AllMovie

Millionaire industrialist-publisher Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. was the prime mover behind this fascinating early condemnation of Germany's Nazi regime. The film begins at an American legion rally, where a number of prominent anti-fascists -- Rabbi Wise, Fannie Hurst, Samuel Seabury and others -- state their case against new German chancellor Adolf Hitler. Journalist Edwin C. Hill addresses the assemblage, promising to get the real low-down on Hitler from his friend Vanderbilt, currently on a fact-finding mission in Berlin. The subsequent staged interviews of actors posing as high-ranking German officials are clumsily handled, unfortunately undercutting the effectiveness of this remarkable foresighted docudrama. Hitler's Reign of Terror includes a rare film appearance by Helen Keller, whose books were banned in Germany by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.