Operation Eichmann (1961) User Reviews

You'll hear from me when I'm back in power where I belong!

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 26 March 2006]

Released in early 1961 to capitalize on the capture and later trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann the movie "Operation Eichmann" obviously has a lot of inaccuracies about Eichmann's flight from the law; A flight from justice that lasted some fifteen years, from 1945-60. But Eichmann's crimes are fully documented, not fictionalized, in the movie as the head and executioner of infamous "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem".

We get to see Adolf Eichmann, Werner Klemperer, at the beginning of the film standing trial and arrogantly saying how the new Nazi Movement will rise again and sweep away and destroy all those who stand opposed to it. This is something that Eichmann never said when he was on trial for his life in a Jerusalem courtroom. Still it, Eichmann's opening and bombastic statement, had a chilling effect on the audience throughout the movie.

Eichmann during those fifteen years as a fugitive from justice was not only on the run from the Israeli Mossad, among other law enforcement agencies, but obsessed with rekindling the Nazi Movement all over Europe as well as South America where he was in hiding.

Eichmann checking out of his beloved Germany as it's military collapsed in the spring of 1945 is on the run with so many different identities that even he at times has trouble knowing just what his name is. Always a step ahead of the law in countries like Spain Italy and the Kingdom of Kuwait gave Eichmann the feeling of invincibility and power over those who were perusing him. Eichmann is also given a beautiful Fraulein Anna Kemp, Ruta Lee, by the movie-makers as his love interest in he movie. What Anna saw in that egotistical and arrogant swine only she and the movie-makers of "Operation Eichmann" could possibly have known.

We see early in the movie Eichmann's climb to power in Nazi Germany and his association with other top Nazi war criminals like the Commandant of the Auschwitz extermination camp Rudolf Hoss, John Banner, as well as SS commander the soft-spoken but blood-curdling Heinrich Hmmler, Louis Van Rooten. It's also ironic that both Werner Klemperer and John Banner would be reunited four years later in the wartime TV comedy "Hogan's Heroes" as Nazi's, the commandant and guard, in a WWII German POW camp.

Eichmann is such a loose cannon in the movie that even his fellow undercover Nazis are more then happy to set him up to get knocked off. This just to keep his big mouth shut which was jeopardizing their own safety. It was the Israeli Mossad that in the end did Eichmann in by capturing the wanted Nazi war criminal and not killing him. That was left for a court of law where he was eventually convicted of war crimes and later executed in the early morning hours of May 31, 1962 in Tel Aviv's Ramie Prison. Eichmann's last words on earth before he was dispatched for good,via the gallows, were "I Am Ready!".

In the end opting to capture Adolf Eichmann alive instead of killing him which caused Holocaust survivor and Mossad agent David, Donald Buka, a lot of criticism form his fellow Israelis turned out to be the best and right thing to do. Like David said: if we kill him here and now Adolf Eichmann will just be a small article in a Buenos Aires newspaper but if he's captured and put on trial the whole world will see and remember the crimes that he committed.

Author of the final solution

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 1 October 2018]

B picture studio Allied Artists without use of any big names turned out a fine documentary style film detailing the capture of Adolph Eichmann played here by Werner Klemperer. In fact with John Banner playing Rudolf Hess it takes a bit of getting used to see these Hogan's Heroes regulars playing it serious.

One thing I do have to say. Rudolf Hess who lived to the ripe old age of 94 and was the only prisoner in Spandau prison left of top Nazis when he did pass on did not look anything like John Banner. Knowing that it was a bit disconcerting for me to see him in that role.

Hess was a public face of Nazism. Eichmann who was high up in the SS command was the author of the detailed plans for the annihilation of the Jewish people. He was not a public face and this was part of the reason he avoided capture for 15 years.

I do remember news of his capture when I was a kid. Argentina made all kinds of official diplomatic protests to no avail. Israel wanted, went in and got him and the hell with diplomacy.

In the film part of the reason is Jimmy Baird who grows up to be Donald Buka remembers the man who ordered his family killed. Buka is part of Mossad when he grows up and he makes Eichmann his special project.

Klemperer is the show and the year before he played a most convincing Nazi on trial in Judgment At Nuremberg. See that and see Operation Eichmann and you'll know he was capable of a lot more than Colonel Wilhem Klink.

Early depiction of the hostile extradition of the infamous Nazi

[jamesrupert2014 · 6/10 · 25 October 2018]

Low budget drama about the capture and covert extradition of Adolf Eichmann from Argentina to Israel by a team of Mossad operatives. The 1961 film was released less than a year after the operation (May 1960) and about a year before Eichmann's execution for war crimes (June 1962). The story largely follows an increasingly paranoid Eichmann as he tries to keep one step ahead of the Nazi hunters and to maintain his standing amongst expatriate Nazis (perhaps ODESSA, if such an organisation really existed) and probably would have been more interesting if the focus had been on the searchers. The film may now be best known for its casting: Eichmann, one of the most sought after Nazi war criminals and 'architect of the Holocaust' is played Werner Klemperer, who four years later became famous as the bumbling Col. Klink, commandant of a German POW camp in the improbable hit comedy "Hogan's Heroes", and Rudolf Höss, the Commandant of Auschwitz (not to be confused with Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer who died in Spandau Prison in 1987), is portrayed by John Banner, who subsequently played Klink's jolly but incompetent subordinate Sgt. Schultz. Ironically, both Klemperer and Banner were from Jewish families. There are a number of films/documentaries about the hunt for Eichmann that came out after the trial which may be more accurate and complete (e.g. The House on Garibaldi Street (1979), The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996), The Hunt for Adolf Eichmann (1994), Operation Finale (2018)).

Very strong stuff-Klemperer is excellent as Eichmann

[captainahab-74387 · 2 April 2021]

This little known movie deserves to be seen by a wider audience. Werner Klemperer chills the viewer to the bone with his absolutely convincing performance as the architect of the Final Solution.

Made on a low budget, the movie manages to look and feel very authentic in its recreation of the Third Reich, particularly the dreadful sequence at Auschwitz. The fear that that part of the movie made me feel was palpable. Though fairly restrained for its time, the death camp sequence was the stuff of nightmares.

The film is less successful during the last two parts of the story, but Klemperer never lets up in his complete immersion in his role. Highly recommended.

troubling

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 15 January 2020]

It's 1941. Adolf Eichmann (Werner Klemperer) is the ruthless Nazi leader who implements the final solution. As the tide of war turns, he starts cremating the victims to cover up the crime. At the end of the war, he manages to escape with a bag of jewels and Anna Kemp. He intends to lead a new worldwide Nazi organization while Israeli operatives pursue him across the globe.

I've never seen Hogan's Heroes so Klemperer is a meaningless name to me. All I can say is that his cold determination and ruthless arrogance is frightening. The first half of the movie is almost entirely pointed at his character. The second half is the chase following both sides. There is some intriguing elements although there is probably a lot of fictionalization. I'm also troubled that Eichmann is the antagonist of the story. Nevertheless, this is a compelling story with a compelling performance.

one of the best anti-Nazi movies ever

[fiendz666 · 10/10 · 4 June 2002]

This is a brutal, compelling, fascinating study of Nazi Adolf Eichmann (played brilliantly by Werner Klemperer) who had the reprehensible idea of killing Jews in gas chambers and later burning them in ovens. It's done so matter-of-factly that it's more horrifying than if the emotions had been punched home (as most filmmakers would do). Some scenes do pack a wallop: like the Jewish singing over the newsreel footage of the camps being liberated. I like this a heck of a lot more than some of the famous anti-Nazi movies out there. What makes it even more interesting is that they don't feel the need (till the end) to put in a 'nice' character to offset Eichmann's (and the other Nazi's) evil. That makes it more powerful than ever. Sure, there are a few flubs (actors blow lines, etc.) but who cares? It's a great film and deserves to be on DVD.

Highly Fictionalized, Highly Sensationalized and Incomprehensive!

[chrissso · 2/10 · 22 December 2016]

Released just a month before the Adolf Eichmann trial began in Jerusalem in April of 1961, one has to seriously question the motivations behind this film.

Was it to make money and reap the relentless publicity it would receive while the world watched the trial? If so that's pretty disgusting. Was it an attempt to change the narrative of the infamous trail while it was being played out? Again, pretty disgusting.

Who would make a film about Adolf Eichmann and release it just as his trial is about to begin??? Why wouldn't they wait until the trial's end? It is through that trial that we learned the most about Eichmann.

More so why would they add so many fictitious … even sensational elements … to the Eichmann story? Are we not entitled to know the real Adolf Eichmann?

In addition to being highly fictionalized, sensationalized and incomprehensive this film is also very low budget and cheap looking. It is also very dated as well and was clearly rushed.

Save yourself the time. There are so many better Eichmann films and documentaries out there. This is pure detritus!

2 of 10 stars

PS: That speech he gives at the beginning about justice … that too is pure BS! Eichmann never gave some holy "Nazis shall rise again" speech during his trial.

Compelling

[boblipton · 9/10 · 2 October 2018]

Werner Klemperer plays Adolf Eichman in an Allied Artists production covering his implementation of the "Final Solution", his escape from Allied forces, through his capture by Israeli in Argentina.

Werner Klemperer gives a fine performance in the title role. Someone like me, used to his comic performance in HOGAN'S HEROES -- John Banner, who played "Sergeant Schultz" in that show, plays Rudof Hess -- will be surprised at his performance: fanatic, intelligent, assured of his position and approaching each problem, whether it's how to kill more Jews or how to get to safety, as an intellectual puzzle to be solved: in a word, chilling. It's a portrait of a real-life villain that at first seems too stereotyped to be interesting. Yet Klemperer plays the role with such intelligence that he is fascinating in his portrayal.

Director R.G Springsteen spent most of his career as a solid director of B Westerns. Given a solid cast and a tough subject, he handles the subject well. He is brilliantly aided by the camera of Joseph Biroc, who lights the scenes set in Nazi Germany with a flat, low light that reduces everything to grey. There are no whites or black in Germany, just a greyness that reduces all morality to nullity. Only the later sequences show any light. Yet every scene is shot with a clarity that becomes frightening.

It's a tough movie to watch for an American Jew who grew up in the Post-War era, in a millieu of older relatives and and their friends who had blue numbers tattooed on their arms. It must have been a tough movie to convince the producers to make and to cast; Joseph Schildkraut reportedly turned down $300,000 to take the lead. It's clearly a movie that everyone involved thought had to be made, and made as well as they could.

They succeeded. I don't need to see it again.

The Man in the Glass Booth

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 30 May 2018]

In 1960 only Mossad remembered Adolf Eichmann, which is why they chose in May 1960 to kidnap him and put him on trial rather than simply kill him (as they later did to Black September), and the then unfamiliarity of Eichmann's story shows in the many inaccuracies in this exploitation quickie whose title emphasises the drama of his abduction from Buenos Aires (which for starters took place just after eight in the evening, but is here shown taking place in broad daylight) rushed into cinemas before his trial in Jerusalem had even opened.

Although Himmler puts in an appearance played by Luis Van Rooten (repeating the role he had played nearly twenty years earlier in 'The Hitler Gang'), Heydrich is never mentioned in this film; anyone wanting a more factual picture of Eichmann's role in the Final Solution should instead watch the TV recreation of the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, 'Conspiracy' (2001), in which Eichmann is played by a saturnine Stanley Tucci. Presumably it was the Wannsee Conference blacklisted screenwriter Lester Cole (fronted by his friend Lewis Copley) had in mind in the early scene set in 1941 when Eichmann summons together several uniformed senior Nazis to tersely inform them of the role they are about to play in solving the 'Jewish Problem' in Europe.

Werner Klemperer - soon to become famous on TV as 'Colonel Klink' in 'Hogan's Heroes - looks unusual without either Klink's monocle or Eichmann's heavy-framed glasses; while his later TV co-star John ('Schultz') Banner is a good ten years older and several stone heavier than the original Rudolf Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz, who we see sitting round the dinner table with Eichmann openly discussing the extermination of the Jews in front of Hoess's wife and kids.

Chilling In An Unusual Way

[chance-9 · 10/10 · 28 May 1999]

The most chilling scene is to see the SS characters of Werner Klemperer and John Banner (Four years before "Hogan's Heroes") matter of factly greeting the Jewish arrivals to the death camp. The contrast between the high comedy of their work together later on belied how easy a shift of perspective of the Third Reich could be achieved. I recommend this film just for this extremely chilling scene alone.

Fully committed performance from Werner Klemperer

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 4 June 2020]

1961's "Operation Eichmann" served as an Allied Artists quickie to cash in on the upcoming trial of Adolf Eichmann (beating Stanley Kramer's big budget "Judgment at Nuremberg" to theaters by 9 months), who was the man in charge of the 'Jewish problem' that eventually led to over 6 million Jews being exterminated at Auschwitz, captured in Argentina in May 1960 (Dr. Josef Mengele was also targeted but proved more elusive). Perhaps his still being fairly unknown accounted for the screenplay's lack of real factual information, the first half most effective in showing Eichmann's ruthless efficiency in conducting mass murder while also punishing prisoners and bribed officials who cause dissention in the ranks. The second half falls down in its lackluster pursuit of the exiled Nazi on the run, moving from Germany to Madrid, Kuwait, and finally Argentina, his own comrades only too eager to be rid of him one way or another. The narrator is a former Auschwitz prisoner who remains a distant outline to the audience, never a fleshed out character they can identify with, unable to compete with Werner Klemperer's dynamic Eichmann, a fully committed performance that produces the surely unintended, lopsided effect of rooting for a brilliant tactician who eluded capture for 15 years (convicted and hanged for his crimes in June 1962). Joining Klemperer in the Nazi ranks is John Banner, both future veterans of HOGAN'S HEROES, a comic depiction of the war that could only have been possible during a decade climaxed by Mel Brooks and his "Springtime for Hitler" number in 1968's "The Producers." The director was outdoor action specialist R.G. Springsteen, whose only qualification for this touchy subject had to be shooting fast on the cheapest sets to strike while the iron was hot. Making his film debut in the unbilled part of Klaus is Eric Braeden, whose best known movie roles in "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" preceded his longtime tenure on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, which commenced in 1980.

Great portrayal of the banality of extreme evil

[guanche · 8/10 · 15 November 2002]

What makes this movie so frightening without spectacular, graphic violence or overly righteous hand wringing is demonstrating that the architects of even the most extreme forms of evil can be quite human and

even likable. They may honestly view their workaday world of mass murder as simply a day at the office. The film "The Wansee Conference" makes the point even more effectively but isn't nearly as artful, since it is a straight, documentary style re-enactment of a specific event.

The only thing that hurts the movie is the pairing of "Klink" (Werner Klemperer) as Eichmann and "Schultz" (John Banner) as his chief lieutenant, Hess (no relation to Rudolph Hesse). Of course, this was an unknown dynamic when the film was made since it predates Hogan's Heroes by 2 or 3 years. The actors are actually perfectly matched for their roles and play them well, but their popular identification as the "funny" Nazis of Hogan's Heroes gives the film an unintentional comic slant at times. In fact, there is a scene where Eichmann is having dinner with Hess and his wife and kids. A seemingly normal family scene with dad and his boss discussing business----in this case, how efficient Zyklon B gas is for human extermination. The Hess character replies, (I kid you not) in his best Sgt Schultz voice and manner, that "the best thing about it is that you hear NOTHING you see NOTHING..." As an interesting aside, Werner Klemperer, John Banner, and Hogan's Heroes General Burkhalter (Leon Askin, who is not in this movie) were all Jewish refugees from Nazism who fled their homes in Germany and Austria. Also of note is the fact that "Klink" served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army in WWII; ironically, in the Pacific.

This low budget film effectively communicates the fact that the most fiendish enterprise can readily disguise itself as business as usual.

* Real facts

[dweilermg-1 · 9/10 · 30 May 2021]

During his trial the real Eichmann cried like a baby "I was only following orders." A more recent made for cable movie starring Robert Duvall as Eichmann was more detailed and perhaps factual about the capture of Eichmann in Argentina and how he was held captive in an apartment until he could be sneaked out of the country to Israel for trial while Argentina police sought him under his new identity as a kidnap victim.