MovieChat Forums > The Whip Hand (1951) Discussion > Shame the Nazi angle was sacrificed for ...

Shame the Nazi angle was sacrificed for the commie threat

posted 10 years ago by Piston_Smash
6 replies | jump to latest

Imagine the impact of the film today if Hitler - Hitler! - is revealed to be behind the germ warfare plot and is still alive in Winnoga! Wow, that would be outrageous - but would make complete sense when you consider the mad doctor Bucholtz and the human experiments the Nazis undertook. Somehow it just doesn't work with the villains being ex-Nazis who have undergone a 180 degree political realignment and are now commies.
The acting in the film was questionable but I liked the direction. Some of the shot compositions were effective. One memorable shot showed Corbin, Janet and Dr Keller all reflected in a mirror. You could see that attention was paid to the mise-en-scene and where characters were located in the frame.

[–] gnok2002 10 years ago

I saw last month and liked it, but 60 years on it appears preposterous to have ex-Nazis as commies, I would have thought the idea would have been even more obviously stupid at the time, there is a phrase about 'knowing your enemy' I can't think the audience at the time would not have thought this stupid; It is also totally unnecessary, the villains could have been portrayed as Nazi or commie, with no problem.

[–] romar289 10 years ago

Agree. Anyone knowing history is aware that the Nazis were rabid anti-commies. Obvious pandering to the "Red-scare" of the time. Maybe a more convenient villain. Whatever it takes to sell theatre tickets.

[–] CatTales 9 years ago

why wouldnt the Nazi doctor work for Stalin? The USA Government employed many Nazi war-criminal scientists after agreeing to pardon them. With this in mind, you'll notice the FBI asks the doctor (who's a raving megalomaniac just asking to get shot) to give up. They want him alive, too...

[–] simplemines 8 years ago

It's not THAT preposterous. Let's consider that Hitler and Stalin were allies, then consider that most of the East German secret police, the Stasi, were former Nazis. Not that big of a leap from National Socialist to Soviet Socialist.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

Somehow it just doesn't work with the villains being ex-Nazis who have undergone a 180 degree political realignment and are now commies.

You're being extremely polite with that understatement. It's positively bizarre!🐭

[–] Jason_Radley 8 years ago

I don't think it's bizarre, because ideologically the Nazis and Soviets weren't that far apart; it certainly makes more sense than the villains being ex-Nazis who want to kill hundreds of millions of Americans for the hell of it. Plus I'm not sure who is meant to be an ex-Nazi apart from Bucholtz and, perhaps, Peterson. The rest are American communists.