They Saved Hitler's Brain

They Saved Hitler's Brain began as another movie, known as Madmen of Mandoras.  Directed by David Bradley and released in 1968 They Saved Hitler's Brain is, quite frankly, a mess. 

The first thing that you'll notice is the beginning of the movie does not match, or even make sense with, the rest of the film.  That's because when Madmen of Mandoras was brought over to TV twenty minutes of additional footage was inserted.  These scenes show CID agents attempting to find a scientist and the deadly gas he has created.  Instead of 60s era style and fashion we are met with the garish 70s.  Big moustaches and hair run rampant in these scenes.  Our first leading man looks like he stepped off the set of a cheap 70s porno.

You would think with a title like They Saved Hitler's Brain the movie would be full of devious Nazis.  Not so much.  Hitler, or what's left of him, doesn't show up until the last thirty minutes or so.  For the most part we are forced to watch gangsters running around trying to kill our heroes.  A word or two about the heroes of this film...none of them have a lick of sense.  An example:  while our main characters , a husband and wife, are forced into a car by a mysterious man, the woman seemingly does not hear the gunshot that kills the would be kidnapper.  She looks at him in a state of confusion and wonders what is wrong.  She must have thought he got stung by a bee or something.  A deadly bee.  That sounds like a gun.

Anyway, the husband and wife team bungle their way through each twist and turn of the plot.  When i say plot, i'm being generous.  Extremely generous.  And when i say twist and turns...well like i said earlier, it s mess.  People who we think are bad guys are good guys and vice versa.  At a saloon in Mandoras we meet the sister of the wife.  She immediately proceeds to passionately kiss the husband...who doesn't object.  And that's all for that plot point.  Frankly, I think the sister is off her rocker, but the fact that she is portrayed as a brainless 60s hipster doesn't help either.  After the final action of the movie we see the sister in bed with some random person.  Oh, we saw him earlier in the film but it was so brief he may as well be random.  More like, a random background person gets the girl.  Though, she at least calls her sister and tells her...and that she married the guy.  At least, that's what we're told.  For some reason there is no audio for the sister in this scene. 

So lets talk about the real star of our movie...Hitler.  Not so much a brain, as a severed head that only seemed to communicate by moving his eyes and producing creepy grins of approval or disapproval.  We are told that his head was smuggled out of Berlin during the last days of World War II.  Hitler and his troops now reside in the fictional country of Mandoras...which looks a lot like Mexico or southern California.  The Nazis plan to use stolen gas to kill everyone who stand against them. 

Aside from the added 70s footage, incomprehensible plot, lack of action, poor acting, jumping from daytime to nigh time and back again, poor perspectives, lack of logic, and low speed car chases you may ask yourself (and god help you if you do) is this movie worth watching?

There are two kinds of B-Movies...those that are genuinely good, like White Zombie or Rodan, and those that are best viewed with large quantities of alcohol...like Beast of Yucca Flats and of course, They Saved Hitler's Brain.