Easily the best film I've seen on the grim subject. And it's British to boot (no pun intended)!
It's 1931 inside the Weimar Republic. The first scene opens with S.A. leader Ernst Rohm giving a rabble rousing speech to his loyal followers. Of course, pugnacious leader Rohm and the storm troopers all wore their infamous brown shirts. The uniforms too are not exactly cut from the Ralph Lauren designer stable. Still that bland color helped to convey the dim even dire mood of the German populace at the time.
Although, I still don't know why Rohm broke from spitting invective in German to finishing his fiery rhetoric in Cockney English. Ah, yes, there's that British connection.
In the hall, we catch a first glimpse of Karl, one of two Hoffman brothers. He believes in Hitler's Reich. And in fact, Karl's so smitten that he's convinced the odd mustachioed political upstart would preserve the trade unions and all those other misconceived values that pure socialists so esteemed.
'Not so', says his older and supposedly wiser college educated brother, Helmut. However he too is soon caught in the spreading Nazi web. Soon, make that right way, Helmut abandons his own dreams. He quits his studies at the university after meeting, face-to-face, toe-to-toe, and point-to-point his new mentor: Reinhard Heydrich, number two in the S.S. chain of command. Of course, Heinrich Himmler heads the soon to be notorious men dressed in black Nazi killing machine. His wire rimmed spectacles though give him (his bad intentions) away.
Now the S.A and the S.S are savagely competing for the hearts and minds of the populace, especially the army. And those two diametrically opposing forces form the basis of the plot. We watch, as first Karl then too soon Helmut both get drawn into the killer vortex of Nazism. We even catch some good dark glimpses of the evil mind behind the evil devices: Reich Chancellor Adolph Hitler.
The soon to be appointed Fuhrer doesn't disappoint in a cinematic sense either. During 'The Night of the Long Knives' black coated Hitler delivers one of the more 'memorable' lines. His diabolical reply to the captive S.A. leader is almost bone chilling. It was to me.
"What have you done? You're traitors! You will all be shot!"
No doubt about it: that in-character outburst set the tone for the rest of the bloody scene and the entire film. Know what I mean? Moreover, the Wehrmacht was on move. Poland was targeted. And on the horizon, the German Panzer Divisions had already sighted in Mother Russia.
Too bad none of the world's civilized took Hitler's threats seriously. Well, only after the wholesale slaughter of innocents, did Britain and the U.S.A. mobilize and finally declare war on Germany .
Alas, too little, and way too late.
It's 1931 inside the Weimar Republic. The first scene opens with S.A. leader Ernst Rohm giving a rabble rousing speech to his loyal followers. Of course, pugnacious leader Rohm and the storm troopers all wore their infamous brown shirts. The uniforms too are not exactly cut from the Ralph Lauren designer stable. Still that bland color helped to convey the dim even dire mood of the German populace at the time.
Although, I still don't know why Rohm broke from spitting invective in German to finishing his fiery rhetoric in Cockney English. Ah, yes, there's that British connection.
In the hall, we catch a first glimpse of Karl, one of two Hoffman brothers. He believes in Hitler's Reich. And in fact, Karl's so smitten that he's convinced the odd mustachioed political upstart would preserve the trade unions and all those other misconceived values that pure socialists so esteemed.
'Not so', says his older and supposedly wiser college educated brother, Helmut. However he too is soon caught in the spreading Nazi web. Soon, make that right way, Helmut abandons his own dreams. He quits his studies at the university after meeting, face-to-face, toe-to-toe, and point-to-point his new mentor: Reinhard Heydrich, number two in the S.S. chain of command. Of course, Heinrich Himmler heads the soon to be notorious men dressed in black Nazi killing machine. His wire rimmed spectacles though give him (his bad intentions) away.
Now the S.A and the S.S are savagely competing for the hearts and minds of the populace, especially the army. And those two diametrically opposing forces form the basis of the plot. We watch, as first Karl then too soon Helmut both get drawn into the killer vortex of Nazism. We even catch some good dark glimpses of the evil mind behind the evil devices: Reich Chancellor Adolph Hitler.
The soon to be appointed Fuhrer doesn't disappoint in a cinematic sense either. During 'The Night of the Long Knives' black coated Hitler delivers one of the more 'memorable' lines. His diabolical reply to the captive S.A. leader is almost bone chilling. It was to me.
"What have you done? You're traitors! You will all be shot!"
No doubt about it: that in-character outburst set the tone for the rest of the bloody scene and the entire film. Know what I mean? Moreover, the Wehrmacht was on move. Poland was targeted. And on the horizon, the German Panzer Divisions had already sighted in Mother Russia.
Too bad none of the world's civilized took Hitler's threats seriously. Well, only after the wholesale slaughter of innocents, did Britain and the U.S.A. mobilize and finally declare war on Germany .
Alas, too little, and way too late.