The Bunker (TV 1981)

Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.

Director:

George Schaefer

Writers:

John Gay (written for television by), James P. O'Donnell (based on the book by)

Stars:

Anthony Hopkins, Richard Jordan, Cliff Gorman

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Hopkins	...	Adolf Hitler
Richard Jordan	...	Albert Speer
Cliff Gorman	...	Joseph Goebbels
James Naughton	...	James O'Donnell
Michael Lonsdale	...	Martin Bormann
Martin Jarvis	...	Johannes Hentschel
Michael Kitchen	...	Rochus Misch
Andrew Ray	...	Otto Günsche
Piper Laurie	...	Magda Goebbels
Susan Blakely	...	Eva Braun
Robert Austin	...	Wagner
Geoffrey Bateman	...	Riebold
Graham Bishop	...	Helmut Goebbels
Kevin Bishop	...	Themmer
Nathalie Boulmer	...	Elga Goebbels

Storyline

Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.

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Plot Keywords:

bunker | 1940s | last stand | nazi germany | marriage ceremony | 

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

27 January 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Führerbunker

Company Credits

Production Co:

Société Française de Production (SFP), Antenne-2, Time-Life Television Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

150 min 148 min (DVD edition) (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Reporters on the set said the sense of realism was so intense that at one point, when Anthony Hopkins entered the room to prepare for the next scene, actors portraying SS troops found themselves snapping to attention.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the movie, the narrator enters Hitler's flooded underground bunker shortly after the German surrender in 1945. He wears the uniform of a U.S. Army captain, and says he is on assignment from Newsweek magazine. However, civilian publishing companies did not employ military officers as correspondents.

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Connections

Referenced in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Anthony Hopkins (2006)

User Reviews

Excellent TV rendition about the last days of Hitler with exceptional performance from Anthony Hopkins

This is the true story of the infamous Nazi dictator with his historic downfall. The story of Hitler's last days in an underground bunker gives insight to his madness. Here in the midst of his lackeys the dictator played out the final act of his life . It's well played by Anthony Hopkins who won an Emmy prize for his excellent acting. Atmospheric cinematography and gloomy musical score by Brad Fievel. This television movie is finely written by prestigious scriptwriter John Gay and stunningly directed by George Schaeffer. Other adaptation about this historical character are : ¨Hitler(1962)¨ by Stuart Heisler with Richard Basehart, ¨Hitler : The last days(1973)¨ by Ennio De Concini with Alec Guinness and the best is ¨The Downfall¨ by Oliver Hischbiegel with Bruno Ganz.

The picture is correctly based on real events, adding more details , the deeds happened of the following manner : ¨Fuehererbunker¨(Leader's Bunker)is the subterranean headquarter below the Chancellery and its garden in Berlin where Hitler (Anthony Hopkins) spent his last days, from April 20 to 30, 1945. It was constructed during WW2 some 50 feet below the ground. It could be reached through the New Chancellery by descending a stairway from the butler's pantry. There were two levels, On the upper level was a dining passage separating six rooms on each side. At the end of the central passage a curved stair led down to Hitler's own deeper bunker. This area had seventeen rooms , all small, cramped , and uncomfortable : Hitler's suite of three rooms, a map room used for conferences, the dressing room and bedroom of Eva Braun(Susan Blakely), the bedroom of Dr Paul Joseph Goebbles(Cliff Gorman) and wife(Piper Laurie),the rooms of Dr Ludwig, lavatories and bathrooms, an emergency telephone exchange, a drawing room, guardroom, cloakroom and a dog bunker for Hitler's Alsatian bitch named Blondi, with her four puppies. Hitler spent hours before giant war maps, shifting colored pins about to locate units that no longer existed. By this time he was in a state of extreme nervous exhaustion : although only fifty-six, he moved as if he were prematurely senile. His health grew even worse the ministrations of his doctors(Frank Gatliff, Morris Perry). With the exception of Goebbles and Martin Bormann(Michael Londsdale), his secretaries and several others, his lieutenants began to desert him. He denounced Herrmann Goering(David King)for trying to usurp his leadership and Heimrich Himmler (Michael Sheard) for seeking to negotiate with the count Bernadotte and Allied. Albert Speer (Richard Jordan) his minister of Armaments and War Production , refused to carry out his orders for a scorched-earth policy. At last acknowledge defeat, the Fuehrer decided to leave the world in a gesture of Wagnerian self-immolation. In the early hours of April 29, 1945, he married Eva and immediately afterward dictated his last will and political testament, in which he justified his life and work. The next day he retreated into his suite and shot himself while Eva took poison to end her life. In accordance with his instructions, the bodies were dumped into a trough in the Chencellery garden,doused with gasoline and burned. From April 22 to May 1, 1945 , the following were present in the Bunker: Gen Keitel(John Paul), Gen. Hans Guderian(Brain Villa) , Col.Von Below(Julian fellows), Gen. Alfred Jodl(Steedman) , Major Gen. Rattenhuber(David Swift), Lieutenant Genen Fegelein (Terrence Hardiman), Dr. Ludwig Stumpfegger , among others.