They Saved Hitler's Brain

Starring:Walter Stocker, Audrey Caire, Carlos Rivas, John Holland, Marshall Reed, Scott Peters (II), Keith Dahle, Dani Lynn, Nestor Paiva, Pedro Regas, Bill Freed, Chuck Beston, Hap Holmwood, Dick McHale, Jerry Riggio
Director: David Bradley
Studio: Rhino / Wea
Product Type: DVD

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Connoisseurs of bad movies rank this execration as an all-time favorite, rivaling Ed Wood's infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space as the worst film of all time. The trouble began in the early 1950s when a film called Madmen of Mandoras was shot and shelved for no mysterious reason at all. The film boasted the great cinematographer, Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons), whose gorgeously evocative photography makes a startling contrast to the inexplicable plot with which it seems to coexist. But that wasn't bad enough, so in the early 1960s some UCLA film students shot additional footage, somewhat differently styled (think Mod Squad meets cinéma vérité porno), and intercut it with the original film as if the two were meant for each other. The resultant jumble concerns a pair of modish CID agents on the trail of a kidnapped scientist, Nerve Gas-G, an antidote, the resurgence of the Fourth Reich on the Caribbean island of Mandoras, and Hitler's severed head barking orders from a jar. Here are but a few of the absurdities awaiting you: The swastika is backward, one obtuse character has to pull the car over to discover that her partner was shot even though she was present at the event, and when Hitler's head bites the big one, it melts. Critic J. Hoberman, in his seminal article, Bad Movies, observed that this film fairly makes the brain explode with ideas. Not only that, but aneurysms. You'll be screaming, "Mein Kopf! Mein Kopf!" just as Hitler's head should have, if only there had been the budget for that. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews:

Not kitschy or ridiculous enough .......2007-01-15

As a fan of MST3K, I thought this would provide an evening of distracted laughs. It did not. When people see your DVD collection, this might add some interest and depth, but as far as actually viewing it, you might want the internet and some checkbook balancing activities to do.

Ten Thumbs up!!! A Cinematic Tour d'Force!!!.......2005-10-14

No better representation of the cinematic art of 'avant noir' has yet to surpass this stylictic post-modern cult masterpiece. Under the sheer directorial genius of David Bradley (Julius Ceaser, Dragstrip Riot), "THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN" should long remain an immortal classic.

Great RPG!!! wait.... it's no video game?.......2005-09-19

Seems like a good idea for a Role Playing Game just like "Maniac Mansion" or "Day of the tentacle". Oh, just forget you read this.
By the way: I have not seen the movie but really love to see it become a game by lucasart.

With a wife like you who needs a girlfriend?.......2005-08-01

Oh what a hoot. I'm giving this film 5 stars for a different reason. Movies that are so bad they are 'good' make my day. 'Cat Women of the Moon', 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', and 'Robot Monster' all have a certain charm that exceeds the actual film. 'They saved Hitler's Brain' is another such movie. I give it 5 stars when thrown on with other famous bad movies, it holds it's own. It has everything a bad movie fan could want. An inane plot, mediocre acting at best, and the over the top 'not so special' effects.

A small Carribean Island called Manduras is a hideout for Nazis who want to take over the world. And why shouldn't they try again? Der Fuhrer is among them as a head in a glass jar. Guess that's where Matt Groening got the idea for his incredible 'Futurama' cartoon show. Listening to the little Hitler head in the glass jar barking out orders is just a hoot. I also loves how he just moves his eyes from side to side looking all sinister and stuff.

My two favorite scenes are the car chase and hotel fight. The car chase is right out of the mind of Ed Wood. They start driving in daylight, then the headlights are on in the dark, then at the crash, it's light again. Brilliant! It's too bad that agent died. With that hair and mustache he looked like Sony Bono meets Journey's Steve Perry. His very appearance was pure camp. Then you got the hotel scene. She hits the wrong guy with the lamp. How could she be so stupid?

A lot of people will say how much they love the "Hitler head melting" scene. Sure it's cool, but you have 92 minutes of pure hilarity to enjoy before the big climax.

If you love bad, bad, really bad movies, then this is perfect for you.

"The slappers of women! The torturers of old men!" .......2005-01-06

Why am I drawn to bad movies like a fly to a steaming pile of excrement (this metaphor is exceptionally appropriate given the film being reviewed)? I've never really given it much thought, but I suppose it's a similar reaction people display when driving by a particularly bad car wreck...you don't want to look, but morbid curiosity is a compelling, often intrinsic, trait among humans. As far as car wrecks go, cinematically speaking, They Saved Hitler's Brain (1963) is a real doozy...the film is actually two movies (the original made in the late 50's to early 60's but never released for some unknown reason, and new footage filmed in the mid to late 60's) spliced together, like some twisted Frankenstein experiment. Apparently the company that owned the original film, Crown International (purveyors of schlock), got some UCLA film students to produce the new footage, and then, in an extremely futile attempt, married the two in the unholy union that is this film (director Al Adamson made a career on doing this, most notably with his 1971 monster mash Dracula Vs. Frankenstein).

The film, originally titled Madmen of Mandoras aka Amazing Mr. H aka The Return of Mr. H (before the celluloid mating) was directed by David Bradley, whose earlier films include a juvenile delinquent picture titled Dragstrip Riot (1958) and the epic sci-fi craptacular 12 to the Moon (1960). The film stars Walter Stocker (Lassie's Great Adventure) and Audrey Caire, who seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her until I looked up her credits as saw she also appeared in Joe (1970), one of my more favorite films of the early 70's. Also appearing is John Holland (The Naked Brigade), Carlos Rivas (True Grit), Marshall Reed (Ghost of Zorro), Scott Peters (Panic in Year Zero!), Nestor Paiva (The Three Stooges in Orbit, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter), and Bill Freed (who later adapted Dean R. Koontz's novel Watchers into the 1988 film of the same name) as Adolf Hitler, or, at least his head.

The film starts out with the newer footage (which actually looks worse than the older footage), relating some kind of story regarding secret agents, nerve gas, and various murders. The main character, named Vic (who looks a lot like Chuck Negron, the original lead singer from the 70's band Three Dog Night) is a secret agent assigned to investigate the death of a scientist, but he himself eventually dies in a fiery car crash (actually his death is represented by footage taken from the 1958 feature Thunder Road, starring Robert Mitchum). All of this takes about 27 minutes, and then we cut into another film, already in progress, featuring the actors I listed above (the actors in the newer footage are not listed in any credits). From here we follow the exploits of Phil Day (Stocker) and his wife Kathy (Caire) as they travel to the tiny Caribbean Island nation of Mandoras to locate Kathy's recently kidnapped father, a scientist who developed an antidote to a deadly nerve gas. Phil and Kathy soon learn a handful of Nazis, lead by Hitler's head, and their nefarious plans to take control of the world. Will Phil and Kathy be able to stop the madness, or will the Third Reich finally achieve the goals it set for itself some 20 years ago? Their plan seems pretty rock solid, so things don't look good...

I'm unsure why the newer footage was added, especially since it matched up so poorly (it looked like a bunch of laid-back hippies running around, compared to the more conservatively attired characters in the original footage). The original film is actually not a bad little B film (at least, compared to the newer footage), but I suspect some of the original footage may have been lost (or never filmed), hence the addition of the newer material, as to try and provide a setting for the older material. Thing is, the newer stuff was shot so very poorly, lacking any sense of direction (hey, it's daytime...no wait, it's night...oops, it's daytime again), and I was able to piece together much of the intended story from the original footage I didn't need the newer material. And that music for the newer material...27 minutes of really crummy free form jazz...the horror, the horror...the concept of saving Hitler's head seemed kinda cool, but what was probably meant to be a shocking surprise (the whole plot of Hitler's head plotting a conspiracy) was effectively ruined by the newer title. The special effects are pretty much what you might expect, with Hitler's head, when not being carried around in a jar, sitting atop an older model videotape machine. Freed's head did look a little creepy, sort of bug-eyed and slightly emaciated, with his only dialog, as a disembodied head, being `Mach Schnell! Mach Schnell!' (I guess one would probably get pretty cranky and impatient surviving in a jar, relying on the charity of others...I wonder which lackey got the job of trimming his little moustache?) My favorite scene has to be when Phil and Kathy get kidnapped by a mysterious Hispanic man, and as they come to a stop light, another car pulls up, shoots the Hispanic man dead, but the couple, who are in the car with the now dead man, don't realize he's dead until much later, eventually stuffing his corpse into a phone booth, the intent being someone will find him (and someone does, in the form of an impatient, rotund lady wanting to use said phone...oh the comedy!)

The Rhino release specifies this is the uncut, 92-minute version (it felt much longer), newly transferred from 35mm elements. The picture quality isn't all that great, but it's probably the best you'll find, surpassing that old VHS copy you own. The audio is about as good as the picture quality (which is to say not all the great). There is a menu (featuring a nifty animated Hitler head), and a listing of other Rhino titles.

Cookieman108

They Saved Hitler's Brain + The Frozen Dead

Average customer rating:

They Saved Hitler's Brain + The Frozen Dead

Manufacturer: Catcom
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

World War II | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video
Product Features:

2 Feature Films

ASIN: B000KSXZ5E

Product Description

Two cult movies on one DVD. In 1968's THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN at the end of World War II a fanatical group of Nazi Doctors decapitate Hitler's head in a last ditch effort to save his brain for future use. Twenty years later their insane plan for world domination is ready for action! In 1966's THE FROZEN DEAD a group of psychotic Nazi SS troops placed into a deep freeze at the end of World War II. Now years later it's time to defrost and begin the process once again for total world domination. Dana Andrews stars as the Nazi doctor who's job is to create a new army of super zombie that will attack anything that get in their way.

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