Hitler's Children (1943)

This lurid exposé of the Hitler Youth follows the woes of an American girl declared legally German by the Nazi government.

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Emmet Lavery (screenplay), Gregor Ziemer (book)

Stars:

Tim Holt, Bonita Granville, Kent Smith

Cast

Cast overview:
Tim Holt	...	Lieutenant Karl Bruner
Bonita Granville	...	Anna Miller
Kent Smith	...	Professor Nichols
Otto Kruger	...	Colonel Henkel
H.B. Warner	...	The Bishop
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Franz Erhart
Erford Gage	...	Dr. Schmidt
Hans Conried	...	Dr. Graf
Gavin Muir	...	Nazi Major
Nancy Gates	...	Brenda

Storyline

This propaganda piece starts in 1933. Prof. Nichols' American school in Berlin is next door to a school for the Hitler Youth. Karl, from the latter, is attracted to German-American Anna, but events lead to their separation. Six years later, near the outbreak of war in Europe, Anna is removed from Nichols' school on presumption of German citizenship. Nichols becomes obsessed with finding her, as Anna undergoes a rather lurid odyssey through the Nazi nightmare.

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Plot Keywords:

school | nazi | german | hitler youth | propaganda | 

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Taglines:

SHOCK To hear a woman cry "Let me be the mother of a soldier for Hitler! SHOCK To know how they make sure that women will bear the "right kind" of children...or none at all!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 January 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Os Filhos de Hitler

Box Office

Budget:

$205,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Made for $205,000, the film grossed $3.355 million (topping original studio grosses for King Kong, Top Hat and Little Women).

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Goofs

In the 1930s Lieutenant Karl Bruner would have never called Großdeutsches Reich Nazi-Germany.

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Quotes

Lieutenant Karl Bruner: What's your name?
Anna Miller: [Haughtily] I don't give it to strangers.

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Crazy Credits

During opening credits, the camera zooms in on a German book burning, and the book on top of the pile is "Education for Death" by Gregor Ziemer. That was another book by the same author of the novel on which this film is based.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Hitler: Dead or Alive (2011)

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Soundtracks

"My Country 'Tis of Thee"
(uncredited)
Music by Muzio Clementi (Symphony #3)
Lyrics by Samuel Francis Smith (1831)

User Reviews

Weird propaganda thriller

Tim Holt is a nazi youth devoted to Alolf Hitler, but also in love with a petite American blonde (Granville, stepping up from A-support to B-lead) who lives and eventually works in the American school next to the nazi academy. If it sounds like a ridiculous story will develop, you won't be too surprised. Straight propaganda with the spice of melodrama. Kruger is great in a supporting part as Holt's mentor, an Oxford educated nazi colonel. I believe this movie was distributed by expoiteers wiht added holocaust footage on the end (if the sherrifs were out of sight) in the 50s. Interesting to see once, but probably not twice.