Yes, the movie "Hitler, Dead or Alive",was sub-par for that time period's genre, but I believe that the basic theme could be currently remade, with success! Using an all-star cast & more expensive sets, this "B" movie plot could capture a new audience, since World War II movies have become in fashion again, in recent years! I also think a film, like the "Dirty Dozen" was also influenced by it!If you look at numerous 'war' films, actually made during WW II, they were done quickly & cheaply, to capitalize on the times. Even the great "Casablanca", made in 1943, was done mostly on back-lots & to take advantage of the recent 'action' there, so please look at "Hitler, Dead or Alive" through the eyes of war audiences, who had no television & were anxious to see anything about world events!

The only reason I wanted to see this World War Two propaganda film was the presence of Ward Bond in a leading role which he handled very well & was completely convincing & believable. He had an enormous screen presence & personality & he could've easily became a leading actor if he really wanted to but he was content in small & distinguished supporting roles. He was quite versatile & is often associated with John Wayne in the John Ford directed films. Ward Bond was literally in just about every film to name a few like "It Happened One Night" (1934) he was an extra in "G-Men" (1935) "Night Key" with Boris Karloff (1937), "Dead End" (1937), "Prison Break" with Barton Maclane (1938), "Gone With The Wind" (1939) he was an extra in "Son Of Frankenstein" (1939), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946), "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" with James Cagney (1950) etc. He was in hundred's of movies.He often played cops & gangsters & I thought he did a good job in the leading role of the patriotic gangster. The cast is solid with established actors like Paul Fix & Warren Hymer who often played stupid gangsters. Sure the plot is far fetched but it was 1942 & WW2 was a very popular war inspiring national patriotism. The film was obviously a wartime moral booster while at the same time trying to sustain & save a dying genre: the gangster film & in 1942 what better way to sell a gangster movie than to turn the gangsters into patriotic American hero's on an improbable mission to knock off Adolf Hitler. It may be a little campy today but in it's day this movie was probably taken seriously by 1942 audiences. Think about it, the film was obviously intended to be serious & it's not a bad watch & I would watch it again & it's by far superior to the Ed Wood films.There is really no comparison & there is a lot worse movies out there than this. Don't forget Ed Wood was voted the worst director of all time, an honor & title he fittingly deserves. It doesn't get any worse than Ed Wood not even an Elvis Presley movie.

This film has been reviewed many times already by other watchers, and I will not add a recap to the plot as that has already been done. This is a film made in 1942, mere months after the United States entered Wolrd War II. This film is a prime example of American propaganda. And yes, America did make Propaganda films just as Germany and Japan did, its just harder to see an American propaganda film.The plot is somewhat silly, the Nazis are portrayed as buffoons (but honestly who would want to see a film with clever Nazis anyway?), and the film today does not hold up well. But the honesty of the performance of Ward Bond, an actor who is best known for his Western roles is worth watching. Yes, the Nazis are seen murdering innocent children, and Ward Bond does give a heartfelt speech that he manages to choke out even though he is shot and dying, but this film is American propaganda, and is a very interesting piece of what patriotic movie making was like in 1942. Silly, yes, by todays standards, but if you watched this film in 1942 while the war was going on, you would not have felt the film was silly, but hopeful.

I was always interested in viewing a Bobby Watson vehicle. Recently I purchased this film solely for that reason. Film historians tell us that Mr. Watson was a dead ringer for Adolf Hitler and I had to see this for myself. Watson only shows up in the film after about two thirds of the way through.All in all, this film is so bad that it's pathetic. Putting aside propaganda reasons, it boggles the imagination why an accomplished actor like Ward Bond (Gentleman Jim, Wagon Train, Gone With the Wind) would actually star in such a farce. My only guesses are that 1) he was hard up for money or 2) he felt it was his patriotic duty to do this stinker.The Nazis in this film are shown to be idiotic boobs and incompetent to the point of not even being able to keep POWs from escaping from Dachau. Actually, Dachau wasn't even used as a POW camp. At any rate, that aside, they are depicted as a group of nincompoops, much like the ones in the TV program, Hogan's Heroes. I always thought that Stalag 17 spawned the idea for Hogan's Heroes, but now I think that Hitler Dead or Alive may have been the movie that influenced Bing Crosby to air that TV classic!!Simply put, this movie is nonsensical, moronic and unrealistic. It's worth the time to view it once, just for laughs, but to view it a second time is a waste of time!