Гитлеровская СС: Портрет зла

1985 American television film

Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil is a 1985 American made for television war drama film about two German brothers, Helmut and Karl Hoffmann, and the paths they take during the Nazi regime. The movie was directed by Jim Goddard and starred John Shea, Bill Nighy, Tony Randall, David Warner and John Woodnutt. The film shows Karl, who was originally enthusiastic about the Nazi Party, becoming disillusioned and Helmut, who was at first wary of the Nazi Party, joining the Schutzstaffel (SS) and later being an accomplice to war crimes.

Helmut and Karl Hoffman are two brothers who grow up in the Great Depression of the Weimar Republic, witness the coming to power of the Nazi Party and the establishment of the Third Reich. Karl, an unemployed mechanic, is enthusiastic about the Nazis and joins the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi Party militia, after hearing its commander, Ernst Röhm, speak at a Nazi Party rally. Helmut is reluctant and thinks the Nazis are simply another political party. Helmut, who is a university student in Munich, is eventually talked into joining the Schutzstaffel, by Reinhard Heydrich in particular, after witnessing a meeting in the Ruhr between Hitler, Kurt Baron von Schröder, Emil Kirdorf, and other German industrialists. Helmut is commissioned an SS officer in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the intelligence agency of the SS, right before Hitler comes to power, whereas Karl has already been an SA member for a year. Karl is distressed due to tensions between the SA and the SS and claims that the SS is trying to make it look like the SA is the "party’s garbage collector". The entire first half of the film leads up to the Night of the Long Knives. The liquidation of the SA leadership, old enemies and the shooting of Ernst Röhm then transpire. During this time, Karl is arrested and sent to Dachau. Using his connections within the SS, Helmut gets Karl freed but Heydrich cautions that Karl had better behave himself or else Helmut would find himself "running short of friends." The next five years preceding World War II are treated hurriedly. The film pays homage to Kristallnacht only in a brief scene, and then the film skips to Helmut personally being involved with the selection of prisoners to murder for the Gleiwitz incident. During the war itself, the film portrays Helmut becoming involved in the paperwork of the Holocaust. Karl meanwhile becomes an anti Nazi, is drafted in the Wehrmacht, and becomes an officer on the Eastern Front. Helmut becomes an SS Oberführer, but is extremely disillusioned with the SS and the Nazi Party by the end of the film. Karl deserts from the army around the time of the assassination attempt against Hitler on 20 July and wanders Germany, observing the war torn rubble of German cities. In late April 1945, Helmut deserts from the SS, but is killed by an SS patrol while trying to flee Berlin. The film ends with Karl and his lover Mitzie standing in the ruins of Stuttgart, after learning his parents and little brother Hans—who fought with the Hitler Youth during the battle of Berlin—are all dead.

As the film takes place over a span of thirteen years (1932–1945), the main characters of Helmut and Karl are shown to join the SA, SS, and the army with various career paths. A supporting character "Becker" is first introduced in the year 1933 as a member of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and a friend of Helmut, and rises to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Waffen SS by the end of the film in 1945. Unlike Helmut, however, he shows no remorse or regret for the actions he was involved in. The actors, most of whom who were in their 30s when the film was produced, are depicted to be between the ages of 20 to 22 when the film begins. To offset the effect that the actors themselves do not age a decade throughout the film, make up and costuming is used in the first part of the film to portray the characters in their younger days.

The original version of Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil was released in February 1985 on network television and ran either as a single four hour program or as two two hour instalments. Both versions were edited for commercials. The next significant broadcast of the film was on the History Channel which broadcast the film as part of its "Movies in Time" series with Sander Vanocur. The film was run for three hours with significant edits and cutting of several major scenes. A VHS release of the entire film was available in the early 1990s and the film was released on DVD sometime after 2001. The original DVD version of the film cut the entire first half of the film, providing a brief summary in an introduction clip and then began with the invasion of Poland in 1939. The most recent release on DVD was part of a "War Classics" series released by a private vendor which placed the uncut version of the film on a DVD with three other features, these being Eagles Attack At Dawn, Commandos, and Go for Broke!.