi propaganda films. But by the same token, even fewer of them can be considered harmless entertainment. How did the open lies and hidden truths in these films affect the future of German cinema? Director Rüdiger Suchsland (From Caligari to Hitler) presents these films and the people behind them. It explains how propaganda works: how stereotypes of the “enemy†and values of love and hate managed to be planted into viewers’ heads through the screen.
Kino Lorber releases another DVD in 2018 which takes a look at the films made in Nazi Germany.
The first was the documentary “Forbidden Films” by Felix Moeller, the filmmaker looks into the the cinematic debates if films listed among the 40 that have restrictions, should be shown to the public. From film historians/critics, to adults and student s who give their thoughts of watching these films today and discuss whether or not the restrictions should stay.
“Hitler’s Hollywood”, a film written and directed by Rudiger Suchsland and narrated by Udo Kier, asks what the Nazi cinema of the Third Reich reveals about its period and its people.
Whereas “Forbidden Films” looked at how Nazi Germany used films a propaganda, “Hitler’s Hollywood” explores how these films were considered harmless entertainment, the people behind the films, how propaganda works and how stereotypes of the “enemy” and values of love and hate managed to be planted into viewers’ heads through cinema.
During 1933 and 1945, Germany had one of the largest number of movie viewers even surpassing the viewers of major Hollywood blockbuster films. Â Joseph Goebbels, a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany knew that by utilizing cinema, they were able to twist reality.
Goebbels used his position to advocate harsher discrimination and the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust. And he used cinema as a way to make German people believe that the Jews, the British, the allied forces were the ones who were the aggressors hurting their people.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
It’s important for people to remember that “Hitler’s Hollywood” is a documentary that tries to showcase a lot of footage from a variety of film sources.
Presented in 1:78:1 color and film portions are standard format, the documentary looks good for the most part.
The English and German audio is presented in 5.1 surround and narration and film audio is clear and understandable and the film’s subtitles are also easy to read.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Forbidden Films” comes with a trailer and an alternate German voiceover soundtrack.
Having watched Kino Lorber’s DVD release of “Forbidden Films”, a documentary by Felix Moeller, numerous times. I felt that Kino Lorber’s “Hitler’s Hollywood” directed by Rudger Suchsland, is a documentary that makes a good accompaniment for viewing and understanding Nazi cinema.
Because it showcases more footage from films discussed in “Forbidden Films” but also filmmaker Rudger Suchsland goes into detail of showcasing a variety of Nazi cinema of the Third Reich, may it be musicals, melodramas, romances, costume dramas and war films.
While many of the films featured in “Hitler’s Hollywood” may seem outdated, the films are evident in its propaganda nature of showing people willing to die for their country and how Nazi Germany was united and they were fighting for a united cause.
You can see how the millions of Germans watching this film felt invigorated by these films. Feeling united as protagonists died for their country and believed each speech and each time one would talk about dying for their fatherland.
And there are many excerpts of Nazi films featured in the documentary. I’ll touch upon a few that were featured.
From watching this documentary, we see how Nazi Germany cinema portrayed life full of laughter and love and how the enemy and what the Third Reich was trying to take away their happiness.
The documentary goes into various actors and filmmakers. For example, G.W. Pabst, best known for directing the Louise Brooks silent films “Pandora’s Box” (1929) and “Diary of a Lost Girl” (1929), but he also directed films starring Greta Garbo and Leni Riefenstahl. But would directed “Westfront 1918” (1930), “The Threepenny Opera” (1931) and “Kameradschaft” (1931). He created two films in Germany during World War II.
Also, exploring the careers of Gustaf Grundgens ( who starred in Fritz Lang’s 1931 film, “M”) and starred in many Nazi films, as well as actress Kristina Söderbaum. Beloved for her roles in Nazi cinema and despised by many after World War II.
The documentary goes into the first propaganda film “Hitlerjunge Quex”, no doubt a propaganda film to recruit young boys to fight for their country. No doubt this film, more than likely attracted young boys and girls to fight for the Nazi Party. Going off on a tangent here, but it’s important to note that as Nazi German soldiers buried around two million mines around the Danish Coast during their occupation and because of the danger these mines were to the public, the Danish Army used German POWs (a decision by the British military who controlled the area and a violation of the Geneva Convention), the majority of the POWs who were boys to defuse and clear as many mines.
Hated because they are German, there was no sympathy towards these boys because they were German soldiers. And nearly half of the German POWs were killed or injured with permanent or serious disabilities during the operation. A 2015 Danish and German film titled “Land of Mine” explored this. But these boys were probably drawn in to fight for their fatherland, from what they were inspired by seeing in Nazi propaganda films such as “Hitlerjunge Quex”, about a boy who is inspired by other youngsters training to become future soldiers for Nazi Germany.
The documentary goes on how women were portrayed as strong-willed but also how many films were targeted towards women, as the men left to fight for their country, while women were supportive of their husbands and maintained the family at home..
Also, films that aimed at the elimination of the disabled.
Films such as “Ich klage an” (I accuse) is disturbing and is still relatable today as it deals with doctor assisting in a patient’s suicide. Millions of people watched the film to support the Reich’s T4 program, not many people were aware that invalids and incurable people to society were being murdered without consent. And as part of the Nazi Germany policy of racial hygiene, it would lead to genocide.
But probably the most disturbing are films such as “Der ewige Jude” which talked about how rats bring destruction and how the film tried to link Jews as dangerous to Germans and how under Hitler, they will stop Jewish blood training German blood and then showing Hitler’s speech of eliminating what he called the Jewish threat.
The film also goes into anti-Semitic films made against the Jewish people.
The documentary would also touch upon “Jud Süß” directed by Veit Harlan is based on a corrupt court jew from the 18th century. In the film, the Jewish character is corrupted, bringing Jewish to German grounds and rapes women. No doubt a film that over generalizes one corrupt Jewish man and that all Jewish people are like him.
The thing is, you can have bad people anywhere, but the justification of one bad person generalizing an entire race of being equally corrupted is wrong. But yet, while those who are educated and informed will know the film is propaganda, there are many people who refuse to educate themselves and took the cinema as 100% historically factual.
It was a film that soldiers had to watch but it was also a film to justify genocide. And the fact that filmmaker, Veit Harlan never apologized for the making of the film and argued that Nazi’s controlled his work, that he shouldn’t be held personally responsible for its content.
While Harlan was charged for participating in the anti-Semitic movement and aiding the Nazis and exonerated, he and his wife, actress Kristina Söderbaum, were still allowed to work after World War II.
Going off on a second tangent, but it is interesting to know that despite the disgusting anti-Semitic film which Harlan created, his niece, Christiane, would marry Jewish filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick.
Christiane Kubrick talked about her uncle in an interview with “The Guardian”.
“Where my uncle was an enormous fool, as many talented people are, was that he mistook his gift for intelligence,. He was a great big famous film person. He looked better and talked better and had enormous charm. So he thought he was also far more intelligent than Mr Goebbels. Goebbels was 10,000 times smarter than my uncle.” She pauses. “Film people, actors, are puppets. We are silly. We are silly folk.”
Christiane says her uncle’s story reinforced for Stanley and her their great principle in life: always be suspicious of people who have, or crave, power. “All Stanley’s life he said, ‘Never, ever go near power. Don’t become friends with anyone who has real power. It’s dangerous”.
The final film featured is “Kolberg”, one of the last films of the Third Reich and was created to bolster the will of the German population to resist the Allied Forces. The film was about how the fortress town of Kolberg fought against French troops during the Napoleonic Wars. How the people fought and held out and how the French abandoned the siege of the town.
The film ends with text discussing on what happened to the actors/actresses and filmmakers after they worked in Nazi cinema.
If anything, Kino Lorber has released two documentaries in 2018 on Nazi Germany cinema that I found as informative and worth watching. Felix Moeller’s documentary “Forbidden Films” tackles Nazi propaganda films and whether or not the public should have access to these films today (as many are still banned), while “Hitler’s Hollywood” goes into all types of cinema being released in Nazi Germany and what happened those who directed or starred in those films and showing how propaganda worked and how stereotypes of the “enemy” and values of love and hate were managed to be planted into viewers heads.
Both documentaries provide different information, so both are required viewing.
Overall, if you have an interest in the history of cinema, especially during Nazi Germany cinema and how cinema was used as a tool for propaganda and distorting facts, I definitely recommend Rudiger Suchsland’s “Hitler’s Hollywood”.