Narrated by William L. Shirer. A Columbia Picture. Copyright 27 September 1951 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Criterion: 30 September 1951. U.S. release: September 1951. U.K release: 31 March 1952. Australian release: 27 June 1952. 92 minutes. The full-length 92-minutes version was released only in Australia. In the U.K. and the U.S.A., the movie was cut by 4 minutes, eliminating the Neville Chamberlain sequence.
SYNOPSIS: William L. Shirer, foreign correspondent, is told the following story by a strange woman (Mrs Janus). Janus the Great, a brilliant impersonator, was once the most popular man on the Viennese stage; when the Nazis took over Austria, his wife left him to live with the Fuehrer, and he was sent to a concentration camp. He escaped in disguise, tricked his way into Hitler's service as a valet, killed the dictator and took his place; as the false Hitler, he purposely — by insisting on unwise military and political decisions — led Germany to defeat. In the hour of final defeat, in an underground shelter in Berlin, he revealed his true identity to his faithless wife and escaped to resume his old identity. (Hitler's body was never found).
COMMENT: A really weird movie. Independently made in Austria by Mort Briskin and Robert Smith, it was picked up for distribution by Columbia as an exploitation item. Those expecting the real dirt on Hitler were doubtless disappointed, but people like myself looking for a way- out, unusual or preposterous entertainment found this "historical" ratbaggery amusingly off-beat.
With its larger-than-life performances, its candidly goofy impersonation plot, its victim-of-the-blacklist director, and even in its somewhat amateurish technical deficiencies such as the jarring juxtaposition of studio and obvious newsreel footage, "The Magic Face" has all the qualities required of a first-class cult movie. I can only wonder why it has never been taken up by the corduroy set and reaped a financial bonanza for its present copyright owners around university campuses.
SYNOPSIS: William L. Shirer, foreign correspondent, is told the following story by a strange woman (Mrs Janus). Janus the Great, a brilliant impersonator, was once the most popular man on the Viennese stage; when the Nazis took over Austria, his wife left him to live with the Fuehrer, and he was sent to a concentration camp. He escaped in disguise, tricked his way into Hitler's service as a valet, killed the dictator and took his place; as the false Hitler, he purposely — by insisting on unwise military and political decisions — led Germany to defeat. In the hour of final defeat, in an underground shelter in Berlin, he revealed his true identity to his faithless wife and escaped to resume his old identity. (Hitler's body was never found).
COMMENT: A really weird movie. Independently made in Austria by Mort Briskin and Robert Smith, it was picked up for distribution by Columbia as an exploitation item. Those expecting the real dirt on Hitler were doubtless disappointed, but people like myself looking for a way- out, unusual or preposterous entertainment found this "historical" ratbaggery amusingly off-beat.
With its larger-than-life performances, its candidly goofy impersonation plot, its victim-of-the-blacklist director, and even in its somewhat amateurish technical deficiencies such as the jarring juxtaposition of studio and obvious newsreel footage, "The Magic Face" has all the qualities required of a first-class cult movie. I can only wonder why it has never been taken up by the corduroy set and reaped a financial bonanza for its present copyright owners around university campuses.