Hitler in the Movies

Finding Der Führer on Film

Sidney Homan and Hernán Vera

In Hitler in the Movies: Finding Der Führer on Film, a Shakespearean and a sociologist explore the fascination our popular culture has with Adolf Hitler. What made him … Hitler? Do our explanations tell us more about the perceiver than the actual historical figure? We ask such question by viewing the Hitler character in the movies. How have directors, actors, film critics, and audiences accounted for this monster in a medium that reflects public tastes and opinions?

The book first looks at comedic films, such as Chaplain’s The Great Dictator or Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be (1942), along with the Mel Brooks’s 1983 version. Then, there is the Hitler of fantasy, from trash films like The Saved Hitler’s Brain to a serious work like The Boys from Brazil where Hitler is cloned. Psychological portraits include Anthony Hopkins’s The Bunker, the surreal The Empty Mirror, and Max, a portrait of Hitler in his days in Vienna as a would-be artist. Documentaries and docudramas range from Leni Reinfenstahl’s iconic The Triumph of the Will or The Hidden Führer, to the controversial Hitler: A Film from Germany and Quentin Tarantino’s fanciful Inglourious Basterds.

Hitler in the Movies also considers the ways Der Führer remains today, as a ghostly presence, if not an actual character. Why is he still with us in everything from political smears to video games to merchandise? In trying to explain this and the man himself, what might we learn about ourselves and our society?

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 136 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-61147-925-6 • Hardback • April 2016 • $102.00 • (£78.00)

978-1-61147-927-0 • Paperback • March 2018 • $47.99 • (£37.00)

978-1-61147-926-3 • eBook • April 2016 • $45.50 • (£33.00)

Subjects: Art / Film & Video, Performing Arts / Film / General, Social Science / Popular Culture

Hitler in the Movies

Finding Der Führer on Film

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

In Hitler in the Movies: Finding Der Führer on Film, a Shakespearean and a sociologist explore the fascination our popular culture has with Adolf Hitler. What made him … Hitler? Do our explanations tell us more about the perceiver than the actual historical figure? We ask such question by viewing the Hitler character in the movies. How have directors, actors, film critics, and audiences accounted for this monster in a medium that reflects public tastes and opinions?

The book first looks at comedic films, such as Chaplain’s The Great Dictator or Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be (1942), along with the Mel Brooks’s 1983 version. Then, there is the Hitler of fantasy, from trash films like The Saved Hitler’s Brain to a serious work like The Boys from Brazil where Hitler is cloned. Psychological portraits include Anthony Hopkins’s The Bunker, the surreal The Empty Mirror, and Max, a portrait of Hitler in his days in Vienna as a would-be artist. Documentaries and docudramas range from Leni Reinfenstahl’s iconic The Triumph of the Will or The Hidden Führer, to the controversial Hitler: A Film from Germany and Quentin Tarantino’s fanciful Inglourious Basterds.

Hitler in the Movies also considers the ways Der Führer remains today, as a ghostly presence, if not an actual character. Why is he still with us in everything from political smears to video games to merchandise? In trying to explain this and the man himself, what might we learn about ourselves and our society?

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 136 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-61147-925-6 • Hardback • April 2016 • $102.00 • (£78.00)

978-1-61147-927-0 • Paperback • March 2018 • $47.99 • (£37.00)

978-1-61147-926-3 • eBook • April 2016 • $45.50 • (£33.00)

Subjects: Art / Film & Video, Performing Arts / Film / General, Social Science / Popular Culture

Author

Sidney Homan is Professor of English at the University of Florida and Visiting Professor at Jilin University in the People’s Republic of China.

The late Hernán Vera was Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida.

Table of Contents

Preface: Hitler in the Movies
Chapter 1: The Comic Hitler
Chapter 2: The Hitler of Fantasy Films
Chapter 3: Hitler the Character
Chapter 4: Documentaries and Docudramas: Playing with the Facts
Chapter 5: The Presence of Hitler
Afterword: The “H” Word and Present-Day America
Notes
Index
About the Authors

Hitler in the Movies

Finding Der Führer on Film

Sidney Homan and Hernán Vera

Hitler in the Movies

Finding Der Führer on Film

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