HITLER'S MADMAN 1943
This Producer's Releasing Corporation production is one of several put out by various studios dealing with the assassination of Nazi bigwig, Reinhard Heydrich.
The film is also the first film made in Hollywood by future hit-maker, Douglas Sirk.
It is June 1942, and the British parachute several Czech agents into their homeland to stir up trouble. They want the locals to sabotage the massive munitions and armaments factories situated throughout Czechoslovakia. The Czechs had ended up with quite a few heavy industries after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.
Needless to say the Nazi types are not amused with this idea. Hostages are taken and the slightest whisper of dissent brings swift action by the Gestapo. In charge of the country, is the highly efficient, Heydrich. Heydrich is played here with particular glee by a blonde haired John Carradine. A perfect Nazi swine is Carradine , he smiles while signing death warrants , while at the same time he picks out young girls to serve as "comfort" girls for the troops on the Eastern Front.
The main leads here are Alan Curtis as the Czech agent, and his girl, Patricia Morrison. Also in the mix are, Edgar Kennedy, Jimmy Conlin and Alan Shean. At first the locals are reluctant to rise up against the Nazi types. That changes after Carradine has the local priest shot, and grabs up several of the village girls.
Heydrich is then bushwhacked on a forest road and badly wounded. He lingers on in hospital for several days before dying in agony. The Germans of course retaliate and round up the village women, shoot all the men, then raze the village, (Lidice) to the ground.
The story plays fast and loose with the actual facts of the event. But so what, it is meant to be a flag-waver, and as such it works. Most war films produced at the height of the conflict had gobs of anti-Axis propaganda.
MGM was so impressed with the film, that they bought the finished product from PRC and released it themselves. Needless to say the film turned a profit.
The director, Douglas Sirk, was a German Ex-pat who escaped Germany in 1939 and came to Hollywood. By the 1950's he was turning out big money earners like, WRITTEN ON THE WIND, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, IMITATION OF LIFE and ALL I DESIRE. He also scored with an earlier series of film noir productions such as, LURED, SLEEP MY LOVE and SHOCKPROOF.
Look close and you will see a 21 year old Ava Gardner in an unbilled bit.
This Producer's Releasing Corporation production is one of several put out by various studios dealing with the assassination of Nazi bigwig, Reinhard Heydrich.
The film is also the first film made in Hollywood by future hit-maker, Douglas Sirk.
It is June 1942, and the British parachute several Czech agents into their homeland to stir up trouble. They want the locals to sabotage the massive munitions and armaments factories situated throughout Czechoslovakia. The Czechs had ended up with quite a few heavy industries after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.
Needless to say the Nazi types are not amused with this idea. Hostages are taken and the slightest whisper of dissent brings swift action by the Gestapo. In charge of the country, is the highly efficient, Heydrich. Heydrich is played here with particular glee by a blonde haired John Carradine. A perfect Nazi swine is Carradine , he smiles while signing death warrants , while at the same time he picks out young girls to serve as "comfort" girls for the troops on the Eastern Front.
The main leads here are Alan Curtis as the Czech agent, and his girl, Patricia Morrison. Also in the mix are, Edgar Kennedy, Jimmy Conlin and Alan Shean. At first the locals are reluctant to rise up against the Nazi types. That changes after Carradine has the local priest shot, and grabs up several of the village girls.
Heydrich is then bushwhacked on a forest road and badly wounded. He lingers on in hospital for several days before dying in agony. The Germans of course retaliate and round up the village women, shoot all the men, then raze the village, (Lidice) to the ground.
The story plays fast and loose with the actual facts of the event. But so what, it is meant to be a flag-waver, and as such it works. Most war films produced at the height of the conflict had gobs of anti-Axis propaganda.
MGM was so impressed with the film, that they bought the finished product from PRC and released it themselves. Needless to say the film turned a profit.
The director, Douglas Sirk, was a German Ex-pat who escaped Germany in 1939 and came to Hollywood. By the 1950's he was turning out big money earners like, WRITTEN ON THE WIND, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, IMITATION OF LIFE and ALL I DESIRE. He also scored with an earlier series of film noir productions such as, LURED, SLEEP MY LOVE and SHOCKPROOF.
Look close and you will see a 21 year old Ava Gardner in an unbilled bit.