If you thought "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" was unsophisticated, you oughtta get a load o' this schlock! At least in TBTWD, there was a rudimentary rig set up that was supposed to keep the brain (and its encasing head) from deteriorating. In "They Saved Hitler's Brain" (a really snazzy title!) Der Fuhrer's neatly groomed head sits in a transparent case atop a complex-looking machine. But the case is simply detached and carried around like a hatbox--even taken on a car ride (where bare shoulders are visible). The whole film is a silly, schmalzy slow-starter in which some of the Nazis look like Mafia thugs and no more than half a dozen German words are ever spoken. The actors don't even feign an accent or attempt a Teutonic demeanor. The main (and most interesting) characters are a young "CID" agent and his tag-along wife, who exhibit more sexual passion and playfulness than most players in modern movies. Much of the action and intrigue takes place in a fictitious South American country where at least the nationals have believable accents. It's too bad the Hitler head didn't get more screen time. Although it can speak, it does so on only one occasion, filling the rest of its frames with blackly comedic shifty-eyed, twitchy, rodent-like gesticulations. For bad-movie mavens to miss this one is definitely verboten!
Review of They Saved Hitler's Brain
