Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall *** (1973, Jim Dale, Arthur Lowe, Bill Maynard) – Classic Movie Review 7709

‘After Young Winston – Young Milligan!’ Director Norman Cohen’s sometimes amusing 1973 comedy Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is based on the entertaining novel of the great and good legendary comic Spike Milligan.

Milligan plays his real-life father (and none too convincingly either) in this sometimes strained, knockabout film version of the first volume of his funny wartime memoirs as a World War Two conscripted raw recruit and supposedly trained soldier fighting the Hun.

An eager-to-please but miscast Jim Dale at 37 plays the 21-year-old Spike Milligan, while Arthur Lowe (as Major Drysdale), Bill Maynard (as Sergeant Ellis), Windsor Davies (as Sergeant MacKay), Pat Coombs, Tony Selby, Geoffrey Hughes, Jim Norton, Bob Todd, Stephen Yardley and Anthony Booth do their welcome familiar TV turns.

The screenplay by Johnny Byrne, Norman Cohen and Spike Milligan is as broad as the performances, but the film is likeable enough, and gets by with some good jokes, a warm spirit and a nice sense of period.

Also in the cast are John Forgeham, Donald Hewlett, Robert Longden, Paul Antrim, Tony Hughes, Lionel Guyett, David Fennell, David Belcher, Ewan Roberts, Alvar Liddell, Peter Davidson, Peter Dawkins, Tirzah Cowen, Gregory Phillips, Melita Manger, Patricia Quinn, Linda Regan, Brian Hall, Robert Booth and Johnny Byrne.

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is directed by Norman Cohen, runs 102 minutes, is made by Norcon and Associated London, is released by United Artists, is written by Johnny Byrne, Norman Cohen, Spike Milligan, based on the novel by Spike Milligan, is shot Terry Maher, is produced by Gregory Smith and Norman Cohen, is scored by Wilfred Burns, and is designed by Robert Jones.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7709

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com