Watch Hitler's SS : Portrait In Evil For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Waste of time

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Overrated and overhyped

in a long list of films about Nazi Germany, this movie seems be an exception. first because it is story of people, seduced, proud, discovering the truth and the fall of a regime who, for a time, was the image of personal success. sure, the critics are many about it. because its ambition is to be a large fresco of a dictatorship. and an embroidery with too many motifs. because it use stereotypes who , not always, are real convincing. because , after its end, you feel something missing. but it is an interesting trip in the essence of the perceptions about a dictatorship. and this virtue remains not insignificant.

Directed by Jim Goddard, Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil is a 1985 TV film about two German brothers, Helmut (Bill Nighy) and Karl Hoffmann (John Shea), whom forge their way into power, during the Nazi regime. I think the movie did a great job, in showing how most German felt about the Nazis. Most Germans did not become Nazis, because they were racist or anti-Semitism, but went along with the party because it promised them things that they wanted and needed. It provided for their livelihood. There was a great deal of pressure to join it. It was also very unthinkable to not join the party. The rise of the Nazis was all very logical and it shows here. A lot of people find that idea hard to swallow, but peoples' motives for supporting the Nazi Party, came to the fact, that it held the standard of living. While, the movie didn't do that good of a job, showing the severe economic depression AKA hyperinflation, which caused shortages in everything nor the very hard feelings over the Versailles Treaty. The movie does show how the Nazi program emphasized the protection of German industry and agriculture through tariffs and import quotas. Karl became enthusiastic by the Nazis, through this. I love the character arch of him and how he become disillusioned when things got worst. I have to say, John Shea is a very fine actor. It's too bad, he didn't get much roles, after this film. He's by far, the most realistic person on the film. The only thing, that I didn't like about his character, was the sub-plot romantic with a lounge singer, Mitzi Templer (Lucy Gutteridge). It remind me, too much of 1972's Cabaret. Tony Randall as Putzi, the German comedian who employs Mitzi as a singer seem a little similar to the Master of ceremonies of Cabaret fame. Everything about those scenes make it seem like they felt they were ripping off the Oscar Winner film. While, it's probably one of worst rip-offs, I have even witness, it's by far, one of the more entertaining parts of the film. Bill Nighy as Karl's brother, Helmut was alright for the most part, but he's gives such a robotic performance, even before his character show his coldness, when he join the Schutzstaffel (SS). It felt a bit underwhelming. The supporting cast was pretty good for the most part, but David Warner as Reinhard Heydrich was a bit odd. He looks nothing like him. The movie pacing is another fault. Its moves, way too slow in the beginning, and way too much fast, toward the end. The years preceding World War II were treated hurriedly and a lot of information wasn't explain, well. It got really confusing at times. I hate that historic events such like the Gleiwitz incident & Kristallnacht AKA Night of Broken Glass weren't shown, but mention off-screen. The whole World War 2 phrase was even worst. It move a little much fast, for my taste. It jump from the invasion of Poland in 1939, to the assassination of Heydrich in 1942, to 1944's July 20th Plot on Adolf Hitler's life, and finally the end of the war. I really disappoint that the whole July 20th Plot sub-plot wasn't given much time. It was play off-screen, and mention in one scene. Honestly, the movie could had more material if they work that, in, more. Honestly, the movie would had work better if it was just about the 1934's Night of the Long Knives, than the whole rise and fall of the SS. I love, the parts when brothers was pit against brother. The whole idea of the Sturmabteilung (SA) Vs the Schutzstaffel (SS) was the best part of the film. For the most part, the movie wasn't that entertaining. It didn't have that much action. Knowing that the movie has a low budget. I really didn't think, they could pull off, the whole World War 2 part of the story and I was mostly right. For history accuracies, the movie was alright for the most part. The movie does have some smart scenes that worth watching on its own. I love the whole discussion about author, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and his depiction of the human condition. Specifically, the work of "Elective Affinities", when they debate on, being the hammer or the anvil. The whole movie had this gloomy look to it, and the bitter ending, kinda left a sour feel to it. For the most part, the movie is pretty predictable and depressing. It didn't help that the movie slipped into the public domain due mainly to lapses in copyright registrations. Due to this, it means that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either badly made or in extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation copies of the film. So, the one that I got, was in horrible subservience. It was kinda grainy, dark and full of dirt, at times. It was still watchable, but could had been better. At least, it's not the original DVD version of the film, which cut the entire first half of the film, providing a brief summary in an introduction clip and then began with the invasion of Poland in 1939. That would have suck. The original version of Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil was released in 1985 on network television and ran either as a single four hour program or as two two-hour installments. Both versions were edited for commercials, so it would be hard to find. The next significant broadcast of the film was on the History Channel during its "Movies in Time" series. That film was run for three hours with significant edits and cutting of several major scenes. Not worth it. Overall: I don't recommended watching, unless you're a history buff. Even with that, it might be hard to watch.

This is a splendid drama set on Nazi time with thoughtful plot and slick direction by Jim Goddard . The tale of Helmut (Bill Nighy) and Karl Hoffmann (John Shea) , their turbulent relationships , brotherhood , their loving with same girlfriend , a nightclub Singer called Mitzi Templer (Lucy Gutteridge) and final confrontation . Both come of age at the start of Hitler's power in Germany and experience misfortunes , pains and sufferings . Helmut joins the ¨SS¨ commanded by Heinrich Himmler (John Normington) and eventually becomes a successful flag rank officer thanks to Heydrich . Karl (John Shea) joins the SA commanded by SA Chief Ernst Röhm (Michael Elphick) and suffers the darker side of Nazism after the SA is disbanded and Karl is thrown into prison and later conscripted into the German army. Helmut meets Heydrich (David Warner reprised his role of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich , whom he previously portrayed in Holocausto ,1978) and appoints him as second-in-command . The story also deals with a family formed by father (Robert Urquhart) , mother (Carrol Baker) and their three sons . Brother is pitted against brother under the shadow of the Third Reich until their relationship finishes at the end . As in 1945 Berlin stands in ruins staying both brothers battling against Russian invasion . The movie talks about various historic events , such as the confrontation between ¨SA¨ and ¨SS¨ , taking place ¨The Night of the Long Knives¨ , it was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders. Leading figures of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were murdered, as were prominent conservative anti-Nazis . Many of those killed were leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary Brownshirts . Adolf Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his newly gained political power . At least 85 people died during the purge, although the final death toll may have been in the hundreds, and more than a thousand perceived opponents were arrested. Most of the killings were carried out by the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei), the regime's secret police .Röhm was held briefly at Prison in Munich, while Hitler considered his future. In the end, Hitler decided that Röhm had to die . On July 1, at Hitler's behest, Theodor Eicke, later Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, and SS Officer Michel Lippert visited Röhm and killed him . Furthermore , ¨The night of the broken glass¨ , as the night of November 9, 1938, when terror attacks were made on Jewish synagogues and stores. Two days earlier, Vom Rath, Third Secretary of the German Embassy in Paris , had been assassinated by Grynszpan, a Polish Jew. In retaliation, Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SD, ordered the destruction of all Jewish places of worship in Germany and Austria . The assault had been long prepared , the murder provided an opportunity to begin the attack. In fifteen hours 101 synagogues were destroyed by fire and 76 were demolished . The pillage and looting went on through the night , streets were covered with broken glass , hence the name Kristallnacht . Reinhard Heydrich artificer of the meeting of senior officials of Nazi Germany, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference, called by director of the Reich Main Security Office; RSHA, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, was to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the final solution to the Jewish question, whereby most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to Poland and murdered . Later on , Heydrich leaves Berlin to take up a new posting as Nazi Governor of Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia) and there happens Heydrich's assassination, which being well recreated . Other events being finely narrated are the followings : Destruction radio station incriminating Polish rebels and subsequent Poland encroachment (1939) , siege and defeat Stalingrado (1943) , battle and fall Berlin (1945) .

I believe this was a made for TV film. It's is the story of two German brothers, one of whom joins the SS in 1933 and the other joins the SA. The two organizations vie to become the predominant force in Nazi Germany. Eventually, the SS won out and many of the people who joined the SA were executed or imprisoned by the SS. It now seems that only the SS brother can save the SA brother. The film follows both of them through World War 2, a period spanning 12 or 13 years, although neither brother (or the love interest) ever ages a day. It depicts the evil of the SS relatively well without the use of many execution/extermination scenes. Little mention is made of the mass slaughter of Jews, although it is more or less implied. The acting in the film is better than I expected, especially since there are few recognizable names in the cast. However, the acting is merely adequate. However, it was very cheaply made and it shows. There are some plot holes that detract from the overall enjoyment of the film.