Don't listen to the negative reviews

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I love this film - the ganster style is hilarious - it is brilliant - not filmnoir - but has genius moments of camera work and wayyy over the top sinister acting - well worth watching...

Bobby Watson plays Hitler in this film that charts his rise to power from his days at the end of World War One. The film takes us through the famous moments including the Munich beer hall putsch, the writing of Mein Kampf, the burning of the Reichstag along with throwing in many of the famous characters of the time – Goebbels, Hess, Himmler, Goring, etc. It's fast moving and it's educational so worth paying attention. The film also touches on the subject of his niece, "Geli", as played by Poldi Dur . Hitler's niece died in 1931 but her death by suicide has been shrouded in mystery.The film doesn't have an ending as such as it was made in a time when Hitler was still around. so it concludes with some patriotic propaganda as to how he must and will be stopped. The cast are good and look very similar to the real thing. Certain elements of the tale are left out – no Eva Prawn – but the film scores for being different. It provides a glimpse of this man's psychopathic disregard for life and does so without even touching on the concentration camps.

Perhaps the first biopic ever made about Adolf Hitler (not considering the satirical Great Dictator), this was filmed in 1944, when the Fuhrer was still alive though with defeat already in sight. This unfortunately forgotten movie deals mostly with his rise to power, it starts with Hitler in a military hospital learning about the defeat of Germany in World War I and it ends on the eve of World War II.This film doesn't portray Hitler as crazy or as a raving lunatic and he is shown as being less downright evil than a cynical, manipulative and ruthless politician. For instance, the persecution of the Jews is shown to be not a product of his fanaticism but as a political calculation to search a scapegoat for Germany's defeat in the WWI. The movie consciously tries to mirror the gangster movie popular in its era (thus the title), instead of conspiring to rub off other gangsters, here Hitler conspire to do away with rival politicians, instead of fighting over the liquor market, here they fight over controlling Germany.The movie didn't have all the information that came out after the war ended (Eva Braun doesn't appear, but his niece Geli Raubal, whom the movie accuses Hitler of murdering, does; nothing is said about the concentration camps) but it is nevertheless very well informed given the circumstances, especially about the beginnings of Nazism, showing for instance how Hitler join the National Socialist Party as an army spy, in order to infiltrate it.Made with a tiny budget, and with no name actors, it is finally made interesting by its intelligent, literate script, sober directing and some of the acting. Bobby Watson is very good as Hitler, the supporting cast is a bit less (the actors playing Hess, Goebbels and Rohm look quite like the characters they are portraying, the actor playing Himmler very little, the one playing Goering, nothing at all). Recommended, especially if you are interested in the subject.

One thing you'll notice in this movie straight away - the actors all look uncannily like their real-life counterparts. However, even with look-alike actors, a movie can fall down in terms of script and acting, but not this one. Considering this movie was made in the 1940s, and in the middle of WW2 no less, the acting and direction are great, the story is not overly propagandized, and we get possibly the best portrayal of Hitler on screen until this year's 'Downfall' (Der Untergang).Another of those movies which deserve to be classics, but which are rotting in a film vault somewhere. It is a crime that this isn't available anywhere on DVD.