Hitler: The Last Ten Days

PG

Released May 9, 1973

1h 46m

History

Drama

List

38%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

55%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Adolf Hitler (Alec Guinness) holes up in his Berlin bunker with an aide (Simon Ward) and followers as the Third Reich crumbles.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Jan 03

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Buy Hitler: The Last Ten Days on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

John W

It's quite amusing, and revealing, that almost no "top critics" and audience-reviewers realize this movie is a comedy. I saw it in a humble outdoor neighborhood theater in Cairo in 1974, sitting on folding chairs with Egyptians, and that audience and I quickly realized that it was a comedy and laughed throughout. But apparently some nationalities have to see obvious comedy -- a la Chaplin or Mel Brooks -- to recognize when a director is making fun of a villain.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

it's not as good as Downfall, but then what is? Alec Guinness is about the oddest choice for Hitler. He was the quintessential Englishman. He gave great performances, but all of his characters have the same sort of quiet thoughtfulness, that typical English reserve which is so hard to imitate but impossible to mistake. Which is why here we see Hitler as a moody intellectual man struggling with depression and slipping into megalomania. I just don't think he can turn off his thoughtfulness to capture the violent emotionalism of Hitler. The attempt to humanize Hitler seems to have made people nervous since they randomly intersperse scenes with footage of Nazi atrocities. I don't know what emotion that was supposed to stir, but it just left me confused.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Very good. Surpassed only by 'Downfall' (2004).

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The title of this one makes no plot mystery. Hitler: The Last Ten Days was made 3 decades before "Der Untergang". Our maniacal evil Fuhrer is played skillfully by the late Englishman Alec Guinness. The Fuhrer is portrayed as an emotional, yet vulnerable human being, as reminiscent in "Der Untergang". As nobody really knows what went down in the bunker, the film is based on testimonies from the "so called witnesses" that survived the aftermath. A nice little production that I'll have to hunt down on disc in the near future. Some memorable scenes will stick to mind, and the eerie atmosphere does not fail to disappoint. As Hitler is aware the end for his reign of terror is neigh, he hands out self portraits to his trusty followers claiming: "I want to be remembered as the good looking man I am, not like Jesus Christ with a ridiculous beard and filthy long hair!". An above average production that also utilises archive footage and most of the the films duration in the bunker. The director was Ennio De Concini that mainly wrote screenplays in the 60's throughout the 80's. This was his directorial debut to the big screen. And now for a little trivia: An old friend and WW2 buff, went to Berlin to see the remaining historical sights. The bunker has been flooded with cement, and a playground has now been built on the surface. Come out and play children.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Guiness' accent distracts a bit but he does portray Hitler relatively realistically and with humanity as well as quirkiness and twinges of madness/depravity. It doesn't quite come across as a propaganda film for the Allies but it doesn't give enough accountability demerits to the Brits. etc. nor to the people and soldiers of Germany. It wasn't just all Hitler, even if he thought it was.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Alec Guiness plays one of the best portrayals of Hitler. Downfall (2004) was definitely better, only because it was made with a better budget and was filmed in German. I felt the final 1/2 hour of the movie was much stronger than the rest of the film, especially the ending.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Ennio De Concini

Director

Alec Guinness

Adolf Hitler

Simon Ward

Capt. Hoffman

Adolfo Celi

Gen. Krebs

Diane Cilento

Hanna Reitsch

Gabriele Ferzetti

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

90%

62%

The Molly Maguires

17%

13%

Lady Caroline Lamb

91%

90%

The Lion in Winter

70%

87%

Sacco and Vanzetti

43%

83%

Anne of the Thousand Days

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Penelope Gilliatt

New Yorker

It is hard to believe that people who lived through the Second World War could have made a film as flippant as this.

Jan 23, 2024

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

There's no tragedy in this movie, no sense of the vast scale of suffering outside the bunker.

Rated: 1/4

Jun 13, 2020

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

It is curious, then, that a fairly serious-minded film should be so superfluous.

Jun 13, 2020

Full Review

Harry Jones

Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

Sir Alec Guinness plays the the role of Hitler with the conviction of any role that Guinness undertakes.

Aug 16, 2021

Full Review

Christopher Hudson

The Spectator

[Hitler: The Last Ten Days] offers neither instruction nor entertainment.

Dec 12, 2017

Full Review

TV Guide Staff

TV Guide

Yet another failed attempt to make the Fuhrer the subject of compelling drama.

Rated: 2/5

Feb 23, 2012

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Adolf Hitler (Alec Guinness) holes up in his Berlin bunker with an aide (Simon Ward) and followers as the Third Reich crumbles.

Director: Ennio De Concini
Producer: John Heyman
Screenwriter: Ennio De Concini, Maria Pia Fusco, Wolfgang Reinhardt
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 1973, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2015
Runtime: 1h 46m

Most Popular at Home Now