The Madmen of Mandoras (1963)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Expected more

Admirable film.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Same film as They Saved Hitlers Brain - but with less footage than TSHB ... This is a great film - do not by pass it ....

In 1964, several of us missed the last city bus out of downtown L.A. back to our West-side dorm, so we found an all-night theater and paid 75 cents to sit in an uncomfortable, unpadded wooden seat. "Gypsy" was the first film, in Technicolor. A Jeffrey Hunter vehicle was next; I think it was "Key Witness" in black and white, filmed on the streets of L.A. The three of us were the only people in the theater awake for the first two films because we couldn't figure out how get anywhere near comfortable. Then, onto the screen came "The Madmen of Mandoras." By now -- probably 4 a.m., I'd figured out how to sleep in the seat, but the denizens of downtown L.A., for whom this was the cheapest bed available, woke up and got into the movie. (Spoiler alert.) By the time the flames engulfed Hitler's head, which was in some sort of electrified vat of sustaining clear fluid, there were cheers. I'm sure plenty of World War II vets were in the audience, glad to know that Hitler had finally melted. (Oh, no, I gave away the ending.) The moment that "The End" appeared on screen, the beadles were at the back of the theater, banging on seats with bats to wake any remaining sleepers and to roust us out of the theater. The program was timed to the minute to end just as the first rays of the sun brought another day to L.A. "All night" and not a minute more. It was a perfect triple bill: an almost-first-run Hollywood A film, a forgettable B picture, and "Madmen of Mandoras," too awful to be a camp, cult classic, but memorable nonetheless.

Scientist working a new nerve gas is kidnapped and taken to the title location where he is forced to help a bunch of Nazi's with Hitler's head under glass in their plans to take over the world. This is the shorter original version of the film with the infamous title They Saved Hitler's Brain. Running some 75 minutes the film was deemed too short for TV sale and an additional 20 minutes shot in the early 1970's was added. As it stands in its original version the film isn't quite as horrendous as the legend makes it out to be. The film certainly is enjoyable in a good bad movie sort of way, I mean how can you not enjoy the five foot tall ham bone playing Hitler prancing around and over acting in his sequences before he ends up as a head under glass? A perfect late night film, the film is better than its reputation, especially when freed of the almost unwatchable added opening. I think the reason the film has the poor reputation, and rightly so, is the concept of Hitler's head under glass is so incredibly stupid that it ruins any chance the film might otherwise have had. I kind of like the film in a twisted sort of way. Worth a look in this watchable form (The longer "They Saved…" is not).Between 6 and 7 out of 10 depending upon ones mood.

When I saw this film, I was expecting a bad film. The fact that it was bad came as no surprise. However, it was NOT fun to watch like many of the Ed Wood films--it was just boring and dumb. About the only funny part was near the end when Hitler's head in a pickle jar was yelling out "Mach Schnell!!!" as it began to melt. Boring, boring, boring.FYI--I have watched the vast majority of films from THE 50 WORST FILMS book (Medved and Dreyfus) and really like seeing most of the shlock. This film didn't make the list but was pretty darn close. Other bad but unfun films: The Conquerer (seemed like a 9 hour film), Dondi, and Pinocchio in Outer Space.