Hunting Hitler

Originally broadcast on the History Channel, filmmaker Nigel Turner's Hunting Hitler details a number of plots hatched by Germans to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II. Needless to say, all failed, due to a combination of planning errors and unexpected bad luck. Much of the information presented here has been covered in other documentaries, while the story of the Claus von Stauffenberg plot was the subject of the highly-publicized 2008 Tom Cruise epic Valkyrie. Nonetheless, fascinating stories bear repeating, and Hunting Hitler's solid mix of archival footage/photos and interviews of the surviving members of various Hitler assassination plots offers insights into the national resistance movement in wartime Nazi Germany. In addition to the high-profile Von Stauffenberg case, the documentary tells the sad tale of Georg Elser, a carpenter who attempted to kill Hitler in a bombing; Elser was sent to Dachau, where he survived most of the war, only to be killed on Hitler's orders a few weeks prior to V-E Day. Hunting Hitler also outlines the long-secret details of a British-based plan to bump off the Nazi dictator. DVD extras include the similarly-themed bonus documentary Plotting to Kill Hitler. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)