La Fin d’Hitler

The peak of Georg Wilhelm Pabst's career is framed by two important films set in the final days of the Third Reich. Just two months after the release of The Last Ten Days, It Happened on July 20th premiered, dedicated to von Stauffenberg's assassination attempt. The last ten days of Adolf Hitler were first addressed by an American judge of Italian descent, Michael A. Musmanno, who, after the Nuremberg trials, focused on debunking the theory of Hitler's survival on April 30, 1945. Musmanno first published an article in 1948 in The Pittsburgh Press compiled from interviews with eyewitnesses, and two years later followed up with the book "Ten Days to Die." After his death, a separate documentary, The Day Hitler Died, was put together. Erich Maria Remarque and Fritz Habeck worked with this material before it became a full-fledged film screenplay. The mid-50s were very favorable to anti-war films, especially in German-speaking movie theaters, with The Last Ten Days being considered the pinnacle of this trend. The claustrophobic atmosphere, authentic details, and even collaboration with Hitler's last secretary, Traudl Junge, contribute to the film's authenticity. There's nothing to fault the film for, as even the casting is excellent with Oskar Werner, Lotte Tobisch, and Albin Skoda. (27/08/2023)