When I first came across the title 'Hitler's Son' in Peter Cushing's filmography I anticipated nonsense like 'Shock Waves' (1977). Later I was astonished to find that 'Films and Filming' had put it on the cover of their June 1978 edition, with a photo-spread inside. But after that silence fell. The film now exists more as a rumour than as a film anyone has ever actually seen; and it would probably be better if it remained that way.
The script was co-written by Robert Aldrich's onetime collaborator Lukas Heller and is reasonably well acted with a straight face by most of the cast. Top-billed Peter Cushing and Bud Cort in the title role both give decent performances (although I'm not sure if Cushing was even aware that he was supposed to be in a comedy, while Cort's expression of perpetual wide-eyed bewilderment may not be acting). Leo Gordon is good as Cushing's loyal sidekick; although Anton Diffring is barely in the film
The film itself is tinny and unfunny. Maybe it was intended as satire, but if it is it certainly doesn't work. What happens when Young Hitler finally addresses a sparsely populated gathering of neo-Nazis will have been anticipated by most people familiar with 'The Great Dictator', while when the final credits roll, the epilogue suggesting that maybe none of it actually happened may reflect the view of the bemused viewer.
The script was co-written by Robert Aldrich's onetime collaborator Lukas Heller and is reasonably well acted with a straight face by most of the cast. Top-billed Peter Cushing and Bud Cort in the title role both give decent performances (although I'm not sure if Cushing was even aware that he was supposed to be in a comedy, while Cort's expression of perpetual wide-eyed bewilderment may not be acting). Leo Gordon is good as Cushing's loyal sidekick; although Anton Diffring is barely in the film
The film itself is tinny and unfunny. Maybe it was intended as satire, but if it is it certainly doesn't work. What happens when Young Hitler finally addresses a sparsely populated gathering of neo-Nazis will have been anticipated by most people familiar with 'The Great Dictator', while when the final credits roll, the epilogue suggesting that maybe none of it actually happened may reflect the view of the bemused viewer.