Product Description

How did a provincial rabble-rouser from Austria rise to become Germany's messianic Fuhrer? Why did Germans from all walks of life embrace the fascist Nazi philosophy and willingly follow Hitler into a titanic conflict and utter destruction?

Joachim C. Fest and Christian Herrendoerfer's meticulously assembled film dissects the Third Reich with a keen analytical blade, charting Hitler's improbable rise, his mastery of imagery and crowd psychology, and his consummate skill in exploiting the weaknesses in others.

Examining the public and private dynamics of Nazism's unhinged dictatorship by making use of an amazing array of never-before-seen film footage from secret archives and private collections, HITLER: A CAREER uncovers the deeper causes behind the rise and fall of Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich.

FEATURING FOOTAGE OF: Adolph Hitler, Eva Braun, Josef Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess, Benito Mussolini, Erwin Rommel, Albert Speer, Paul von Hindenburg, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Neville Chamberlain, Charles Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Ernst Lubitsch & more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28923 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 151 minutes

Review
Long lines of Germans have been lining up to see a new hit. The central figure - his black hair combed flat across his forehead, his impassioned voice exhorting his followers to build a thousand-year Reich - is der Führer himself. The 2-1/2 hour documentary about him, Hitler: A Career, is the smash of the summer, drawing thousands to the box offices and spurring a nationwide re-examination of the Nazi past.

The footage of Nazi atrocities and the wholesale destruction of German cities during the war never fails to stun audiences, even those Germans who have been immersed in an atmosphere of guilt for 30 years.

To younger viewers the film is a revelation. The school system of West Germany after the war either disregarded the Hitler period or raced through it. Among older viewers the reaction is often uneasiness. Says one Berliner, 76: 'That was how Hitler was. He was black magic, and intoxicated people.'

Producer Joachim Fest, author of a massive biography on Hitler, drew upon film clips of the 1920s, '30s and '40s, setting out to make a movie that would explore how an obscure Austrian postcard artist could win power and put it to such evil purposes.

Says Fest: 'If you want to make a society a little more secure against someone like Hitler, then you must give people an understanding of the forces that were so appealing. There is a big need to know how it all could have happened.' --TIME Magazine

Customer Reviews

Understanding Evil
"Hitler: A Career"

Understanding Evil

Amos Lassen

Being Jewish, I never thought I would sit through a film about the most evil man who ever lived, Adolph Hitler. Neither did I ever think I would use my valuable time to review a film about him. Yet "Hitler: A Career" (First Run Features) is a film that is so important and so relevant that it must be seen and therefore I feel a duty to comment on it.
I know I am not alone in wondering how a man like Hitler could become a messianic figure to the people of Germany. What was it that caused Germans to embrace the fascism of Nazism and follow him? What we learn from the movie is that many Germans themselves do not have an answer to this and they have lined up to see this documentary that runs for two and a half hours.
In the early 1970's there began a new interest in the Fuhrer and Joachim Fest, who had written the definitive history of Hitler, decided to put everything down on the printed page and then eventually make a movie based on his book. He wanted to make a movie that would look at how an obscure minor artist from Austria could not come to power but use that power for evil.
This film has faced harsh criticism. Some have said that it glorifies Hitler's appeal and does not deal with the consequences of evil. Jews claim that it just looks at the surface of the horrors he brought about and shows Hitler as a "hypnotic spellbinder" who lured Germans into a terrible and criminal war. One critic called the film "dangerous" and claims that the film is so academic that it is above the intellectual capability of the masses. Other critics feel that the film sells the masses short.
The footage of Nazi atrocities and the destruction of German cities stuns. Other scenes evoke nervous laughter especially those scenes when the crowds seem to worship the man. But these issues are not what the film is about. It looks at and carefully explores just how the man rose to power and how he managed to lead Germany to destruction, In order to understand the age of Hitler, we must understand the appeal of the man who. We NEED to know how this happened.
Given the subject, I did not expect this movie to hold me the way that it did. It completely and utterly dissects the Third Reich as it looks at the rise of Hitler. Much of the footage in this film has ever been seen before and as the movie examines the causes behind the rise of this evil, we begin to understand. However, I do not think that I will ever comprehend the useless murder of over 6.000,000 of my people.

Hitler: A career (1977) is an extra on the TV movie Hitler: The rise of evil (2003)
The 1977 documentary Hitler: A career (original German: Hitler: Eine Karriere) is widely regarded as one of the best (and some would say the best) documentaries on that evil man. Written by Joachim C. Fest (who also authored the book Hitler, 1973 German, 1974 English), directed by Fest & Christian Herrendoerfer, and well narrated by British actor Stephen Murray, the 151-minute documentary offers an in-depth look (4:3 format in B&W, with some color) at Hitler's rise to power and his consolidation of it during the 1930s. Although there are scenes of warfare, this is not stressed per se but rather used as a context for sociological, political, and military events.

Extras on this excellent DVD are minimal: a photo gallery with pics sans date or context; ads for 12 other First-Run DVDs, including 3 trailers.

I bought Hitler: A career (1977) in 6/08 and after watching it decided to view the 2003 TV movie Hitler: The rise of evil (2 DVDs), which I had purchased in 11/07. Image my surprise to find the complete documentary Hitler: A career as an extra on disk 2 of the movie Hitler: The rise of evil. Hitler - The Rise of Evil

RECOMMENDATION: Do NOT buy Hitler: A career (1977), which has minimal extras as noted above. INSTEAD, buy Hitler: The rise of evil (2003), which not only has the movie but also the 1977 documentary. Although the movie DVD (Rise of evil) and documentary DVD (Career) list for the same price, used copies of Rise of evil are much less expensive than used DVDs of Career.

Comprehensive doc on Hitler
Agree with Mr. Lassen's detailed review. This is a great documentary, well executed, and with great use of lots of archive footage...some of it rare. This was previously available on DVD from a small company at a much higher price...glad to see that it has now been picked up by a more mainstream distributor. More people should see this film to better understand the evil that men do.