They Saved Hitler's Brain
| They Saved Hitler's Brain | |
|---|---|
 1963 theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David Bradley |
| Produced by | Carl Edwards |
| Written by |
Steve Bennett Peter Miles |
| Music by | Don Hulette |
| Cinematography | Stanley Cortez |
| Edited by | Alan Marks |
| Distributed by |
Paragon Films Inc. Sans-S |
Release dates |
1963 (theatrical) 1968 (television) |
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
They Saved Hitler's Brain is a 1968 science fiction film that was adapted for television from a shorter 1963 theatrical feature film, Madmen of Mandoras, directed by David Bradley. The film was lengthened with about twenty minutes of additional footage shot by UCLA students at the request of the distributor. As the original footage was shot several years earlier, the differences in costumes and production values are rather obvious.
Synopsis
World War II is over, and Nazi officials remove Adolf Hitler's living head and hide it in the fictional South American country of Mandoras, so that they can resurrect the Third Reich for the future. It fast forwards into the 1960s, and the surviving officials kidnap a scientist in an attempt to keep Hitler alive. Various intelligence agencies, aware of the evil plot, recruit secret agents to bust the Nazi officials.
Cast
- Walter Stocker as Phil Day
- Audrey Caire as Kathy Coleman 'K.C.' Day
- Carlos Rivas as Camino Padua / Teo Padua
- John Holland as Prof. John Coleman
- Marshall Reed as Frank Dvorak
- Scott Peters as David Garrick
- Keith Dahle as Tom Sharon
- Dani Lynn as Suzanne Coleman
- Nestor Paiva as Police Chief Alaniz
- Pedro Regas as Presidente Juan Padua
- Bill Freed as Adolf Hitler
Parodies in popular culture
In The Simpsons
- The penultimate episode of the tenth season, "They Saved Lisa's Brain" is a play on the film's title.
- The episode "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"" features Abe Simpson remembering a moment during World War II when he had Hitler in his sights. He had muttered "Heh heh heh, now they'll never save your brain, Hitler" but the shot went astray through the clumsy intervention of fellow Hellfish squad member Montgomery Burns.
- In the episode "Marge Be Not Proud", one of the games in the store "Try-N-Save" is titled "Save Hitler's Brain."
- In the episode "Duffless", one of the items on the conveyor belt is Hitler's head in a jar.
- Simpsons Comics referenced the title in the story "They Saved Homer's Brain" in 1996.
In other media
VHS release cover
- In 1986, the movie was featured in an episode of the Canned Film Festival.[1]
- Upon learning he was dying of radiation poisoning due to the constant exposure from his kryptonite ring, Lex Luthor stages his own death and has his brain preserved in a jar while wired to a computer, while a new body is cloned for him. He then re-emerges as his alleged illegitimate son Alexander Luthor, Jr. The comic arc was titled "They saved Luthor's Brain".
- In Futurama, Professor Farnsworth proclaims "Everyone's always in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it in the body of a great white shark. Ooo, suddenly you've gone too far.".
- In Flaming Carrot Comics, The Flaming Carrot is menaced by an army of disembodied clones of Hitler's jackbooted feet.
- Hitler's brain is a character in the Irregular Webcomic! series of comic strips.[2]
- The Dead Kennedys song "We Have a Bigger Problem Now" references Hitler's brain in a jar. The supposed formaldehyde used to preserve Hitler's brain is an ingredient of the Tricky Dicky Screwdriver, a fictional cocktail drink, along with Jack Daniels and purple Kool-Aid.
- Los Angeles punk band Angry Samoans included the song 'They Saved Hitler's Cock' on their 1982 album Back from Samoa.
- In the comic book series Savage Dragon, Hitler's brain was attached to a gorilla body to become the villain Brainape. After being separated from the gorilla, the brain forms legs and runs away.
- An episode of the US cartoon Duckman was entitled "They craved Duckman's brain", based on the premise that Duckman, after falling asleep in an active CAT scanner, developed an isotope in his brain that could cure cancer, but getting to it would kill Duckman.
- In honor of the film, the area of the now defunct PointlessWasteofTime.com forum set aside for serious discussion was ironically titled "We Saved Hitler's Brain." It, along with the rest of the PWOT forums, was migrated to Cracked.com when editor David Wong was employed by Cracked.com as Senior Editor.
- Unnatural Axe's 1978 song "They Saved Hitler's Brain" was singer and guitarist Richie Parsons' homage to the film. He says in an interview with Boston Groupie News, " I saw the last 5 minutes of this B movie that was funny as hell. I had no idea what it was about. All I saw was Hitler's Brain in a glass jar in the back of a staff car and the rest I made up."[3]
- Local H's album Hallelujah! I'm A Bum includes a song titled "They Saved Reagan's Brain."
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gives They Saved Hitler's Brain a rare rating of 0% based on reviews from 5 critics, with an average rating of 1.3/10.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ Margulies, Lee (June 10, 1986). "'Canned Film Festival' on TV, Worst of the Big Screen On Its Way". Los Angeles Times. p. 10. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
- ↑ "http://irregularwebcomic.net/cast/cliffhangers.html"
- ↑ http://www.bostongroupienews.com/UnnaturalAxeInterview.htm
- ↑ "They Saved Hitler's Brain". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2014-07-05.
External links
- They Saved Hitler's Brain at the Internet Movie Database
- The Madmen of Mandoras at the Internet Movie Database
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