They Saved Hitler's Brain

They Saved Hitler's Brain is one of the worst movies ever made. This of course, within the walls of Grindstone Grindhouse, makes it one of the greatest movies ever made. The premise itself, regarding the head of Hitler being kept alive in a jar in a plot to take over the world, is enough to give it full grindhouse credibility. The fact that extra, essentially non-related, footage was shot and added several years after it was filmed, makes it a grindhouse classic.

Originally called Madmen of Mandoras, the plot itself, while offbeat, is fairly simple. Post WWII Nazis take Hitler's head to South America, keep it alive, to try and have the Third Reich rise again. Feds from all over the world are privy to the scheme and hire people to stop it. The end. The film takes place (and was clearly originally shot) in the early 60's. In the late 60's, however, the distributor recruited some film students to shoot an extra 20+ minutes for TV. What resulted were hilarious continuity errors and nonsense segues. The best part, however, is that the actors in the bonus footage, sport long hair and mutton chops, and drive around in late 60's muscle cars (the lead actor from the added footage closely resembles Steve Perry, Journey lead singer). these scenes are intertwined with the original, older footage, where the actors are heavily Brylcreemed and wear suits and ties.

It should be known (and is probably fairly obvious) that the movie was no masterpiece before the extra footage was added. The scenes of Hitler's head in the jar making odd faces, grinning, and furrowing his brow are ridiculously (and unintentionally) funny. It would probably have been long forgotten, maybe occasionally turning up on local late night TV or maybe in a bargain bin. Thanks to the distributor and a few film students, They Saved Hitler's Brain has become required viewing for fans of bad movies.