Parts
About
A stick figure fictional biography of Joseph Goebbels, the infamous reich minister for propaganda 1933-45. Little attempt is made to expose the real horrors of Nazism or Goebbels' hate-driven personality. Instead it's more likely to induce giggles thanks to Wolfgang Zilzer's ham-fisted performance in the title role, which portrays Goebbles as little worse than a liar and vindictive rejected lover who abuses power. A romantic subplot only indirectly related to Goebbles takes up almost 1/3 of the film. (That was '40s Hollywood for ya.) The listed supporting cast members are professionals but they can't help much.
This film only weakly qualifies as WW2 propaganda. In reality it is plain and simple exploitation.
Directed by Alfred Zeisler. Released in 1944. Complete print. a.k.a. "The Mad Lover" (re-release).
NOTE: The 1940 MGM film "The Mortal Storm" is a realistic and powerful indictment of life in Germany under the Nazis. Its trailer is here at IA. The film itself isn't. However it's widely available for sale or rental.
- Archive
- Internet Archive, in Feature films
- Licence or status
- Public Domain Mark 1.0, as the Internet Archive states it.
- Credit
- W R Frank
- Subtitles
- Automatic captions
- Who can watch
- The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Adult profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed