Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil tells the story of this para-military force. the personal enforcement arm of Adolph Hitler in the Nazi movement and the Hoffman brothers and their connections.Bill Nighy is the cleverer of the two brothers, recognizing the Nazi Party as the coming force in Germany in 1931 and decides to join this elite group. His brother John Shea likes a good time which includes a brawl every now and then. The SA under Ernest Roehm seems like his place in the Nazi movement.Well we all know what happened to Roehm as his ambitions began to exceed even Hitler's. Shea gets himself tossed into Dachau for a little Nazi style rehabilitation. During the Thirties before the war, places like Dachau were not yet the systematic slaughter camps they later became. Shea eventually is released and is drafted into the army.In the meantime Nighy becomes an upwardly mobile guy in the S.S. and a special favorite of Reinhard Heydrich, very chillingly played by David Warner. Through all this Carroll Baker their mother worries about her boys. She's never been crazy about the Nazi movement, she sees what it's doing to Germany and her family. She's most of all concerned with her youngest son who is played by three different juvenile actors who is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth.What becomes of the Hoffman family is a tale tragically told many times over in Germany of that period. In this most British cast film, Tony Randall as a German comedian with trenchant observations of the time and Jose Ferrer as a Jewish professor have two excellent cameo roles.No new ground is broken here, but this is a story that deserves retelling thousands of times over.

This film follows two German brothers through the history of Nazi Germany from 1931 to 1945. The film seemed pretty much to be historically accurate although there are a few points, which are arguable. What is different about this war movie is that you watch the rise to power of the Third Reich, the war, and the interaction of ordinary people from the perspective of two German brothers who take different paths in life. It's a very interesting and thought provoking movie that keeps your attention throughout. My only problem with this movie is that it touches on so many issues I wish the movie could have been longer so they could have gone into them more in depth. This movie is more about the lives and relationships of people and does not show as many fighting and battle scenes as most war movies would. If you like a lot of military action, this may not be for you although the movie does have some of this. Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil is an excellent movie, under rated and for those interested in the history of World War II, is a must see movie.

Must be one of the most underrated British movies for decades.It charts the rise to power of the SS from 1931 up to its downfall in Berlin in 1945.The only historically wrong scene of any consequence was the assassination of Heydrich.It shows him to be attacked in the country on the way in to Prague,when in fact the killing took place in the centre of Prague,more or less.Other than that it is well documented and absorbing to watch.John Shea, Michael Elphick were both excellent in the roles they played.I recommend anyone with a passing interest in the SS or the last war to certainly watch this movie.It was a pleasure to see a war movie that did not depict the Americans winning it and showed the German side all the way through,with only a fleeting glimpse of two allied soldiers.I would say it was 70% political war and 30% wartime relationships.Super stuff.

I believe this was a made for TV film. It's is the story of two German brothers, one of whom joins the SS in 1933 and the other joins the SA. The two organizations vie to become the predominant force in Nazi Germany. Eventually, the SS won out and many of the people who joined the SA were executed or imprisoned by the SS. It now seems that only the SS brother can save the SA brother. The film follows both of them through World War 2, a period spanning 12 or 13 years, although neither brother (or the love interest) ever ages a day. It depicts the evil of the SS relatively well without the use of many execution/extermination scenes. Little mention is made of the mass slaughter of Jews, although it is more or less implied. The acting in the film is better than I expected, especially since there are few recognizable names in the cast. However, the acting is merely adequate. However, it was very cheaply made and it shows. There are some plot holes that detract from the overall enjoyment of the film.