Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999)

A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier.

Director:

Errol Morris

Stars:

Fred A. Leuchter Jr., Robert Jan Van Pelt, David Irving

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Fred A. Leuchter Jr.	...	Himself (as Fred Leuchter)
Robert Jan Van Pelt	...	Himself
David Irving	...	Himself
Caroline Leuchter	...	Herself (voice)
James Roth	...	Himself - Analytical Chemist
Shelly Shapiro	...	Herself
Suzanne Tabasky	...	Herself
Ernst Zündel	...	Himself
David Collins	...	Re-enactment cast
Daniel Polsby	...	Re-enactment cast
Jeff Brown	...	Re-enactment cast
Robert Duerr	...	Re-enactment cast

Storyline

Documentary about Fred Leuchter, an engineer who became an expert on execution devices and was later hired by revisionist historian Ernst Zundel to "prove" that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. Leuchter published a controversial report confirming Zundel's position, which ultimately ruined his own career. Most of the footage is of Leuchter, puttering around execution facilities or chipping away at the walls of Auschwitz, but Morris also interviews various historians, associates, and neighbors.

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Plot Keywords:

execution | auschwitz | revisionist | gas chamber | holocaust denier | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mr. Death

Filming Locations:

Poland

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,125, 2 January 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$495,318, 26 March 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Independent Film Channel (IFC), Channel Four, Fourth Floor Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All of the states which bought one of Leuchter's lethal injection machines have subsequently stopped using them because they were too difficult to operate and maintain.

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Quotes

Fred A. Leuchter Jr.: The human body is not easy to destroy and it's not easy to take a life humanely and painlessly without doing a great deal of damage to the individual's body.

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Connections

Features Triumph of the Will (1935)

User Reviews

A Lesson In Political Correctness!

Errol Morris' Documentary about Fred Leuchter, an engineer who designed execution devices and applied his "expertise" on behalf of the defense for Enst Zündel, who was charged in Canada for disseminating materials that challenged the holocaust, is hair raising as a revelation of the illusion of freedom.

Leuchter was fully acceptable in society until he got the "wrong" idea, namely, that the popular belief about the holocaust is untrue. According to Leuchter's "findings," the method of killing described could not have occurred in the locations that he examined.

It was astonishing to see how effectively this man was isolated, and impoverished, but more shocking was the acceptance of it by the on lookers.

In a free society, the worse that would have happened to Leuchter would have been that he would have continued as a competent designer of execution devices, while being disbelieved respecting his theory about the holocaust.