Made only ten years after the actual events, and set in the Bunker under the Reichstag, Pabst's film is wholly gripping. It reeks of sulfurous death awaiting the perpetrators of world war. Haven't seen this in over three decades, but it remains strong in my visual and emotional memory. The characters seem to be waiting to be walled up in their cave. Searing bit of dialog between two Generals: "Does God exist?" "If He did, we wouldn't." Shame this is not more readily available for exhibition or purchase because it would be interesting to view and compare this film with the documentary about Traudl Junge, "Im Toten Winkel" {aka "Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary") and "Downfall" with Bruno Ganz.
9 Reviews
Situation: Normally Abnormal
deanofrpps26 April 2006
I remember watching this film on Saturday afternoon TV in the 1950s or 60s. It was well presented but I do remember there was a message of hope broadcast from transmitters secreted in lamposts in one of the last maniacal executions for impending liberation. I'm not sure that squares with the facts.
Still the film is well done. The German High Command reports wryly without emotion "The Russians are advancing down The Fredrich Strasse" as if all went according to plan.
it was my impression that this film and a later American made for TV knock-off was based on the British historian Trevor-Roper's account by a similar title Last Days of Hitler. I was surprised to see no credit to Trevor-Roper.
I agree the newest German film on the subject DOWNFALL was as well done as the classic. The American knock-off was a little flat.
Few figures have attracted as much attention from the cinema as Adolph. Yet I find it interesting that none of the many films and books that have come out ever speak of Hitler's double alluded to in passing in John Toland's magnificent historical piece.
Was gibs?
Still the film is well done. The German High Command reports wryly without emotion "The Russians are advancing down The Fredrich Strasse" as if all went according to plan.
it was my impression that this film and a later American made for TV knock-off was based on the British historian Trevor-Roper's account by a similar title Last Days of Hitler. I was surprised to see no credit to Trevor-Roper.
I agree the newest German film on the subject DOWNFALL was as well done as the classic. The American knock-off was a little flat.
Few figures have attracted as much attention from the cinema as Adolph. Yet I find it interesting that none of the many films and books that have come out ever speak of Hitler's double alluded to in passing in John Toland's magnificent historical piece.
Was gibs?
The Last Ten Days of Adolph Hitler
johnclark-129 July 2003
I saw this obscure German film in Toronto in 1956, my first exposure to Oskar Werner. A "sleeper" of a movie for me, but so long ago and it seems never to be seen again. The topic has been treated many times but never, I think, to such effect. The last days in the bunker are entirely through the wondering subjective eyes of Werner, as Captain Wuest, a rather unimportant guardsman. Hitler and his henchmen are always kept at a distance, the way Wuest views them from his station, and what stands out in my memory is the finale of a drunken champagne party as though in celebration of something, but in reality as their means to forget the impending doom looming ahead as the Russians can be heard closing in. The problem with films portraying famous or infamous people is that they are almost always unbelievable because we are unwilling to suspend our disbelief, aware that they are actors up there trying to imitate the unknowable. Here, at least for the English speaking audience, the problem does not arise, we understand only through subtitles, and we hear the characters speaking in their own language. And, thank God, it is in black and white. The impact of the film stays with me still, and of course, Werner was a major revelation.
An important film and a powerful document
nattylap228 March 2005
I remember this film from many years ago. Certainly the best film on the subject in my experience. The fact that I vividly remember so much of the film after so long a time testifies to its impact.
It is difficult to comment on the level of the performances because of the language barrier. But they were nonetheless very powerful.
This subject continues to fascinate us even with the passing of years. And it was most effectively treated here, with the proper proportion of historical perspective and skepticism.
I wish it would be shown on TV at least once. Or at least be available on tape or DVD. Or is it? Is some art film archive hoarding a copy of it??
It is difficult to comment on the level of the performances because of the language barrier. But they were nonetheless very powerful.
This subject continues to fascinate us even with the passing of years. And it was most effectively treated here, with the proper proportion of historical perspective and skepticism.
I wish it would be shown on TV at least once. Or at least be available on tape or DVD. Or is it? Is some art film archive hoarding a copy of it??
Terrifyingly, This Looks Like Current Events
boblipton17 March 2023
The last two or three days of Hitler's life in the Bunker are portrayed from a variety of viewpoints: Oskar Werner, a captain from the German army in the Baltic states, there to ask Hitler for reinforcement; Herta Angst, a 13-year-old trooper raised to defend the city, one of fifty survivors out of 5000; Erik Frey, one of the generals who worked out the details of the plan to dynamite the tunnels, flooding them and the thousands of civilians sheltering there; and the occupants of the lesser ranks, sitting in the commissary, dancing, getting drunk, while Albin Skoda, driven mad by the spectre of failure and the amphetamine cocktails supplied him by his doctor, swings between paranoia, mania, and the depths of depression.
It's a movie about madness, and the habit of obedience, which is madness in and of itself, a warning by director Georg Wilhelm Pabst, that echoes through current events, with one character stating that the encirclement of Berlin and its inevitable destruction is part of some years-long plan .... or so Goebbels will claim the next day. It's a tirade against the cult of personality and the tyranny of individuals who can order the deaths of thousands of wounded, women, and children while moaning about the unfairness to the tyrant. It might have been produced this year, with a different tyrant or would-be tyrant in the center of the storm. Skoda gives a great performance, if you can stand looking at him.
With that title and subject, Pabst could reasonably have called this his last film and retired. He was, after all, 70 years old. But he directed three more movies over the next couple of years before calling it quits. He died on May 29, 1967, three months shy of his 82nd birthday.
It's a movie about madness, and the habit of obedience, which is madness in and of itself, a warning by director Georg Wilhelm Pabst, that echoes through current events, with one character stating that the encirclement of Berlin and its inevitable destruction is part of some years-long plan .... or so Goebbels will claim the next day. It's a tirade against the cult of personality and the tyranny of individuals who can order the deaths of thousands of wounded, women, and children while moaning about the unfairness to the tyrant. It might have been produced this year, with a different tyrant or would-be tyrant in the center of the storm. Skoda gives a great performance, if you can stand looking at him.
With that title and subject, Pabst could reasonably have called this his last film and retired. He was, after all, 70 years old. But he directed three more movies over the next couple of years before calling it quits. He died on May 29, 1967, three months shy of his 82nd birthday.
Credible Führer
pierinvestment18 November 2020
the convulsive agony of a wicked regime
myriamlenys6 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Third Reich is crumbling. In his bunker fortress, a volatile Adolf Hitler careens between denial, despair and euphoria. Rather than apportion some measure of blame to himself, he turns his various underlings into whipping boys and scapegoats : it was A who misled him, B who failed him, C who betrayed him and so on. Eventually he ends up blaming nearly every soul who ever drew breath in Germany. Even in his very last days, as his suicide draws near, he clings to his conviction that he was too noble for this ungrateful world...
"Der letzte Akt", which depicts the downfall of Adolf Hitler, is a bleak, sombre historical movie based on contemporary (or near-contemporary) witness testimony. Much of the tale is set in a pressure-cooker environment, to wit a large bunker that's become part military headquarters, part prison camp and part bacchanalian carnival. "Der letzte Akt" also depicts the growing chaos in a Berlin plagued by hard-faced fanatics who patrol the streets in hopes of executing someone. A grocer can be hanged for having the wrong facial expression, the wrong opinion or the wrong type of permit, but so can a much-decorated officer. Meanwhile crucial tactical targets are defended by young teens plucked straight out of algebra class - but that's all right, Hitler is just giving them the opportunity to express their inner warrior.
A tyrannical regime is destroying itself in an orgy of auto-cannibalism, right before our eyes, and it is not a pretty picture.
Anchored by a variety of strong performances, "Der letzte Akt" functions as a powerful warning against violent totalitarianism in general and Nazism in particular. Lead actor Albin Skoda gives a deeply unsettling performance as a moody, volatile despot capable of sacrificing everything and everybody on the altar of his own godhead.
"Der letzte Akt", which depicts the downfall of Adolf Hitler, is a bleak, sombre historical movie based on contemporary (or near-contemporary) witness testimony. Much of the tale is set in a pressure-cooker environment, to wit a large bunker that's become part military headquarters, part prison camp and part bacchanalian carnival. "Der letzte Akt" also depicts the growing chaos in a Berlin plagued by hard-faced fanatics who patrol the streets in hopes of executing someone. A grocer can be hanged for having the wrong facial expression, the wrong opinion or the wrong type of permit, but so can a much-decorated officer. Meanwhile crucial tactical targets are defended by young teens plucked straight out of algebra class - but that's all right, Hitler is just giving them the opportunity to express their inner warrior.
A tyrannical regime is destroying itself in an orgy of auto-cannibalism, right before our eyes, and it is not a pretty picture.
Anchored by a variety of strong performances, "Der letzte Akt" functions as a powerful warning against violent totalitarianism in general and Nazism in particular. Lead actor Albin Skoda gives a deeply unsettling performance as a moody, volatile despot capable of sacrificing everything and everybody on the altar of his own godhead.
First but not the best
ustase22 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Since most review's of this film are of screening's seen decade's ago I'd like to add a more recent one, the film open's with stock footage of B-17's bombing Germany, the film cut's to Oskar Werner's Hauptmann (captain) Wust character and his aide running for cover while making their way to Hitler's Fuehrer Bunker, once inside, they are debriefed by bunker staff personnel, the film then cut's to one of many conference scene's with Albin Skoda giving a decent impression of Adolf Hitler rallying his officer's to "Ultimate Victory" while Werner's character is shown as slowly coming to realize the bunker denizen's are caught up in a fantasy world-some non-bunker event's are depicted, most notable being the flooding of the subway system to prevent a Russian advance through them and a minor subplot involving a young member of the Flak unit's and his family's difficulty in surviving-this film suffer's from a number of detail inaccuracies that a German film made only 10 year's after WW2 should not have included; the actor portraying Goebbels (Willy Krause) wear's the same uniform as Hitler, including arm eagle- Goebbels wore a brown Nazi Party uniform with swastika armband-the "SS" soldier's wear German army camouflage, the well documented scene of Hitler awarding the iron cross to boy's of the Hitler Youth is shown as having taken place INSIDE the bunker (it was done outside in the courtyard) and lastly, Hitler's suicide weapon is clearly shown as a Belgian browning model 1922-most account's agree it was a Walther PPK-some bit's of acting also seem wholly inaccurate with the drunken dance scene near the end of the film being notable, this bit is shown as a cabaret skit, with a intoxicated wounded soldier (his arm in a splint) maniacally goose-stepping to music while a nurse does a combination striptease/belly dance, all by candlelight... this is actually embarrassing to watch-the most incredible bit is when Werner's Captain Wust gain's an audience alone with Skoda's Hitler, Hitler is shown as slumped on a wall bench, drugged and delirious, when Werner's character begin's to question him, Hitler start's screaming which bring's in a SS guard who mortally wound's Werner's character in the back with a gunshot-this fabricated scene is not based on any true historic account-Werner's character is then hauled off to die in a anteroom while Hitler prepare's his own ending, Hitler's farewell to his staff is shown but the suicide is off-screen, the final second's of the movie show Hitler's funeral pyre smoke slowly forming into a ghostly image of the face of the dead Oskar Werner/Hauptmann Wust-this film is more allegorical than historical and anyone interested in this period would do better to check out more recent film's such as the 1973 remake "Hitler: the last 10 day's" or the German film "Downfall" (Der Untergang) if they wish a more true accounting of this dramatic story, these last two film's are based on first person eyewitness account's, with "Hitler: the last 10 day's" being compiled from Gerhard Boldt's autobiography as a staff officer in the Fuehrer Bunker and "Downfall" being done from Hitler's secretary's recollection's, the screen play for "Der Letzte Akte" is taken from American Nuremberg war crime's trial judge Michael Musmanno's book "Ten day's to die", which is more a compilation of event's (many obviously fanciful) than eyewitness history-it is surprising that Hugh Trevor Roper's account,"The last day's of Hitler" was never made into a film.
The Fuehrer's final days
Horst_In_Translation30 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Der letzte Akt", also known as "The Last Act", and there are many more titles under which this film can be found, is a West German / Austrian co-production that resulted in a German-language black-and-white film from 1955. The director is Georg Wilhelm Pabst, one of Germany's most known silent film directors, and here we have one of his rare German-language sound films. The year is 1955, so this one had its 60th anniversary last year. The most famous cast member is probably Oscar nominee Oskar Werner and Albin Skoda plays Adolf Hitler. This also shows you what the movie is about. It should not be a surprise to anybody as so so many German(-language) films in the 1950s dealt with coming to terms with what happened in the country one decade earlier. And one decade is very accurate in this case as the film is about the finals days of Hitler's live. It was obvious the war was lost and Hitler came to terms with his own fate and decided to take his own life with everything crumbling around him. In general, this is a historic context that I am fairly interested in, but I still must say the film did very little for me and it dragged on several occasions. Maybe the novel-based script simply wasn't good enough for a runtime over 90 minutes. That's also why I cannot say I enjoyed the watch very much and give it a thumbs down. I recommend you to watch something else instead unless you really really care for the subject.
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