Rating: 
Summary: They should have let Mr. H rest in peace.
Review: This release contains the 1963 film "Madmen of Mandoras", but at the beginning there is some additional footage that seems to have been filmed around 1973. (Note the Volkswagen Beetle has large circular tail-lights, which first appeared on the 1973 models.) This extra footage was possibly a project of some UCLA film students, to create a longer movie for television.
It is unfortunate that these more recent actors are not in the film credits, since the newer footage is more fun to watch than the original, except for one thing: the head of the Fuhrer. Hitler's head provides the much needed comic relief for the drab situations, mostly by showing some kinds of unrecognizable expressions, and yelling "Mach Schnell!" (colloq: buck up). But, we are also shown the "evil" of the man (I mean, the head) when he smiles broadly after one of his cohorts shoots someone. Yahoooooo!
Rating:
Summary: They should have let Mr. H rest in peace.
Review: This release contains the 1963 film "Madmen of Mandoras", but at the beginning there is some additional footage that seems to have been filmed around 1973. (Note the Volkswagen Beetle has large circular tail-lights, which first appeared on the 1973 models.) This extra footage was possibly a project of some UCLA film students, to create a longer movie for television.
It is unfortunate that these more recent actors are not in the film credits, since the newer footage is more fun to watch than the original, except for one thing: the head of the Fuhrer. Hitler's head provides the much needed comic relief for the drab situations, mostly by showing some kinds of unrecognizable expressions, and yelling "Mach Schnell!" (colloq: buck up). But, we are also shown the "evil" of the man (I mean, the head) when he smiles broadly after one of his cohorts shoots someone. Yahoooooo!
Rating: 
Summary: Why Did They Save, THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN?
Review: What can I say good about this movie? Hum, well the menu on the DVD from RHINO is quite funny. As for the rest, it is pretty bad.The existing prints must be in poor shape. Despite the advertisement that it is a "new transfer from 35 mm film elements," the picture suffers from scratches, jitters, and a host of sound problems. The soundtrack develops that machine-gun rattle that is so common in old prints that no longer track well for the screen. Indeed, I have never heard this amount of hissing and cracking on a legitimate mainline DVD soundtrack. Portions of the movie, mostly at the beginning, give a parallel storyline that was added by UCLA film students in the 1960's (1963 I believe). It really does not sync with the older 1950's footage that features better acting and scripting. Indeed, removal of the appended material might make for a better film. It was added for theatrical length and to help flush out the kidnapping and secret weapon details. All it really does is add length, stretching the movie to 92 minutes. While some bad movies are fun, this one is just mostly bad. Ed Wood could have done better. Once the entire cast from the first part of the movie are killed off, the film starts in earnest with the older material. The plot should be simple but the extraneous material confuses things. Professor Coleman has created an antidote to a potent new nerve gas. He is kidnapped by Nazis holding up in Mandoras (South America). The evil men worship Hitler's animated head in a mason jar. The professor's daughter and son-in-law must save the day before the Nazis take over the world. The identities of the actors in the added material are not clarified. The film was also called MADMEN OF MANDORAS and THE RETURN OF MR. H. There are several bloopers, much related to the harsh transition between the 1960's and 1950's cultures (dress, music, dance, etc.). There is also a car chase where shots alternate between night and day. Here is a little tidbit. Bill Freed, who plays Hitler's head in a jar, would later author the screenplay for Koontz' book, THE WATCHERS. >No nudity.
>Mild plot violence.
>No graphic gore.
>No vulgar language.
Rating:
Summary: Why Did They Save, THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN?
Review: What can I say good about this movie? Hum, well the menu on the DVD from RHINO is quite funny. As for the rest, it is pretty bad. The existing prints must be in poor shape. Despite the advertisement that it is a "new transfer from 35 mm film elements," the picture suffers from scratches, jitters, and a host of sound problems. The soundtrack develops that machine-gun rattle that is so common in old prints that no longer track well for the screen. Indeed, I have never heard this amount of hissing and cracking on a legitimate mainline DVD soundtrack. Portions of the movie, mostly at the beginning, give a parallel storyline that was added by UCLA film students in the 1960's (1963 I believe). It really does not sync with the older 1950's footage that features better acting and scripting. Indeed, removal of the appended material might make for a better film. It was added for theatrical length and to help flush out the kidnapping and secret weapon details. All it really does is add length, stretching the movie to 92 minutes. While some bad movies are fun, this one is just mostly bad. Ed Wood could have done better. Once the entire cast from the first part of the movie are killed off, the film starts in earnest with the older material. The plot should be simple but the extraneous material confuses things. Professor Coleman has created an antidote to a potent new nerve gas. He is kidnapped by Nazis holding up in Mandoras (South America). The evil men worship Hitler's animated head in a mason jar. The professor's daughter and son-in-law must save the day before the Nazis take over the world. The identities of the actors in the added material are not clarified. The film was also called MADMEN OF MANDORAS and THE RETURN OF MR. H. There are several bloopers, much related to the harsh transition between the 1960's and 1950's cultures (dress, music, dance, etc.). There is also a car chase where shots alternate between night and day. Here is a little tidbit. Bill Freed, who plays Hitler's head in a jar, would later author the screenplay for Koontz' book, THE WATCHERS. >No nudity.
>Mild plot violence.
>No graphic gore.
>No vulgar language.
Rating: 
Summary: "The slappers of women! The torturers of old men!"
Review: Why am I drawn to bad movies like a fly to a steaming pile of excrement (this metaphor is exceptionally appropriate given the film being reviewed)? I've never really given it much thought, but I suppose it's a similar reaction people display when driving by a particularly bad car wreck...you don't want to look, but morbid curiosity is a compelling, often intrinsic, trait among humans. As far as car wrecks go, cinematically speaking, They Saved Hitler's Brain (1963) is a real doozy...the film is actually two movies (the original made in the late 50's to early 60's but never released for some unknown reason, and new footage filmed in the mid to late 60's) spliced together, like some twisted Frankenstein experiment. Apparently the company that owned the original film, Crown International (purveyors of schlock), got some UCLA film students to produce the new footage, and then, in an extremely futile attempt, married the two in the unholy union that is this film (director Al Adamson made a career on doing this, most notably with his 1971 monster mash Dracula Vs. Frankenstein).
The film, originally titled Madmen of Mandoras aka Amazing Mr. H aka The Return of Mr. H (before the celluloid mating) was directed by David Bradley, whose earlier films include a juvenile delinquent picture titled Dragstrip Riot (1958) and the epic sci-fi craptacular 12 to the Moon (1960). The film stars Walter Stocker (Lassie's Great Adventure) and Audrey Caire, who seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her until I looked up her credits as saw she also appeared in Joe (1970), one of my more favorite films of the early 70's. Also appearing is John Holland (The Naked Brigade), Carlos Rivas (True Grit), Marshall Reed (Ghost of Zorro), Scott Peters (Panic in Year Zero!), Nestor Paiva (The Three Stooges in Orbit, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter), and Bill Freed (who later adapted Dean R. Koontz's novel Watchers into the 1988 film of the same name) as Adolf Hitler, or, at least his head.
The film starts out with the newer footage (which actually looks worse than the older footage), relating some kind of story regarding secret agents, nerve gas, and various murders. The main character, named Vic (who looks a lot like Chuck Negron, the original lead singer from the 70's band Three Dog Night) is a secret agent assigned to investigate the death of a scientist, but he himself eventually dies in a fiery car crash (actually his death is represented by footage taken from the 1958 feature Thunder Road, starring Robert Mitchum). All of this takes about 27 minutes, and then we cut into another film, already in progress, featuring the actors I listed above (the actors in the newer footage are not listed in any credits). From here we follow the exploits of Phil Day (Stocker) and his wife Kathy (Caire) as they travel to the tiny Caribbean Island nation of Mandoras to locate Kathy's recently kidnapped father, a scientist who developed an antidote to a deadly nerve gas. Phil and Kathy soon learn a handful of Nazis, lead by Hitler's head, and their nefarious plans to take control of the world. Will Phil and Kathy be able to stop the madness, or will the Third Reich finally achieve the goals it set for itself some 20 years ago? Their plan seems pretty rock solid, so things don't look good...
I'm unsure why the newer footage was added, especially since it matched up so poorly (it looked like a bunch of laid-back hippies running around, compared to the more conservatively attired characters in the original footage). The original film is actually not a bad little B film (at least, compared to the newer footage), but I suspect some of the original footage may have been lost (or never filmed), hence the addition of the newer material, as to try and provide a setting for the older material. Thing is, the newer stuff was shot so very poorly, lacking any sense of direction (hey, it's daytime...no wait, it's night...oops, it's daytime again), and I was able to piece together much of the intended story from the original footage I didn't need the newer material. And that music for the newer material...27 minutes of really crummy free form jazz...the horror, the horror...the concept of saving Hitler's head seemed kinda cool, but what was probably meant to be a shocking surprise (the whole plot of Hitler's head plotting a conspiracy) was effectively ruined by the newer title. The special effects are pretty much what you might expect, with Hitler's head, when not being carried around in a jar, sitting atop an older model videotape machine. Freed's head did look a little creepy, sort of bug-eyed and slightly emaciated, with his only dialog, as a disembodied head, being `Mach Schnell! Mach Schnell!' (I guess one would probably get pretty cranky and impatient surviving in a jar, relying on the charity of others...I wonder which lackey got the job of trimming his little moustache?) My favorite scene has to be when Phil and Kathy get kidnapped by a mysterious Hispanic man, and as they come to a stop light, another car pulls up, shoots the Hispanic man dead, but the couple, who are in the car with the now dead man, don't realize he's dead until much later, eventually stuffing his corpse into a phone booth, the intent being someone will find him (and someone does, in the form of an impatient, rotund lady wanting to use said phone...oh the comedy!)
The Rhino release specifies this is the uncut, 92-minute version (it felt much longer), newly transferred from 35mm elements. The picture quality isn't all that great, but it's probably the best you'll find, surpassing that old VHS copy you own. The audio is about as good as the picture quality (which is to say not all the great). There is a menu (featuring a nifty animated Hitler head), and a listing of other Rhino titles.
Cookieman108
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