Who and in which movie played the best Hitler? In best, I mean what might be the closet to how he actually was?
shareA note from a private Hitler discussion : IS HITLER TOO POPULAR
--------------------- An Enquirer --------------------------------
by - _______ on Mon Jul 10 2006 16:56:36
Delete you quite frankly rediculas review of The Bunker.. Did you not understand the situation Hopkins was playing Hitler? it was the end. he was ill. he knew he had lost. Hitler was not the orator he was in the 30's when thsi film depicts him. and as for Hopkins his performance is only matched by Bruno Gans..depicting the same period of his life.
... you assume he could not play him? have you actually seen the film.. He PLays him.. very well.. equel infact to Bruno Gans. A German.
--------------------- My Reply -----------------------------------
Greetings Herr Hauptmann :
Oh yes I did see The Bunker.
Hitler has attracted more attention from the silver and small screen than any Biblical character I can think of. As far as movies goes, Hitler certainly has won more attention than any of his competitors. He certainly outpolls the icons of this Republic.
Which Revolutionary / American War flick is your favourite?
See my point.
But accepting that, I doubt Anthony Hopkins or any other Englishman could play Hitler.
The English are far too rational. Hitler may have been nuts or as the modern evangelist Billy Graham claimed possessed by Satan, or both but Hitler certainly was not rational or even composed enough to be played by an Englishman.
And I say that as a compliment to Hopkins and the English people. Hopkins is a gifted actor. I have seen him play opposite the Great Mel Gibson in the Bounty and deemed his performance excellent.
However Hopkins is no Hitler.
Some actors have played Hitler well. Neither that comes to mind was English. American Richard Basehardt did a tolerable job in a pscho-drama-bio from the 1960s. And more recently German Bruno Gantz was superb in Downfall, whereas Anthony Hopkins fell far too flat in The Bunker.
Understatement the British art form does not fit a depiction of Hitler.
As far as your request, Herr Hauptmann, request denied!
A Cheery cherioooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
HARRISON AFLRED ANDREWS
Lord Commandant
Hitler outpolls Stalin by quite a bit; he outruns roosevelt and churchill and overshadows de Gaul, Chiang and Mao. Even his axis partners hirohito and mussolini are left in the dust.
Blimey (Oct der Liber!) who won WW II afterall?
A Cheery Cherio (Auf Wiedersehen)
HA Andrews
Anthony Hopkins is Welsh.
sharesame difference ... the welsh are more english than the english; they even turned down independence, being the only colony ever to reject such
cheery cherio
HA Andrews
no it is not the same - moron ! Welsh is Welsh, English is English.
shareto call a subjugated people a nation is like calling a steer a bull; in most cases the steer might appreciate the compliment while preferring the accoutrements; in case of many of the modern welsh having not desired the latter they do not deserve the former.
a cheery cherio
HA Andrews
Wales is part of the U.K.
shareRegardless of the status of Wales it is certainly a distinct region and in no way "more english than the english".
While the stereotype of the repressed Englishman is only true up to a point it has some basis in fact and cultural history. By the same token I think it's fair to say that the Welsh have a similar stereotype for being more outwardly emotional.
Of course you will also get plenty of emotional Englishmen and reserved Welshmen,but just because a region isn't an independent country it doesn't mean that it doesn't have a distinct character.
I'm confused. Are we talking about HOW GREEN IS MY VALLEY or DER FUHER-BUNKER?
HA Andrews
I'm from Switzerland and i can proudly say: Bruno Ganz is a Swiss! He's not a German! And he gives the best performance.
share
there is no such thing as swiss you are either german french or italian
HA Andrews
A very good (and underrated) portrayal of Adolf Hitler is given by Sir Alec Guiness in Hitler:The Last 10 Days.
share
to a previous correspondent -- apologies to the swiss--- hopefully they aren't sending their papal guards after me --- or worse the swiss navy
i suspect i may have seen the english movie with sir alec --- quite a long time ago -- when did it come out?
HA Andrews
[deleted]
you've taken a deep bath in us war propaganda ... hopkins is too english, too even tempered to throw a genuine hitler hizzy fit ... to be hitler an actor has to have a side which is capable of projecting demonic possession ... not there ...... not a spark of fanaticism in him .... richard basehart played a good hitler so too did bruno ganz
HA Andrews
I found Anthony Hopkins caught the character of Hitler as he was after the July
1944 assassination attempt exceedingly well. From that time on to the end of his life the public saw very few sights of Hitler, and with the injections that the quack doctor Morell was giving him, the palsy of his left side grew progressively worse, while the syphilis was also at work destorying his mind and body. Alec Guiness did an excellent job also. Richard Basehart was not all that believable. Bruno Ganz also caught the flavor of the man.
Just a point of fact: The Russians were so determined that the Feurher Bunker never become a shrine that they tore down the Chancellory, not far from the Brandenburg Gate and cemented the whole place over, after which they hauled in tons of earth and planted a park over it. The Berlin Wall separating East Berlin from the west ran along the west side of the park, located just off the Unter Den Linden Strasse
??? Are you out of your mind? That's like saying Americans don't exist and you're either Texan, Californian, or what not...
Silly person.
americans? please don't confuse americans with us people. us people are a cute touchy feely people.
HA Andrews
what are you, a care-bear? :-S
shareah but your president looked ever so cuddly when he declared victory over irak --- four years ago ... that air force smock was so cute ...
HA Andrews
???
I'm not American...
no money, no swiss!
HA Andrews
Bruno Ganz's performance was an atavistic return to the carpet-chewing Hitler of Allied propaganda. A lot of noise and slobber. It had nothing to do with the man himself.
Nor was "Der Untergang" itself the accurate portrayal of Hitler's last days that it is crack-potted up to be. Most of it was merely a rehashing of old allegations, coming from more than suspect sources.
It's reputation is purely among those who do not read books.
Although very little about Hitler's last days can be known for certain, the best portrayal of him "as was" was certainly that of Anthony Hopkins in "The Bunker," followed closely by Derek Jacobi in "Inside The Third Reich."
Their performances are much more closely aligned to the "Hitler of History" as John Lukas called him.
By the way, was "Der Untergang" really about Hitler? Or was the supposed emphasis upon Hitler merely an afterthought for marketing? As I recall, he was only on screen for about twenty minutes of a 178 minute film which was actually about the last days of Berlin during WWII.
Ah, well! It worked!
neither hopkins nor any other englishman could feign being german ... too pat and composed to erupt into a genuine hitler outburst ... i vaguely recall sir alec's portrayal of hitler long time ago ... basehart didn't make a bad hitler neither did bruno ganz ... but hopkins no ... i did like hopkins in the bounty ... english martinets can be brutal but they still retain a certain style
HA Andrews
Günter Meisner in "The Winds of War" (1983)was excellent. Best I've seen.
shareDea dhuit!
sorry i don't recall the hitler of winds of war ... i do remember james mitchner's part navy commander.
my unfavourite hitlers:
1. bruno ganz -- downfall
2. richard baseheart -- hitler
both played fairly good representations of the devil
HA Andrews
deanofrpps, you are an ignorant prick who seems to thrive on annyoing people. Anthony Hopkins is Welsh, not English. Regardless of how you view the people, you just sound like a misinformed twat every time you call him English. If you'd like to be taken seriously Google 'respect'.
Anus.
With your feet on the air and your head on the ground, try this sig with spinach, yeah!
dear raf-33:
weren't your leeks tasty enough last night?
this is a site to talk about the hitler genre of historical films not to console a nation which having turned down britain's most graceous, though belated, offer of semi - independence has become the steer which would like to be respected as a bull.
that hopkins is too english to play hitler is of course a welsh problem not mine
a most cheery cherio
HA Andrews
Good grief, you can smell the pseudointellectualism a mile off on this one. Then again, with your head that far up your own arse I'm guessing it becomes difficult to realise that you're contributing nothing to the conversation other than the group revelation that you're a complete and utter twat. It's no wonder Wales hates everybody.
P.S. The leeks were delicious.
I think you're on the wrong website. How Green Is My Valley is not under discussion here. As far as Mr Hopkins goes, he was a poor Hitler. I deem that a compliment to English equanimity and complacency. Your clain that he is Welsh is utterly dismissed. How can you folks have nationalism without a nation? You're like the steer offered the complimentary title Bull: Much as the steer liked the accolade, he'd prefer the accoutrements.
I of course exempt from his observation General Daniel Morgan, the hero of Cowpens (1781).
A Most Cheery Cherio
HA Andrews
'' a genuine hitler outburst ''
MAGIC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li78BwTgFEM
THE BOUNTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDc6dZxh0Cs
[deleted]
quote deanofrpps ---".. you assume he could not play him? have you actually seen the film.. He PLays him.. very well.. equel infact to Bruno Gans. A German. ------------"unquote
Bruno Ganz is swiss.
Ah greetings ztpt:
regretfully hitler is a genre all to himself. he outranks all is contemporaries in terms of movies made about him. i did see der bunker as well as the downfall.
hopkins plays too mellow a hitler and far too immersed in english equanimity. the way hopkins delivered the genuine hitler speech at the end he`d neither get a seig nor a heil and certainly wouldn't have rouse 61 million germans to put up the fight against the hordes 250 million russians and 250 million americans could throw at the reich.
bruno glanz was far better in capturing the teutonic fury of der fuher.
a cheery cheerio
HA Andrews
Everybody loves Hitler!
shareDear day of the Dead:
you write:Everybody loves Hitler!
i should hope not. yet hitler's popularity exceeds that of old JC and films about AH get fewer complaints than Mel's Epic The Passion of The Christ
HA Andrews
I remember in 'Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade' Adolf was played by Mr Bronson out of Grange Hill; I always knew he was a bad egg!
shareWithout a doubt ,Bruno Ganz.
But Hopkins Hitler is good too,you have to view that film as sort of a methaphoricly depiction of the tale of Hitler and the third Reich fall.
Uh no, the Bunker film is based on the book by American Newsweek reporter James O'Donnell who interviewed 20 Bunker survivors in the 1970's, that's not "metaphorical", in fact it is closer to the truth. Downfall includes a lot of how people "imagine Hitler behaving", it is pandering to the media's long standing image of him.
share
As much as I loved Bruno Ganz in Downfall, Hopkins captured the madman/lunatic/nutcase aspect perfectly. As I write this I can hear Hopkins screaming, "The war will never be lost!"
Plus, Hopkins copped an Emmy for his role as Hitler.
"Because I'm chaos, it is my destiny to destroy" -- Jeff Goldblum as "Mr. Frost."
Hands down, it was Dick Shawn as "LSD" Lorenzo St. DuBois as Der Fuhrer in Mel Brooks' "Springtime for Hitler" aka "The Producers".
According to Mel, Hitler had a fun side: he was a good dancer and had a parakeet named Bob.
"Don't be stupid, be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi party."
Bruno Ganz in Downfall, no doubt.
shareBruno's performance is best vocally, largely because he's speaking Austrian German. But didn't look much like him, and was too short. I'm not sure about the mannerisms. Most real Hitler footage we see is from the 30s, but most depicitons of of him in the bunker in the 40s after 5 years of war.
I think looks wise Hopkins made a very good Hitler, and good acting.
The worst by far is Robert Carlyle in that Rise of Evil nonsense.
Dream Hitler? Ewan McGregor.
[deleted]
Bruno Ganz.
I swear, it was as if Hitler actually possessed him during his role in Der Untergang. (Downfall)
+++ Jason http://www.youtube.com/user/HaligonianType1
I completely agree; Ganz is by far the best in this role. Moreover it is an error to make that kind of movie in English or any other language but German. What makes the whole power of the Downfall is the German language. The language has that kind of ruthless which enhances the dialog and especially when Hitler goes into his delirious crisis. English because it is a more soft and "precious" language attenuates this aspect of the dialog. It seems always that those guys are ready to take some tea and scones and discuss the weather or everybody's health! Reminds me of my fair lady: "Hooow doo you do !" and instead of giving this horrendous sensation when you hear those guys, you're ready to laugh!
share