Hitler's Reign of Terror

Last updated
Hitler's Reign of Terror
Directed byMichael Mindlin
Written byJoseph Seiden
Produced bySamuel Cummins
Joseph Seiden
Narrated byEdwin C. Hill
Cinematography Cornelius Vanderbilt IV
Edited bySam Rosen
Distributed by Eureka Productions
Jewel Productions
Release date
  • 1934 (1934)(US)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Hitler's Reign of Terror is an independently released 1934 film that attacked the activities of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, [1] and is often credited as being the "first-ever American anti-Nazi film." [2] The film is a combination of newsreel footage, documentary, and reenactment. Despite the fact that the New York State Censor Board refused the film a license, it played for two weeks in New York City theaters which filled to capacity. In Chicago the film was only released after the title was changed to Hitler Reigns to placate the German government. [3] Mordaunt Hall gave the film a negative review in The New York Times when it was released. [4] Film Daily scoffed at the film for its prediction that Hitler's Germany was a future threat to world peace. [3]

Contents

Background

After returning from World War I, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. lived in various places around the United States from New York to California and back again – along the way trying his hand at founding a newspaper and failing. [5] In early 1933, he departed for Paris and began traveling around European capitals, along with two French cameramen, ultimately ending up in Vienna to cover mass meetings and political demonstrations. [6] Although Vanderbilt had his sights set on an interview with Adolf Hitler, he asked the former Crown Prince of Germany, whom he had previously interviewed, why "you Hohenzollerns are so much easier to see than Hitler?" [7]

Finally on March 5, 1933, the day that the Nazis obtained a parliamentary plurality, Vanderbilt was able to secure what would be the closest he would get to an interview with Hitler. Amid the chaos, Vanderbilt yelled, "And what about the Jews, Your Excellency?", referring to the so-called "Jewish problem". Hitler shrugged off the question and instructed Vanderbilt to set up a meeting with Dr. Ernst Hanfstaengl, one of Hitler's intimates at the time. This meeting never took place. [8]

Story

The picture opens with a re-enacted phone call between reporter Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. in Germany and narrator Edwin C. Hill in New York. Then a parade of people carrying torchlights in Berlin, where Jewish works and other political books are burned. Vanderbilt meets with Hill, and then flies out of the country. Hill talks with Vanderbilt about the problems in his country, then a re-enacted interview between Adolf Hitler and Vanderbilt. During a viewing of World War I battle footage, Hitler's home town, Leonidad, Austria, and his parents' graves are shown. Vanderbilt goes to Vienna, to see Chancellor Dollfuss, and he films several Austrian Nazi riots during a parade. In a re-enactment, Vanderbilt's passport is stolen, and there are several shots of Nazis abusing Jews. In yet another re-enactment, Vanderbilt interviews Crown Prince Wilhelm, and more books are burned. Helen Keller talks to an interviewer about her books, which were burned by the Nazis. Then a conversation between Vanderbilt, Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn, Holland, and Prince Louis Ferdinand is re-enacted. Actual anti-Nazi speeches given by prominent Jews and some Gentiles are shown, and the Nazis are shown trying to alter the Bible. In the final scene, Congressman Samuel Dickstein of New York and Hill give speeches directly to the audience, explaining the dangers of Nazism.

Production

The 65 minutes of Hitler's Reign of Terror combines footage that Vanderbilt shot, after his "interview" with Hitler, of Jewish refugees in Germany; previously compiled American newsreel footage; and reenactments of the various conversations and interactions that Vanderbilt had with officials while traveling throughout Europe. Initially, Vanderbilt found it difficult to find a major production company to produce the film. However, he worked out a partnership with two different producers, Joseph Seiden and Samuel Cummins. Vanderbilt edited the film with Edwin Hill and hired Mike Mindlin, known for his adult film This Nude World (1933), as the director. [9]

Reception

Hitler's Reign of Terror made its debut in theaters at the Mayfair Theatre on New York's Broadway on April 30, 1934. The movie brought the theater's biggest opening day on record to that point. [10] The Production Code Administration (PCA) was not yet operational; however, the film was still subject to scrutiny from the more familiar Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). Rory Norr was sent by the MPPDA to view the film at its opening, and report back on whether he felt the content was appropriate for the big screen. His conclusions were that the film "included only a few original 'reproductions' of alleged interviews had by Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. with the Kaiser, Mr. Hitler, and others. A general statement on the screen covered the fact that such interviews were 'reproductions' and it was obvious that the actors took the parts of the Kaiser, Hitler, and others in certain scenes." As such, he concluded on the question of whether or not the movie should be considered a propaganda film and banned from theaters, "The fact that it is a propaganda picture does not make it necessarily unsuitable for the screen... There is no more reason why a theater owner may not take a given side on a public question than why a newspaper publisher should not adopt definite policy one way or another re Hitlerism." [11]

The German reaction to the film, however, was not as favorable. Upon request from the German ambassador in Washington D.C., a review conducted by George R. Canty on behalf of the Department of Commerce yielded the result that, "the film serves no good purpose." [12]

After the Department of Commerce review, many further American censors followed suit in their fear to offend the Nazis. The New York State Censor Board, for one, eventually banned the film throughout the state. [13]

After having passed the review of the Chicago Board of Censors, Hitler's Reign of Terror became the subject of concern for Chicago's Nazi consul, who eventually convinced the city government to halt the release of the film until certain changes were made. [14]

Loss and rediscovery

In 2013, Thomas Doherty published Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939, which explored the relationship between the American film industry and Nazi Germany. In his early research, Doherty was not able to locate a single copy of Hitler's Reign of Terror. Late into his research, however, Doherty received news that the Royal Belgian Film Archive in Brussels had located a copy of the film in their possession. Doherty's theory is that a Belgian film distributor must have ordered a copy of the film from outside the country before the Nazis invaded Belgium. Being a foreign film, the copy had to clear customs. After the Nazis invaded the country, though, the distributor likely did not want to be caught with the film, and never picked it up from customs. As a result, the film lay on a back shelf in cold storage in Belgium for almost eighty years.

Related Research Articles

<i>Triumph of the Will</i> 1935 Nazi propaganda film

Triumph of the Will is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his name appears in the opening titles. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts of speeches given by Nazi leaders at the Congress, including Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Julius Streicher, interspersed with footage of massed Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) troops and public reaction. Its overriding theme is the return of Germany as a great power with Hitler as its leader. The film was produced after the Night of the Long Knives and many formerly prominent SA members are absent.

<i>The Life of Emile Zola</i> 1937 film by William Dieterle

The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about the 19th-century French author Émile Zola starring Paul Muni and directed by William Dieterle. It premiered at the Los Angeles Carthay Circle Theatre to great critical and financial success. Contemporary reviews ranked it as the greatest biographical film made up to that time. In 2000, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

<i>The Great Dictator</i> 1940 American film by Charlie Chaplin

The Great Dictator is a 1940 American satirical comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, Chaplin made this his first true sound film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hays Code</span> American film studio self-censorship rules (1930–1967)

The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. Under Hays's leadership, the MPPDA, later the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began rigidly enforcing it in 1934. The Production Code spelled out acceptable and unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States.

The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictures on behalf of Catholic audiences. Members were asked to pledge to patronize only those motion pictures which did not "offend decency and Christian morality". The concept soon gained support from other churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Code Hollywood</span> US cinema before the introduction of the Motion Picture Production Code

Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929 and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known as the "Hays Code", in mid-1934. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor, and it did not become rigorously enforced until July 1, 1934, with the establishment of the Production Code Administration (PCA). Before that date, film content was restricted more by local laws, negotiations between the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) and the major studios, and popular opinion, than by strict adherence to the Hays Code, which was often ignored by Hollywood filmmakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelius Vanderbilt IV</span> American journalist and publisher

Cornelius Vanderbilt IV was a newspaper publisher, journalist, author, and military officer. He was an outcast of high society, and was disinherited by his parents when he became a newspaper publisher. He desired to live a "normal" life but was burdened by large debt and could not maintain the lifestyle associated with his family's social position to which he had become accustomed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazism and cinema</span> German cinematography between 1933–1945

Nazism created an elaborate system of propaganda, which made use of the new technologies of the 20th century, including cinema. Nazism courted the masses by the means of slogans that were aimed directly at the instincts and emotions of the people. The Nazis valued film as a propaganda instrument of enormous power. The interest that Adolf Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels took in film was not only the result of a personal fascination. The use of film for propaganda had been planned by the Nazi Party as early as 1930, when the party first established a film department.

<i>Ingagi</i> 1930 film

Ingagi is a 1930 Pre-Code mockumentary exploitation film directed by William S. Campbell. It purports to be a documentary about "Sir Hubert Winstead" of London on an expedition to the Belgian Congo, and depicts a tribe of gorilla-worshipping women encountered by the explorer. The film claims to show a ritual in which African women are given over to gorillas as sex slaves, but in actuality was mostly filmed in Los Angeles, using American actresses in place of natives. It was produced and distributed by Nat Spitzer's Congo Pictures, which had been formed expressly for this production. Although marketed under the pretense of being ethnographic, the premise was a fabrication, leading the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association to retract any involvement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irving Pichel</span> American actor and film director (1891–1954)

Irving Pichel was an American actor and film director, who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career.

Joseph Ignatius Breen was an American film censor with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America who applied the Hays Code to film production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda</span> Nazi government agency

The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (Propagandaministerium), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany.

<i>Die Deutsche Wochenschau</i> Newsreel series released in Nazi Germany

Die Deutsche Wochenschau was the title of the unified newsreel series released in the cinemas of Nazi Germany from June 1940 until the end of World War II. The coordinated newsreel production was set up as a vital instrument for the mass distribution of Nazi propaganda at war. Today the preserved Wochenschau short films make up a significant part of the audiovisual records of the Nazi era.

Bosko's Picture Show is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short directed by Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng. It was the last Looney Tunes Bosko cartoon produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. The duo moved on to produce cartoons for MGM, the first of which were released in 1934. The music score was a work of Frank Marsales.

<i>Innocence Unprotected</i> 1968 film

Innocence Unprotected is a compilation film by Yugoslav director Dušan Makavejev. Makavejev's film is based on the 1941 film Nevinost bez zaštite in Serbia by Dragoljub Aleksić that was never released. In 1968, Makavejev established the film and expanded it with newsreel footage and interviews with surviving cast members.

<i>Are We Civilized?</i> 1934 film by Edwin Carewe

Are We Civilized? is an independently released 1934 pre-Code American social problem film directed by Edwin Carewe which constituted a veiled attack on Adolf Hitler. The film was given a negative review by Time magazine upon its release. Footage of dinosaurs in the film are recycled from the 1918 Willis H. O'Brien's film The Ghost of Slumber Mountain.

<i>Imaginary Witness</i> 2004 American film

Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust is a 2004 documentary film directed by Daniel Anker and narrated by Gene Hackman that examines the treatment of the Holocaust in Hollywood films over a period of sixty years and the impact of the films on public perception and thinking, and vice versa. The film was originally produced for the American cable network, American Movie Classics.

Lothar Mendes was a German-born screenwriter and film director. His two best known films are Jew Süss (1934) and The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936), both productions for British studios.

<i>A Night at the Garden</i> 2017 American film

A Night at the Garden is a 2017 short documentary film about a 1939 Nazi rally that filled Madison Square Garden in New York City. The film was directed by Marshall Curry from footage found by archival producer Rich Remsberg, and was produced by Laura Poitras and Charlotte Cook with Field of Vision. The seven-minute film is composed entirely of archival footage and features a speech from Fritz Julius Kuhn, the leader of the German American Bund, in which anti-Semitic and pro white-Christian sentiments are espoused.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy Theatre (New York City)</span> Former movie theater in Manhattan, New York

The Embassy Theatre, also known as the Embassy 1 Theatre, is a former movie theater at 1560 Broadway, along Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the theater opened in 1925 at the ground floor of 1560 Broadway, the headquarters of the Actors' Equity Association. While no longer in use as a theater, the space is preserved as a New York City designated landmark, and it continues to operate as a store.

References

'Notes

  1. ↑ Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934. New York: Columbia University Press 1999.
  2. ↑ Greenhouse, Emily (May 21, 2013) "The First American Anti-Nazi Film, Rediscovered" The New Yorker . Accessed: March 5, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood (1999), pg. 100
  4. ↑ Hall, Mordaunt (May 1, 1924) Hitler's Reign of Terror (1934) - The Brown Shirts., The New York Times . Accessed October 10, 2010
  5. ↑ Doherty (2013) pp.59-66
  6. ↑ "Van Newsreels Vienna", Variety, May 30, 1933; 19., cited in Doherty Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 (2013), p. 60
  7. ↑ Doherty,(2013), p.61
  8. ↑ The circumstances surrounding the encounter with Hitler are related in Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., "Under the Sign of the Three H's", Redbook, June 1933, 30-31, 98-101, and, with slightly different wording, in Vanderbilt Jr.'s memoir, Farewell to Fifth Avenue, 191, 175-81, 193-94., cited in Doherty (2013), p.61
  9. ↑ Doherty, Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 (2013), p. 62
  10. ↑ "Hitler Film Packs New York Mayfair", Hollywood Reporter, May 1, 1934: 1., cited in Doherty (2013), p.63
  11. ↑ Mr. Norr to Maurice McKenzie, "Re Film: Hitler's Reign of Terror" (Hitler's Reign of Terror file, PCA files)., cited in Doherty (2013), p.65
  12. ↑ George R. Canty to J.C. White, June 16, 1934. Record Group 151, Records of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce., cited in Doherty (2013), p.65
  13. ↑ "Denied License by Censor, Call 'Hitler' News Film", Film Daily, May 1, 1934: 1, 3., cited in Doherty (2013), p.65
  14. ↑ Doherty, (2013), p.65

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.