Der letzte Akt (1955)

Director:

Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Writers:

Fritz Habeck (writer)
Michael A. Musmanno (novel)

Release Date:

16 September 1955 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

E' imminente il crollo della Germania nazista. Adolf Hitler, col suo stato maggiore, si trasferisce nel rifugio sotterraneo apprestato a Berlino...

Plot Keywords:

Adolf Hitler | WWII | Bunker | Entrapment | German Army

Cast

Albin Skoda	...	Adolf Hitler
Oskar Werner	...	Hauptmann Wüst
Lotte Tobisch	...	Eva Braun
Willy Krause	...	Joseph Goebbels
Erich Stuckmann	...	Heinrich Himmler
Erland Erlandsen	...	Albert Speer
Curt Eilers	...	Martin Bormann
Leopold Hainisch	...	Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel
Otto Schmöle	...	Generaloberst Alfred Jodl
Herbert Herbe	...	General Hans Krebs
Hannes Schiel	...	SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Günsche
Erik Frey	...	General Wilhelm Burgdorf
Otto Wögerer	...	Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herta Angst	...	Jutta
Elisabeth Epp	...	Richard's Mother
Hermann Erhardt	...	Hermann Göring
Otto Gutschy	...	Franz
Peter Holzer
Michael Janisch
Julius Jonak	...	SS-Generalleutnant Hermann Fegelein
Helga Kennedy-Dohrn	...	Magda Goebbels
Otto Kerry
Eduard Köck
Inge Kurzbauer
Otto Loewe
Franz Messner	...	Otto
Ernst Pröckl
Walter Regelsberger	...	Major Venner
Raoul Retzer
Eduard Spieß
Lilly Stepanek
John Van Dreelen	...	Major Brinkmann
Ernst Waldbrunn	...	Astrologe
Martha Wallner
Guido Wieland	...	Arzt
Gerd Zöhling	...	Richard

Also Known As:

Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Last Ten Days of Adolf Hitler
Ten Days to Die
The Last Act (International: English title) (literal title)
The Last Ten Days (USA)

Runtime:

USA:113 min | West Germany:95 min

Country:

West Germany | Austria

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Baden, Lower Austria, Austria

Company:

Cosmopol-Film

Trivia:

Traudl Junge, Adolf Hitler's "last" secretary, was interviewed by Michael Mussmano several times; part of her recollections were included in his "Ten Days to Die" from which this film is adapted. In Junge's memoirs, "Until The Final Hour," she says that Mussmano helped arrange for her to spend two weeks in Austria advising the director during filming, for which she was paid DM1500.

Situation: Normally Abnormal

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?