Plot

From the Ashes of War In the Shadow of Poverty A Monster Was Born...

A fascinating experiment in documentary film making, THE DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE charts the stealthy rise of the Nazi party in the wake of World War I, as witnessed from the perspective of a neutral bystander.

Rather than offering a contemporary interpretation of history through narration and interviews, filmmaker Lutz Becker allows the disturbing saga of German fascism to unfold on its own terms. The rise of the Socialist National Party is depicted almost exclusively in newsreel footage and clips of features from the period. The result is a kaleidoscopic view of the German people 1918-1933, suffering the economic and human devastation of World War I, experiencing the rebirth of its culture and economy during the Weimar Republic, and allowing its festering racism, paranoia and lust for military strength to spread and become embraced as a system of political beliefs.

In THE DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE, one catches glimpses of Adolf Hitler when he was little more than a young political enthusiast, at the time when the Nazi party was the domain of a handful of extremists. The most chilling aspect of THE DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE is the gradual, almost invisible growth of the party over the course of the film, concluding with the fiery celebration of the Nazi assumption of power in 1933.

DVD Features:
* 1919 newsreel photography of Hitler at age 30
* German Day - Nationalist Parade in Nuremberg, 1923
* Nuremberg Nazi rally, 1929
* Speech to the unemployed, 1932
* Hitler's first speech to the nation after assuming power - Berlin Sports Palace, 1933
* Anti-fascist demonstrations (from rare Color and Black & White German newsreel footage)

Reviews:
"The best of the Hitler documentaries." -The London Sunday Times

Customer Comments

• Reviewer: Movie Maven on 14-Dec-2008

  If you're into history, and in particular, the conditions in 1920s and 1930s Germany that lead to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, then this DVD is a must-have for your collection. You won't get the same interviews and narrator commentaries that you typically get from this type of film; however, I found that by telling the story from a neutral observer's point of view made it even more moving/terrifying. At some points, the audio seems to be slightly out of synch with the video, which may have been a little annoying if I spoke German. As far as the video quality, this title is excellent for something that features footage that is often about 90 years old. Another great thing was how the story intertwines historical news footage with cultural footage from the time. I thought the part where Marlena Dietrich sings "Falling In Love Again" (in German from the "Blue Angle") was particularly interesting to show the cultural side of post-WWI, pre-Nazi Germany.

Additional Information

• Country: United Kingdom
• Language: English
• Format: NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (standard TV)
• Color: Color and B&W
• Sound: Mono