O Misterioso Fim de Hitler

A fanciful & fictional account of an actor assassinating Hitler, assuming his identity and running war time Germany to ensure an Allied victory over the Third Reich.

A dry clinical approach to this production, interspersed with documentary style narrative, with added archival footage of the major moments in WW2, tends to aid in the attempt to pass this off as something more than just another war story.

Luther Adler's performance is the lynchpin binding a rather curious effort to create a different style of storytelling, all the while still entertaining in a way that the viewing audience was not accustomed.

Another old WW2 movie that is hard to find, but well worth the effort.

Luther Adler is a Viennese actor who imitates the leaders of the day: Mussolini, Hitler, Churchill, he does them all and the audiences roar. Then comes Anschluss and his wife, Patricia Knight walks out on him for, eventually, Hitler. So Adler learns to be a valet, becomes Hitler's valet and replaces him. Unfortunately, he can't just destroy the Third Reich, so he adopts a strategy of making bad decisions: declaring war on Russia instead of invading England and mopping up that front first; delaying the response to the Normandy landing and so forth, up to the Bunker and his disappearance. Plus there's William L. Shirer, speaking before and after about how this story was told to him and he sort of believes it.

I respected Shirer's writing until today. I hope they paid him a lot of money for spouting this nonsense, which is suitable fare for a PRC programmer nine years earlier. To see Frank Tuttle listed as director is astonishing. He had spent many years as a house director for Goldwyn and Paramount, making excellent thrillers. Now, however, he was working for Columbia, so the support network was not something he could manage. Good actors, wasted!

The worst part of it is this is largely the plot of Chaplin's THE GREAT DICTATOR, released a dozen years earlier, in which a Jewish barber takes the place of Hitler. Aren't you supposed to make the melodrama first and the burlesque after?

great story, excellent acting. also, i had the joy of seeing luther adler do tevya in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF maybe 25 years after seeing THE MAGIC FACE.

this is one of those movies that stay with you forever...i only wish i could rent it now, to show it to a few friends, and of course see it again.

the music was also interesting. i can still remember the melody when the quick change actors go from one costume to another.

the introduction by newsman shirer at the top of the movie was also a nice touch, and gave a documentary type of feel to the black and white movie.

adler was stunning as Hitler. the resemblance was uncanny.

I saw this movie in 1951 in a theater in Brooklyn, NY with my grandmother for sure and maybe my mother. I was young, only seven years old.For some reason its always stuck in my mind. I remember Luther Adler and that it was in black and white. Something I can't pinpoint exactly was fascinating about it. Possibly it was Adler's performance, the film seemed grim and dark like the subject of World War Two. I remember him ranting and raving, like Hitler would have. Never knew Adler was related to Stella Adler the acting teacher. If it was available, I'd buy it in a minute. I wish it was. Maybe if enough of us comment on it, they would re-release it in VHS or some other form. Luther Adler was an excellent actor. I remember him as the Israeli Prime Minister in CAST A GIANT SHADOW. I also remember him in DOA with Edmond O'Brien as the bad guy,but can't remember him in DESERT FOX with James Mason, another cinema giant.

"The Magic Face" is a strange film that seems to have debuted a bit late. Had it come out during WWII, it would have worked better....and having a different leading man would have made it a bit more logical.

The film stars Luther Adler, a man from a famous acting family and who made a huge name for himself in Yiddish theater as well as on Broadway. Adler made films and TV appearances as well, but clearly he was more known for his stage work. As I mentioned above, he was an odd choice for the role...and I'll explain this.

The film is a 'what if' film about history. Early in WWII, an angry Austrian actor decides to insinuate himself into Hitler's inner circle as a valet. His plan is to one day kill the fuehrer and take on his identity...which he does early in the war. Then, as the faux Adolf, he deliberately makes decision after decision which ruins the German war effort.

The idea of such a substitution is smart and interesting. After all, up until about 1940-41, Hitler's decisions in running the war were pretty spot on and the Germans were highly successful. Substituting him for a man bent on destroying Germany made some sense, as his decisions in 1941 became completely irrational (such as attacking the USSR and declaring war on the USA). But, there is one HUGE problem. If this had happened, why wouldn't this substitute have stopped the Holocaust or just ended the war?? Having a Jewish actor play a fake Hitler and NOT stopping the persecution of Jews just seemed ultra-bizarro...especially since it got much worse around 1941! The only way this might have made sense was to have the actor be a complete anti-Semite himself...though believing Adler to be such a man was difficult back in 1951. Odd...to say the least.

Overall, a cheaply made and strange film...not always logical but never dull.