Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

mark.waltz One thing that free nations should focus on in their continuing history is to keep an open eye and ear and never become complacent. When you settle for the blind eye, you either end up with Chancellor Hitler or a president who manipulates the people to destroy freedom. It happens bit by bit, as liberal thinking on certain issues becomes the norm. This film, made at the height of America's involvement in the war, is a dark reminder, unsubtle and ugly, that is as potent in a very serious election year, as it was 75 years ago.German born American Bonita Granville ends up under the thumb of the Nazi's by standing up to them when her role as a teacher in American schools in Germany, makes her subject to Nazi judgment and cruelty. She is torn between two childhood friends; one a rising Nazi (Tim Holt), the other an American teacher (Kent Smith) who fights to save her while fighting for freedom behind the scenes. Important in its time to be told the way it was, this provides anger and shock as the evil methods of the Nazi's are exposed: sterilizing women, expelling students from the school for sinister motivations, and sentences Granville to 10 lashes for "treason". Veteran character actors H.B. Warner and Otto Kruger, who played similar parts both good and bad, give cool and calm performances, ironically one as a Nazi leader and the other as a priest. There's one scene where Holt goes against the Nazi's briefly that doesn't ring as true, but that is the one minor gripe. This is as filled with propaganda as they come, but the messages live on as America faces its own challenges in preventing similar leaders as Hitler from getting into office.

DKosty123 In 1943, Hollywood needed to keep pushing to make sure here at home that we understood there could be no sympathy to the Nazi cause. This movie is not just effective, but shockingly effective. It does avoid mostly the Jewish / Nazi Holocaust, which even though by 1943 we knew it was going on, this book it is based upon did not make this as a central theme. This one concentrates more on National Socilism brainwashing themselves as the ultimate solution to fix world problems. On this point, it is shockingly effective.Bonita Granville and Hans Conreid, both who were in the excellent 1942 film "Now Voyager" are here with a shockingly different role for cowboy fixture Tim Holt. The weakest point of the film is the love story between Granville and Holt which is typical for this period, but had to be here to round out the movie.The strongest point is having the American University in Nazi Germany and how as Hitler took more control, how they tried to really indoctrinate children into their view of world domination. It is shocking even now to think of what they are trying to accomplish. There is even a Hospital Operation Sequence which points out how the Nazis were using Medicine to try and accomplish their goals.This predates the Boys from Brazil, and for shock value is a valuable film to see. Granville and Holt get a lot of support in a well directed RKO effort that sold a lot of tickets when it was released.

MartinHafer I love watching old American and British WWII propaganda films. Sure, they were often rather one-dimensional or at times ridiculous and some people tend to think that the word "propaganda" is a bad thing, but in this case these films were positive in that they helped to unify the country and get us behind the war effort. Yes, it's true some of them had horrible stereotypes and images of the enemy (particularly how the Japanese were portrayed as almost subhuman), but this was war and, unfortunately, some of the worst images these films showed were BETTER than the real enemy! The film HITLER'S CHILDREN was a very well-made film from RKO that told a fictional story about some young people--in particular, Bonita Granville and Tim Holt, who were caught up in the hysteria and evil of the Hitler youth and other organizations targeting children. At first, the story is told from the viewpoint of the fine character actor Kent Smith. Then, later in the film it switches to Granville, as she is forced into a German indoctrination camp and wants desperately to escape. Otto Kruger enters the story as a pretty dumb Nazi officer who has high hopes for Granville and Holt in the party. However, his hopes are dashed when Granville escapes. What happens next, I'll leave to you so I won't spoil the film. However, the weakest aspect of the film involves the ending with young Holt--this just never would have or could have happened--but it's very entertaining nevertheless.While this film is much truer in its depiction of the Germans than most contemporary films, the film actually in some ways makes the Nazis look a little dumber and less evil than they actually were. The excellent acting of H. B. Warner as the Bishop is great, except we found out after the war that any clergy speaking out against the regime would have been sent to a concentration camp or killed--the Bishop's comments to the Nazi officers or his sermon denouncing the party never would have gone unpunished.Still an effective and captivating film.

knutsenfam I used to think this film quite dated, but still moving.Now that I know more about Hitler Youth and about "lebensborn", forced sterilization, training in cruelty, and other Hitler Youth goals, this film stands up extremely well. ***What was 'lebensborn'? Basically, those considered "racially pure" were encouraged to have tons of kids...in or out of wedlock. About 10,000 born in Germany & 10,000 born in Norway from German soldier fathers, per one Internet source. Do your own internet search to learn more about "lebensborn". In the movie, Bonita Granville's character refuses to deliberately sire a child out of wedlock even with her love, Tim Holt.***Forced sterilization. Bonita's character is threatened with forced sterilization since she is not cooperative. Again, this was a historical Nazi tactic. She would rather undergo the procedure than bring a child into such a regime. ***Hitler Youth cruelty...One sees some of the Hitler youth trained tobe cruel. One need only listen to the old former Hitler Youth speak (some with tears & great sorrow) about various ways they were so abused (i.e. trained to be cruel) by the Nazi regime.***Harrassment of Christians...The resistance of some Christian leaders to the Nazis. Near the end of the movie, the priest rebukes the Nazis who apparently dare not carry him off for punishment. This happened sometimes...A Christian leader might rebuke the Nazis such as Bishop Von Galen who stood against the destruction of retarded, etc. Some Christian leaders went to jail like Pastor Niemoller. Some Christian leaders were martyred for their stance against Nazis (including anti Jewish policies) like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Here again, the movie is quite timely.From these main examples, I conclude that this movie is **not** merely propaganda but reflects many historical accuracies (at least what was known at the time). Does it cover all the Nazi atrocities? No. (One movie alone wouldn't be long enough to do so.)***************************Hitler's Children could be shown on a "Movie in Time" sequence on History Channel. The corrections, amendations to it based on actual history, I predict, would be slight. It's from a book on Nazi education of youth written by educator and correspondent Gregor Ziemer who also taught in the American School in Berlin. (Hit Ziemer's name in the credits for details!)Don't let the black & white film & slightly older dialogue deter you from using this film to teach yourself (or your kids, or your class) as to how German youth were abused thru Hitler Youth and lebensborn programs. Do your own research. Verify for yourself. While Hitler's concentration camp murders were the most cruel of his abuses, his other abuses of even the so called "nordic" peoples, especially women and girls, should also be REMEMBERED! (PS real life Hans and Sophie Scholl, college age German resisters to the Nazis, would also be a great research topic!)