Though you might give credit to this series for being among the few prime-time efforts at movie documentaries, it was made in the usual shallow style of Wolper productions. The information may or may not be completely accurate, but they never bothered too much with chancing the audience's attention.
In this one, a lot of use is made of the Nazi documentary "TRIUMPH DES WILENS"(1935) which covered the huge Nürnberg rally of 1934. This is not, as the narration describes, the first Nazi party congress, nor was it staged specifically for the making of this film.
Apparently, Wolper was especially taken with the Paul Muni film, "I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG"(1933)or maybe they just had a copy to use. They tell us this film launched his career, which is not so, nor did it launch the cycle of prison pictures. Either they didn't care to do any research, or more likely, they've written more-interesting-than-facts commentary. The 1960's is pretty much the dawn of film research, and all the docs and the reference books of the time are nearly useless now. Even if they had a somewhat scholarly approach, the subject was only semi-serious. After all, how comprehensive can a topic like all advocational propaganda films of Hollywood and Europe made up to 1963 be in less than a half hour? It was good enough then, but disappointingly inadequate today.
In this one, a lot of use is made of the Nazi documentary "TRIUMPH DES WILENS"(1935) which covered the huge Nürnberg rally of 1934. This is not, as the narration describes, the first Nazi party congress, nor was it staged specifically for the making of this film.
Apparently, Wolper was especially taken with the Paul Muni film, "I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG"(1933)or maybe they just had a copy to use. They tell us this film launched his career, which is not so, nor did it launch the cycle of prison pictures. Either they didn't care to do any research, or more likely, they've written more-interesting-than-facts commentary. The 1960's is pretty much the dawn of film research, and all the docs and the reference books of the time are nearly useless now. Even if they had a somewhat scholarly approach, the subject was only semi-serious. After all, how comprehensive can a topic like all advocational propaganda films of Hollywood and Europe made up to 1963 be in less than a half hour? It was good enough then, but disappointingly inadequate today.