Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Hitler: The Last Ten Days | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ennio De Concini |
Written by | Gerhard Boldt Ennio De Concini Maria Pia Fusco Ivan Moffat Wolfgang Reinhardt |
Produced by | Wolfgang Reinhardt |
Starring | Alec Guinness Simon Ward Adolfo Celi Diane Cilento Gabriele Ferzetti |
Cinematography | Ennio Guarnieri |
Edited by | Kevin Connor |
Music by | Mischa Spoliansky |
Production companies | Tomorrow Entertainment West Film |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[1] (through MGM-EMI in the United Kingdom[2]) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes[2] |
Countries | United Kingdom Italy |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,250,000 (US/Canada rentals)[3] |
Hitler: The Last Ten Days is a 1973 biographical drama film depicting the days leading up to Adolf Hitler's suicide. The film stars Alec Guinness and Simon Ward, and features an introduction presented by Alistair Cooke; the original music score was composed by Mischa Spoliansky. The film is based on the book Hitler's Last Days: An Eye-Witness Account (first translated in English in 1973) by Gerhard Boldt,[4] an officer in the German Army who survived the Führerbunker.
Plot
[edit]The film opens with Hitler's 56th birthday, on 20 April 1945, and ends 10 days later with his suicide, on 30 April after he gets angry at Heer Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (Chief of the Wehrmacht) ,General Alfred Jodl,Wilhelm Burgdolf,Hans Krebs and Party Secretary Martin Bormann when SS-General Steiner and his German Forces didn’t attack the Soviet Forces led by Georgy Zhukov that Hitler hoped it would be like the 7 Years war led by Frederick the Great against Elizabeth and Peter the Third and regarding about FDR and Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin and eventually he finds out from Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann that Wehrmacht Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring (head of the Luftwaffe and deputy commander of the Heer and ex SA-Gruppenfuhrer Commander in the Brownshirts) including Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler (Chief of the SS) and Albert Speer are escaping and betrayed him and then he executes his future brother in law SS-General Hermann Fegelein married to Eva Braun’s sister Gretl Braun just like what Benito Mussolini did to his son in law Galeazzo Ciano in Italy and then Hitler committed suicide with his wife wanting to die as a hero like Napoleon.
Cast
[edit]- Alec Guinness – Adolf Hitler
- Simon Ward – Hauptmann Hoffmann
- Adolfo Celi – Heer General Hans Krebs
- Diane Cilento – Hanna Reitsch
- Gabriele Ferzetti – Heer Field Marshal and Wehrmacht OKW Chief Wilhelm Keitel
- Eric Porter –Luftwaffe General von Greim
- Doris Kunstmann – Eva Braun
- Joss Ackland – Heer General Wilhelm Burgdorf
- John Bennett – Joseph Goebbels
- John Barron – Dr. Stumpfegger
- Barbara Jefford – Magda Goebbels
- Valerie Gray – Helga Goebbels
- Ann Lynn – Traudl Junge
- Sheila Gish – Frau Christian
- Julian Glover – SS-Gruppenführer (General) Hermann Fegelein
- Michael Goodliffe – Heer General Helmut Weidling
- Mark Kingston – Martin Bormann
- Timothy West – Professor und SS-Gruppenfuhrer (General) Karl Gebhardt
- Andrew Sachs – Walter Wagner
- Philip Stone – Heer General Alfred Jodl
- Angela Pleasence – Traudel
Production
[edit]Location shooting for the film included the De Laurentiis Studios in Rome and parts of England.[citation needed]
Release
[edit]The film opened in 26 theatres in West Germany on the anniversary of Hitler's birth on 20 April 1973, which led to several groups objecting to the film. Initially, the movie was a moderate success at the box office.[5] In its first nine days at the Empire, Leicester Square in London, the film grossed £17,860 ($41,971).[6]
Home media
[edit]The film was released on DVD on 3 June 2008,[7] and was released on Blu-ray in September 2015.[8]
See also
[edit]- The Last Ten Days (1955), a film
- The Death of Adolf Hitler (Sunday Night Theatre episode) (1973), a British television film
- The Bunker (1981), a CBS television film
- Downfall (2004), a film
References
[edit]- ^ "Hitler: The Last Ten Days [Gli ultimi dieci giorni di Hitler]". Archivio del Cinema Italiano. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ a b "HITLER – THE LAST 10 DAYS (A)". British Board of Film Classification. 16 April 1973. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1973". Variety. 9 January 1974. p. 19.
- ^ Boldt, Gerhard (1973). Hitler's last days: An eyewitness account. Translated by Bance, Sandra (Hardcover, First Translated ed.). Arthur Baker. ISBN 978-0-213-16429-4.
- ^ "Showing 'Hitler: The Last 10 Days' Stirs Beefs From W. German Orgs". Variety. 23 May 1973. p. 37. Retrieved 10 May 2024 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "West End Perks; 'Hitler' Wow $41,971, 'Thief' Robust $15,432, 'O Lucky Man' Zingy $18,133, 'Hide' Dim 3G, Both 2d". Variety. 23 May 1973. p. 37. Retrieved 10 May 2024 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Hitler: The Last Ten Days (DVD ed.). 3 June 2008.
- ^ "Hitler: The Last Ten Days Blu-ray".
External links
[edit]- 1973 films
- 1970s biographical drama films
- 1970s historical drama films
- British biographical drama films
- British historical drama films
- Italian biographical drama films
- English-language Italian films
- Films about Adolf Hitler
- Films about the Battle of Berlin
- Films set in 1945
- Films shot in England
- Films shot in Rome
- Paramount Pictures films
- Death of Adolf Hitler
- 1973 drama films
- 1973 war films
- 1970s English-language films
- 1970s British films
- 1970s Italian films
- Films scored by Mischa Spoliansky
- English-language historical drama films
- English-language biographical drama films
- English-language war films