Hitler Dead or Alive (1942)

Believe it or not, this bizarre wartime “B”-picture was based on a true story. In the early stages of WWII, a prominent American businessman offered one million dollars to anyone who could nab Adolf Hitler and bring him to justice, dead or alive. This real-life character is herein played by Russell Hicks; accepting his offer, no questions asked, are ex-convicts Ward Bond, Warren Hymer and Paul Fix. Joining the Canadian Air Force, the three heroes-by-default strong-arm their way into Nazi Germany, then gain access to Hitler by posing as musicians. Robert Watson, frequent Hitler impersonator during the war years, co-stars as Der Fuhrer, who turns out to be a craven coward once he’s shorn of his postage-stamp mustache (we’re not making this up.) The quasi-comic tone of the film turns dead serious at the end, as a wild-eyed Ward Bond makes a long patriotic speech while facing a firing squad (previously shown mowing down little children in their bedclothes!). One of the oddest scenes in the picture finds the three former convicts busting out of the Dachau concentration camp — and this before the world at large was unaware of the horrors going on behind the walls of this infamous death factory.

Ward Bond, Dorothy Tree, Warren Hymer, Paul Fix

1942, B&W, 70 minutes