THESE ARE THE MEN

One of the Ministry of Information's "Into Battle" shorts, "These are the Men" was written by Dylan Thomas. This incredible film uses footage from Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and other speeches by Hitler and other Nazi leaders, and replaces normal translations with bombastic, over-the-top confessions. Various leaders including Hitler, Goebbels, Göering, Streicher and Hess bare their terrible sins and character flaws as frankly as if they were victims of one a 'confession drug'. These candid autobiographical accounts of evil motives and actions, are damning indeed.

This film is almost unique in British Second World War film propaganda. Whereas many other films from this era stress the importance of those qualities of British life that would be destroyed if the Germans invaded, this film attacks the evils that the Nazis represented. The result is a powerful denunciation of the Nazi leadership.

The film was presented by the Ministry of Information ; devised and compiled by Alan Osbiston and Dylan Thomas, and produced by Donald Taylor.