I love watching old American and British WWII propaganda films. Sure, they were often rather one-dimensional or at times ridiculous and some people tend to think that the word "propaganda" is a bad thing, but in this case these films were positive in that they helped to unify the country and get us behind the war effort. Yes, it's true some of them had horrible stereotypes and images of the enemy (particularly how the Japanese were portrayed as almost subhuman), but this was war and, unfortunately, some of the worst images these films showed were BETTER than the real enemy! The film HITLER'S CHILDREN was a very well-made film from RKO that told a fictional story about some young people--in particular, Bonita Granville and Tim Holt, who were caught up in the hysteria and evil of the Hitler youth and other organizations targeting children. At first, the story is told from the viewpoint of the fine character actor Kent Smith. Then, later in the film it switches to Granville, as she is forced into a German indoctrination camp and wants desperately to escape. Otto Kruger enters the story as a pretty dumb Nazi officer who has high hopes for Granville and Holt in the party. However, his hopes are dashed when Granville escapes. What happens next, I'll leave to you so I won't spoil the film. However, the weakest aspect of the film involves the ending with young Holt--this just never would have or could have happened--but it's very entertaining nevertheless.
While this film is much truer in its depiction of the Germans than most contemporary films, the film actually in some ways makes the Nazis look a little dumber and less evil than they actually were. The excellent acting of H. B. Warner as the Bishop is great, except we found out after the war that any clergy speaking out against the regime would have been sent to a concentration camp or killed--the Bishop's comments to the Nazi officers or his sermon denouncing the party never would have gone unpunished.
Still an effective and captivating film.
While this film is much truer in its depiction of the Germans than most contemporary films, the film actually in some ways makes the Nazis look a little dumber and less evil than they actually were. The excellent acting of H. B. Warner as the Bishop is great, except we found out after the war that any clergy speaking out against the regime would have been sent to a concentration camp or killed--the Bishop's comments to the Nazi officers or his sermon denouncing the party never would have gone unpunished.
Still an effective and captivating film.