Black Fox
Cast & Crew
Louis Clyde Stoumen
Marlene Dietrich
Kenn Collins
Don Devlin
Julliard String Quartet
Richard Kaplan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
This documentary intertwines the story of Reynard the Fox, the symbol of political ruthlessness adapted by Goethe from a medieval fable, and the life of Adolf Hitler. As Reynard, through guile and demagogy, uses every psychological ruse and gimmick to persuade the other animals of his righteousness and his right to be their leader, so Hitler is shown from his beginnings as a cunning conspirator and tremendously effective orator playing on the bitterness and passions of the defeated German people. Paralleling the newsreel shots of Hilter's early rise to power are the surrealistic drawings Doré made for Dante's Inferno and Kaulbach's 19th-century illustrations for Goethe's Reynard the Fox . Hitler's accession to the German chancellorship under von Hindenburg, his maneuverings vis-à-vis Communism both as an enemy and an ally, and his almost unparalleled indulgence in savagery toward helpless victims are given an ironic counterpoint in the story of Reynard's dealings with the animal community. Hitler's destructive and self-destructive cataclysmic career is seen through World War II and the Götterdämmerung of his death in a Berlin bunker, and an estimate of his impact on modern civilization is symbolically represented.
Director
Louis Clyde Stoumen
Crew
Kenn Collins
Don Devlin
Julliard String Quartet
Richard Kaplan
Ezra Laderman
Jack Levien
New York Chamber Orchestra
Al Stahl
Angela Grieg Stoumen
Louis Clyde Stoumen
Louis Clyde Stoumen
Mark Wortreich
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
In addition to Paul Gustave Doré's illustrations from Dante's Inferno and Wilhelm von Kaulbach's etchings from Goethe's Reineke Fuchs, the film makes use of drawings of Byron Goto, Pablo Picasso, and George Grosz. Also known as The Black Fox. Subtitled as The True Story of Adolf Hitler.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States December 1962
Released in United States Winter December 1962
Released in United States December 1962 (Shown in Los Angeles December 1962.)
Released in United States Winter December 1962
