The Hitler Gang is a 1944 American pseudo-documentary film directed by John Farrow, which traces the political rise of Adolf Hitler. Described as a "documentary-propaganda" film by its studio, Paramount Pictures, the historical drama is based on documented fact and marks the first serious effort to portray Hitler in film. The filmmakers chose to avoid casting stars in the lead roles, assembling instead a remarkable company of lookalikes to play Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Göring, and other leading Nazis.
Theatrical release poster
Robert Watson as Adolf Hitler and Poldi Dur as Geli Raubal in The Hitler Gang
Robert Watson as Hitler and Martin Kosleck as Joseph Goebbels
Untitled (The Hitler Gang), a 1944 collage by Kurt Schwitters, incorporates a newspaper advertisement for the film.
John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Wake Island, and in 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days. He had seven children by his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, including actress Mia Farrow.
Farrow in 1934
Wedding of John Farrow and Maureen O'Sullivan in 1936