1961's "Operation Eichmann" served as an Allied Artists quickie to cash in on the upcoming trial of Adolf Eichmann (beating Stanley Kramer's big budget "Judgment at Nuremberg" to theaters by 9 months), who was the man in charge of the 'Jewish problem' that eventually led to over 6 million Jews being exterminated at Auschwitz, captured in Argentina in May 1960 (Dr. Josef Mengele was also targeted but proved more elusive). Perhaps his still being fairly unknown accounted for the screenplay's lack of real factual information, the first half most effective in showing Eichmann's ruthless efficiency in conducting mass murder while also punishing prisoners and bribed officials who cause dissention in the ranks. The second half falls down in its lackluster pursuit of the exiled Nazi on the run, moving from Germany to Madrid, Kuwait, and finally Argentina, his own comrades only too eager to be rid of him one way or another. The narrator is a former Auschwitz prisoner who remains a distant outline to the audience, never a fleshed out character they can identify with, unable to compete with Werner Klemperer's dynamic Eichmann, a fully committed performance that produces the surely unintended, lopsided effect of rooting for a brilliant tactician who eluded capture for 15 years (convicted and hanged for his crimes in June 1962). Joining Klemperer in the Nazi ranks is John Banner, both future veterans of HOGAN'S HEROES, a comic depiction of the war that could only have been possible during a decade climaxed by Mel Brooks and his "Springtime for Hitler" number in 1968's "The Producers." The director was outdoor action specialist R.G. Springsteen, whose only qualification for this touchy subject had to be shooting fast on the cheapest sets to strike while the iron was hot. Making his film debut in the unbilled part of Klaus is Eric Braeden, whose best known movie roles in "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" preceded his longtime tenure on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, which commenced in 1980.
Review of Operation Eichmann
