So... that's quite a title, eh? I have been hearing about this film for quite some time - mostly when reading about the shitty movies that happen when someone takes 2 or more movies filmed at different times and just mashes them together (Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Horror of the Blood Monsters). Apparently, most of They Saved Hitler's Brain was originally filmed as The Madman of Madras in the mid-50s, but was too short to run on television when the rights were purchased in 1968. So someone decided it would be a good idea to shoot more footage to tack onto the beginning of the film... and there you have it: They Saved Hitler's Brain!
To be honest, I didn't really even notice that the two parts of it were filmed at different times - maybe I was just really tired. (I did fall asleep more than once, although always rewound to the last scene I remembered.) I'm not too observant re: comparing and contrasting 50s & 60s fashion, and it didn't click that "hey, almost everyone from the first half-hour is dead now!" But whatever, it doesn't matter. There's a few laughs to be had while watching They Saved Hitler's Brain, but mostly it's a rough, rough watch.
My Synopsis: Guess who's head has been preserved and kept alive in a jar? And he's managed to plan an attack with some secret nerve gas that will help the Nazis take over the world, all from their little underground base in Madras. It's up to an American scientist/spy/whatever to save the day, because of course it is. Although there are government types in Madras who are getting involved - but are they with him or against him?
Elaborate Genre: Sci-fi corny adventure. (Other than a talking head in a jar, it's not really "horror." But it was on the "Gorehouse Greats" box set, so I'll count it...)
Overall: Bad and tough to sit through. Hitler's head is pretty funny, and there's a little cheesy fun every once and a while. But that fun is all too rare and the rest is capital-b Boring.
You probably know you're in for a rough watch when the opening shot of the film is stock footage of an elephant. The it lays down, which of course is proof that the "nerve gas works." And then some stuff happens, and Phil Day (some kind of government officer) encounters some shady characters who want to kidnap him, or maybe help him, or something. And maybe his father and sister in law are also kidnapped. At any rate, after a car chase and a shooting we end up in Madras, where the Madman from Madras part of the movie begins. (Should you believe wikipedia, this first 20 or so minutes was shot by UCLA students at the request of the distributor.) Espionage shenanigans ensue, and eventually you see Hitler's head in a jar. And then they go fight Nazis in a cave featuring some very boring and difficult to follow action. The end.
So... not much to say here. I've already summarized it twice, and am not sure what else to say. There is a couple of instances where women freak out and get slapped to snap them out if it. It's always fascinating to see the "get it together" slap. Someone gets slapped - hard - and instantly apologizes, saying "I don't what came over me," and hugs their slapper. That happens twice in this film.
Ummm... the acting is pretty bad, with that over-earnest, extra enunciated 60s thing going on. There isn't really any gore or anything to speak of, and hardly any special effects. You hear about a movie featuring brain-preserving and expect lasers and mad scientists and other mutants (or at least I do). But nothing of the sort here. Just a couple of old guys dressed in dollar store lab coats. Hitler's head looks pretty terrible. And when he's obviously a guy on a cut-away table they let the upper part of his shoulders show. But They Saved Hitler's Shoulders wouldn't be that exciting now, would it.
Uh... don't watch it. It never delivers on the wackiness of it's title. Seeing 15 seconds of a Hitler head screaming in a jar is not worth the dullness of the rest of the film.
I would not recommend this film.
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