All's Not Well That Ends Not Well

One of three surviving stills from the Drittes Reich Kinema project to film many of Shakespeare's mature plays with Adolf Hitler in starring roles. The films were designed to show Hitler in a variety of lights from strong leader to fragile ingenue - a softer side seldom portrayed by sane historians. Here he appears as Theseus in the opening scene of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

A chance discovery in the Thrupiece Archives, Great Heaving, by revisionist historian David Irving-Berlin is set to electrify the now somewhat settled field of Adolf Hitler Studies, revealing a softer, thespian side to the Great Dictator hitherto unremarked in any of the million or so books written about the former Nazi celebrity since his alleged demise in Berlin in 1945.

Searching for materials in connection with his new book on espionage in Berlin in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Dr Irving-Berlin was drawn to the Thrupiece Archives in the sure and certain knowledge that the Professor was at the centre of diplomatic initiatives between east and west during the period in question and that any papers of his which might survive the establishment shredder would be found in the Great Heaving vaults.

One can only imagine his surprise at discovering evidence - mysteriously acquired by Professor Thrupiece during one of his visits to East Berlin - of a 1944 project to film all of Shakespeare's major plays, with Hitler himself appearing in a variety of image-bolstering roles. To be produced and directed by his favourite film maker Leni Riefenbacher-Falls [he famously described her as the only woman who could come near to understanding how to project his moustache to a wider audience without it looking like the shadow of his nose], the series was given a huge budget, but failed to materialise in the manner expected. Little is known as to why this was the case. [Possibly incessant bombing, the destruction of Berlin and Hitler's demise in a cloud of petroleum-fuelled smoke? [Ed]].

Hitler in the studio patching the audio soundtrack (courtesy Thrupiece Media Archive)

"The project appears to have been well founded", Dr Irving-Berlin says, "it was to begin with A Midsummer Night's Dream, progress to The Merry Wives of Windsor and finish with Romeo and Juliet via The Tempest, King Lear, Hamlet and a selection of the Henry's". "Hitler was to play a leading role in each including Falstaff, Mercutio, Caliban, Regan, Gertrude and Pistol, so we can only surmise that early rushes were disappointing or that Hitler lost interest having auditioned for the part of Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream but been cast only as Theseus. That said he made a decent fist of it from all reports". [Actually a single entry in Reichs Minister Goebbels' diary: "Started filming today. Leni was on fire, as was the set at one point - f*****g Churchill - and Adolf was quite good if a little over-parted. By Take 3 he was exhausted and had to suck on a Freund des Fischers."

Alas no print remains of any part of the abortive project, though several stills and a single sound clip found in the Thrupiece Archive give a tantalising glimpse into just how Hitler might have played the Athenian tyrant Theseus and how, in turn, his intense study of that role may have informed his wider ambitions, foreign policy objectives and attitudes towards Bottoms ["He just f*****g loved them" Eva Oral B-Raun, Diaries 20 April 1945.]

professorthrupiece . com has been exclusive access to the clip which can be accessed below. All materials © the thrupiecearchive. "You haff been varned!" [Only joking [Ed]].

Adolf Hitler with friend and co-star Eva Oral B-Raun outside "The Garter Inn" on the set of The Merry Wives of Windsor preparing for Act V Scene I "Prithee, no more prattling; go. I'll hold the dog." An unknown technician appears to have been caught "in shot" - a typical mis-step in a production which was "as chaotic as it was disorganised". The point about the moustache, shadows and the nose are well made in this exemplary shot, not by taken by Reifenbacher-Falls. Though apparently a big admirer of Bottoms, Hitler was clearly not much into breasts.

That sound clip HERE

[Please scroll to bottom of Archive page]