Operation Eichmann

B picture studio Allied Artists without use of any big names turned out a fine documentary style film detailing the capture of Adolph Eichmann played here by Werner Klemperer. In fact with John Banner playing Rudolf Hess it takes a bit of getting used to see these Hogan's Heroes regulars playing it serious.

One thing I do have to say. Rudolf Hess who lived to the ripe old age of 94 and was the only prisoner in Spandau prison left of top Nazis when he did pass on did not look anything like John Banner. Knowing that it was a bit disconcerting for me to see him in that role.

Hess was a public face of Nazism. Eichmann who was high up in the SS command was the author of the detailed plans for the annihilation of the Jewish people. He was not a public face and this was part of the reason he avoided capture for 15 years.

I do remember news of his capture when I was a kid. Argentina made all kinds of official diplomatic protests to no avail. Israel wanted, went in and got him and the hell with diplomacy.

In the film part of the reason is Jimmy Baird who grows up to be Donald Buka remembers the man who ordered his family killed. Buka is part of Mossad when he grows up and he makes Eichmann his special project.

Klemperer is the show and the year before he played a most convincing Nazi on trial in Judgment At Nuremberg. See that and see Operation Eichmann and you'll know he was capable of a lot more than Colonel Wilhem Klink.

What makes this movie so frightening without spectacular, graphic violence or overly righteous hand wringing is demonstrating that the architects of even the most extreme forms of evil can be quite human and even likable. They may honestly view their workaday world of mass murder as simply a day at the office. The film "The Wansee Conference" makes the point even more effectively but isn't nearly as artful, since it is a straight, documentary style re-enactment of a specific event.

The only thing that hurts the movie is the pairing of "Klink" (Werner Klemperer) as Eichmann and "Schultz" (John Banner) as his chief lieutenant, Hess (no relation to Rudolph Hesse). Of course, this was an unknown dynamic when the film was made since it predates Hogan's Heroes by 2 or 3 years. The actors are actually perfectly matched for their roles and play them well, but their popular identification as the "funny" Nazis of Hogan's Heroes gives the film an unintentional comic slant at times. In fact, there is a scene where Eichmann is having dinner with Hess and his wife and kids. A seemingly normal family scene with dad and his boss discussing business----in this case, how efficient Zyklon B gas is for human extermination. The Hess character replies, (I kid you not) in his best Sgt Schultz voice and manner, that "the best thing about it is that you hear NOTHING you see NOTHING..." As an interesting aside, Werner Klemperer, John Banner, and Hogan's Heroes General Burkhalter (Leon Askin, who is not in this movie) were all Jewish refugees from Nazism who fled their homes in Germany and Austria. Also of note is the fact that "Klink" served in the U. S. Army in WWII; ironically, in the Pacific. Askin and Banner both served in the US Army Air Corps. The former, though only a sergeant, had a plum job teaching European etiquette and social practices to U. S. military officers. "Schultz" was a supply sergeant.

This low budget film effectively communicates the fact that the most fiendish enterprise can readily disguise itself as business as usual.

The most chilling scene is to see the SS characters of Werner Klemperer and John Banner (Four years before "Hogan's Heroes") matter of factly greeting the Jewish arrivals to the death camp. The contrast between the high comedy of their work together later on belied how easy a shift of perspective of the Third Reich could be achieved. I recommend this film just for this extremely chilling scene alone.

This little known movie deserves to be seen by a wider audience. Werner Klemperer chills the viewer to the bone with his absolutely convincing performance as the architect of the Final Solution.

Made on a low budget, the movie manages to look and feel very authentic in its recreation of the Third Reich, particularly the dreadful sequence at Auschwitz. The fear that that part of the movie made me feel was palpable. Though fairly restrained for its time, the death camp sequence was the stuff of nightmares.

The film is less successful during the last two parts of the story, but Klemperer never lets up in his complete immersion in his role. Highly recommended.

This is a brutal, compelling, fascinating study of Nazi Adolf Eichmann (played brilliantly by Werner Klemperer) who had the reprehensible idea of killing Jews in gas chambers and later burning them in ovens. It's done so matter-of-factly that it's more horrifying than if the emotions had been punched home (as most filmmakers would do). Some scenes do pack a wallop: like the Jewish singing over the newsreel footage of the camps being liberated. I like this a heck of a lot more than some of the famous anti-Nazi movies out there. What makes it even more interesting is that they don't feel the need (till the end) to put in a 'nice' character to offset Eichmann's (and the other Nazi's) evil. That makes it more powerful than ever. Sure, there are a few flubs (actors blow lines, etc.) but who cares? It's a great film and deserves to be on DVD.