This week in the Deep Hurting Project is one of the most infamous bad movies ever: They Saved Hitler's Brain. It has a bizarre backstory: it started off as a film called The Madman of Mandoras, but then somebody got the TV rights and decided to pad it out with 18 minutes of new footage. This new footage has fuck-all to do with the original footage, and you can tell which footage was shot later because, well, you know how fashion changed radically between the two different ends of the 1960s?
That's very much reflected in the movie. Somehow, the movie ended up getting exactly one big-name fan: Howard Hughes.
That's very much reflected in the movie. Somehow, the movie ended up getting exactly one big-name fan: Howard Hughes.
- They got Stanley Cortez to shoot this movie? The same Stanley Cortez who lensed Night of the Hunter and The Magnificent Ambersons?
- You know, the strange thing is I actually like this Rhodes Piano score. I wouldn't say it's a banger, but it's certainly pleasant. I could certainly imagine putting it in with some LaMonte Young or Morton Feldman. Okay, maybe more Morton Feldman.
- Why is Meathead working with the military?
- Gee, I can totally believe that this elephant is getting gassed to death and not just falling asleep.
- It's almost 20 minutes into this movie, and I can barely tell what the fuck is happening.
- Wait, wasn't she just assassinated in a drive-by four minutes ago? And they brought her back to kill some guy from the Mad Men-era footage, only for her to die yet again?
- These henchmen remind me of something:
And now, it's stuck in your head. - Yeah, you have to pace yourself, maybe rest before you go driving. I have that sleep issue, but thanks to that, I never had to drive my car into a power grid.
- Did that car chase just randomly go from day to night to day again?
- Nice to know that the characters we started the movie with are just dead now. Does this mean the later footage has been used up?
- Do not call the police. I am secretly Rolf Harris and I'm sure that Interpol is going to figure that out rather quickly.
- How do you like that? John Huston's the chief of police in Mandoras. And, wait, isn't Mandoras supposed to be a country? Is it small enough that it's basically a Singapore-like City-state?
- Adolf Hitler dying heroically at the head of his army in battle? Well, if you mean shooting yourself in the temple while biting down on a cyanide capsule inside a bunker, I guess that's true?
- Wait, if all those assassination attempts kept killing Hitler's body doubles, then how did he get the reputation for being indestructible?
- And why is Hitler's moustache so full?
- Nice to see how that Mandoras club orchestra is clearly not playing the rockabilly music on the soundtrack. Or does that classical guitar have a really well-hidden pickup and cable? And is there just a guy who walks around carrying a trumpet?
- Wait, that's not Hitler's brain, it's just his head.
- Okay, I've spent a lot of this time asleep, now Hitler's regained shoulders?
- And now he's wax?
Comparing the Universal Oneness of All Life to Yo Mama since 2010.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.