A bit less than an hour long, this documentary consists almost entirely of newsreel footage and home movies. There are only four talking heads and they take up only a few minutes of screen time. About a quarter of the film shows us Hitler, Eva Braun, and their friends frolicking at the Berghof in the Bavarian Alps.
A surprising amount of the footage will be unfamiliar, even to devotees of the History Channel.
Of course it's difficult to crimp a war that lasted seven or so years into fifty-eight minutes, but this serves as a kind of refresher course or, let's say, a brief introduction for those who know nothing of World War II, perhaps not even that it occurred. (After historian Barbara Tuchman's guest lecture on the causes of World War I at a famous Midwestern university, a student congratulated her on how enlightening her talk had been -- he'd always wondered why "the other" was called World War II.)
Yes, come to think of it, we might profitably consider showing this documentary in high school history classes, propaganda and all. And the resonant, authoritative baritone voice of Westbrook Van Voorhis, the narrator, DOES in fact slant things a bit. "The United States invaded North Africa" with no mention of the British who had been fighting Rommel for a year. And it seems the United States crossed the straights of Messina and invaded Italy "led by General Mark Clark." True enough, but the British Eighth Army invaded at the same time led by General Bernard Montgomery. (The other Allies get their due in the brief description of Monte Cassino.)
It's understandable that Hitler be described as "diabolical" and so forth. That's to be expected. But it seems a little unkind to Hitler's beloved dog, Blondi, to claim that she was "trained to kill." The dog was no more than a playmate and Hitler had her executed at the Berlin chancellery Gotterdammerung.
As for Hitler's other playmate, I've always felt sorry for Eva Braun, described as a "chatelaine", a term that gives her probably more importance than she had historically. She didn't run the castle. Her job was just to be there when Hitler visited. There's a good deal of footage of her, her sister Gretl, and their young friends. She seems more like a pleasant, physically fit, not-quite-pretty, working-class girl swept up by adoration of a powerful national leader. The admiration went both ways. Hitler married her at the end and she suffered the same fate as Blondi. It's difficult to imagine that she endorsed Hitler's policies. It's difficult to believe that she even thought much about them.
In any case, this is a dramatic presentation, what with its booming musical score and Van Voorhis' narration, and for some will be informative. For those familiar with the events, it's still a curiosity. These particular black-and-white home movies of Eva Braun are seldom seen today.
A surprising amount of the footage will be unfamiliar, even to devotees of the History Channel.
Of course it's difficult to crimp a war that lasted seven or so years into fifty-eight minutes, but this serves as a kind of refresher course or, let's say, a brief introduction for those who know nothing of World War II, perhaps not even that it occurred. (After historian Barbara Tuchman's guest lecture on the causes of World War I at a famous Midwestern university, a student congratulated her on how enlightening her talk had been -- he'd always wondered why "the other" was called World War II.)
Yes, come to think of it, we might profitably consider showing this documentary in high school history classes, propaganda and all. And the resonant, authoritative baritone voice of Westbrook Van Voorhis, the narrator, DOES in fact slant things a bit. "The United States invaded North Africa" with no mention of the British who had been fighting Rommel for a year. And it seems the United States crossed the straights of Messina and invaded Italy "led by General Mark Clark." True enough, but the British Eighth Army invaded at the same time led by General Bernard Montgomery. (The other Allies get their due in the brief description of Monte Cassino.)
It's understandable that Hitler be described as "diabolical" and so forth. That's to be expected. But it seems a little unkind to Hitler's beloved dog, Blondi, to claim that she was "trained to kill." The dog was no more than a playmate and Hitler had her executed at the Berlin chancellery Gotterdammerung.
As for Hitler's other playmate, I've always felt sorry for Eva Braun, described as a "chatelaine", a term that gives her probably more importance than she had historically. She didn't run the castle. Her job was just to be there when Hitler visited. There's a good deal of footage of her, her sister Gretl, and their young friends. She seems more like a pleasant, physically fit, not-quite-pretty, working-class girl swept up by adoration of a powerful national leader. The admiration went both ways. Hitler married her at the end and she suffered the same fate as Blondi. It's difficult to imagine that she endorsed Hitler's policies. It's difficult to believe that she even thought much about them.
In any case, this is a dramatic presentation, what with its booming musical score and Van Voorhis' narration, and for some will be informative. For those familiar with the events, it's still a curiosity. These particular black-and-white home movies of Eva Braun are seldom seen today.
