The Boys from Brazil (1978)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Blistering performances.

I knew one or two of the big names in the cast of this movie, I didn't have any idea what it was about, but I was intrigued enough to watch it, based on the novel by Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner (Planet of the Apes, Patton, Papillon). Basically in Paraguay, young aspiring Nazi hunter Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) stumbles upon a secret organisation of Third Reich war criminals, and finds that Dr. Josef Mengele (Golden Globe nominated Gregory Peck), the infamous Auschwitz doctor who performed experiments on Jews during the war, is with them. Kohler calls famed Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Oscar nominated Lord Sir Laurence Olivier), who is ageing and living in Vienna, Austria, he gets annoyed by Kohler's calls. Kohler knows when the next clandestine meeting with Mengele is taking place, and decides to bug, but when he is about to overhear crucial details Mengele discovers the bug. Kohler did overhear that Mengele plans to kill ninety-six men who are sixty-five years old all over the world, including Austria, West Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Kohler calls Lieberman to tell about this information, but before he can say more he is found and killed by Mengele, although frail, Leiberman decides to follow Kohler's leads. Leiberman receives photos sent by Kohler, before his death, they are of the guests that attended the meeting with Mengele, he recognises many of them as Nazis, he decides to also keep an eye out for a rash death of sixty- five year old men. Lieberman gains insight from incarcerated former Nazi guard Frieda Maloney (Uta Hagen), and discovers the truth behind the insane plot, they want to use Professor Bruckner (Bruno Ganz), an expert on cloning, to use a sample of Hitler's DNA, preserved since World War II, to resurrect him and establish the Fourth Reich. Mengele's principal contact, Eduard Seibert (James Mason), tries to get Mengele to have the scheme aborted before Lieberman can expose it to the authorities, Lieberman continues his snooping and discovers that all of the men who are killed have an adopted son who all resemble each other. One of the Hitler clones, Bobby Wheelock (Jeremy Black), lives on a farm with his parents in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Mengele murders his father father (John Dehner), a Doberman dog breeder, and awaits the arrival of Lieberman. Eventually the two men come face to face, young Bobby hears the explanation of the whole situation, knowing that Mengele killed his father, he has the vicious Dobermans attack him until his death, the young man relishes watching him being killed. Lieberman is encouraged American Nazi-hunter David Bennett (John Rubinstein) to expose Mengele's scheme to the world, he asks him to hand over the list that identifies the names and whereabouts of all those born from the experiment, this will be used to kill them before they grow into bloody tyrants. In the end, Lieberman objects on the grounds that they are mere children, and he burns the list before anyone can read it. Also starring Lilli Palmer as Esther Lieberman, Denholm Elliott as Sidney Beynon, Spider-Man's Rosemary Harris as Mrs. Doring, Michael Gough as Mr. Harrington, Walter Gotell as Mundt, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's Günter Meisner as Farnbach and Fawlty Towers' Prunella Scales as Mrs. Harrington and 'Allo 'Allo's Richard Marner as Doring. Peck makes a convincing departure from his good guy roles as the sinister Nazi doctor masterminding the Hitler resurrection plot, Olivier putting on an accent is terrific, and Mason does well in the short time he has on screen. It perhaps seems a plausible plot in the age of genetic engineering than it does back then, the globe-trotting action works fairly well, and there is certainly enough violence and intrigue to keep you engaged, a reasonable thriller. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Score for Jerry Goldsmith. Worth watching!

Much like The Omen, Don't Look Now, The Exorcist, Halloween and The Wicker Man, Franklin J. Schaffner's The Boys From Brazil is one of the best thrillers from the 1970s. Yet it has never enjoyed the same critical kudos and audience awareness that the films mentioned above enjoy. I have never understood why, because in my opinion, this is one of the best films of it's era. I remember catching this film on TV late one night as a teenager, and I've never forgotten it. Re watching it, it's just as unsettling, tense and nerve-wrenching as when I was young, perhaps even more so, because now as an adult, having read about the real life Dr. Josef Mengele, the film has more resonance to me now. Franklin J. Schaffner really was a chameleon filmmaker, I was surprised to find that the same director of this film made Planet of the Apes and Patton. However on closer inspection, his earlier films do have a reoccurring style. Back in the 70s the possibility of cloning Hitler seemed implausible, but now the film is even more chilling because we are now capable of creating such monsters. Laurence Olivier is brilliant as the aging Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman, and Gregory Peck gives a chilling performance as Dr. Josef Mengele. The music is haunting, and the bleak cinematography adds to the overall feeling of dread and inevitability. The ending feels a bit rushed, but that's a minor complaint. Few films have stuck in my mind quite like Boys From Brazil. It is a must watch for genre fans and film buffs in general.

This is a classic old science fiction slash drama slash thriller with even a bit of a mystery feel thrown into it as well. You can't say the acting isn't great when it stars two of the best actors of their generation in Sir Laurence Olivier (a personal favourite of mine) and Gregory Peck. If you like old-ish science fiction movies I recommend it highly!SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!The movie concerns the cloning of Adolf Hitler by a hardcore Nazi who plans to use the Hitler clones to start a new Nazi Reich and a third world war. Obviously our hero wants to stop him from succeeding in creating his vision of the master race and the domination of the entire world.I want to read the book it's based on now! I am assuming it is a great read.

********** SPOILER ALERT************ I guess this movie would be heaps better if you don't actually know that it is about a Nazi plot to resurrect Hitler through the use of clones. If this is what you know about this film then you are likely to write it off as just another piece of Hollywood rubbish. However the film is far from that, and that fact that it has Lawrence Olivier and Gregory Peck as the lead actors should suggest that it is actually a lot more than that. Needless to say, both of those actors play their roles brilliantly, and when somebody suggested that if a lesser mortal than Gregory Peck were playing the villain then no doubt this movie would have fallen in a heap.There are a few problems though, however the idea of cloning that is explored in this movie suggests that the original writer really knew his stuff. Basically what Megnele (Peck) is attempting to do is to create the same conditions of life that gave birth to Hitler, and this after producing a huge batch of cloned Hitler babies he places them in families around the world that matched the age of Hitler's parents. However, at a specific moment, Hitler's father died, so Mengele sends out a team of Nazi assassins to kill the adopted fathers of these children at the right time in hope to turn one of them into Adolf Hitler.There is a problem though, and that is that while he may be able to control the family upbringing, he is not able to control the geopolitical events that led to the rise of Hitler. For instance, Hitler went into World War 1 as a corporal, was shot and wounded, and spent the rest of the war in hospital. Germany then went on to lose the war, suffered economic collapse, and revolution as a result, and was then humiliated by the victors. Even after that, the entire world economy collapsed at which point Hitler was able to rise to power.Despite those factors, the film itself is still very, very well made, but then again, if you are reading this, then you have probably already seen the film, because I suggested that if you haven't seen this then you shouldn't read this commentary.