My new
book FOUR 'MOVEMENT' FILMS OF THE THIRD REICH. was just published. 166 pages, 6 x 9 format, quality paperback, with 42 illustrations, including five film posters in full-colour, with a full 26 page chapter on the background, history and premiere of DER MARSCH ZUM FÜHRER film (Feb.1940). Included is the color reproduction of the only extant proper film poster of the film, issued not by the film production company, but rather by "Die Gebietsführung Westmark (25)".... an incredibly rare poster reproduced in the book for the very first time anywhere. The book is available for AUD $34.95 plus shipping on ABE Books. The book is available exclusively worldwide from ABE Books.
The four films covered by the book are BLEEDING GERMANY, SA-MANN BRAND, HORST WESSEL/HANS WESTMAR (all 1933), and DER MARSCH ZUM FÜHRER (1940.) This is an unbiased presentation on the background and production and premieres of the films in Germany, and also the US censorship and premiere of the first three of the films between 1934 and 1935. It is the first book written on these iconic NS films in many decades, and all film material has been translated into English, many for the first time. cheers, William Gillespie
FROM THE BOOK'S BACK COVER:
SA.–Mann Brand Horst Wessel/Hans Westmar.
Bleeding Germany The March to the Leader
This monograph is the first book in many years to examine any of the early so-called 'Movement'
films of the Third Reich. The author provides a narrative for the 1933 feature films
SA–Mann Brand
and
Hans Westmar, complementing his book on the
Hitler Youth Quex. Also included are two often-
overlooked but important documentary films:
Bleeding Germany and
The March to the Leader.
Today, only a 17-minute fragment of
Bleeding Germany remains, although it originally ran for 68
minutes. The full narration of the missing footage is presented here for the first time. Never-
before-cited source material on
The March to the Leader offers additional insight into this iconic HJ
film, along with its previously unseen full-color poster.
This material provides a more comprehensive overview of the creation and promotion of these
films. For English–speaking readers, all source material has been translated, many of it for the first
time. Three of the four films were also distributed in the United States. The text discusses how
American censors handled these propaganda films and how reviewers and audiences responded to
them.
The films provide insight into the early days of the Nazi Party and its pursuit of power, making them
a valuable resource for studying that period. Today, when people hear the words 'Hitler' or 'Nazis,'
an image of Auschwitz or Adolf Hitler as the Monster—the embodiment of evil—likely comes to
mind, and they think more about the Nürnberg Trials than the Nürnberg Party Day Rallies.
Watching these early films can help explain how Germany transformed into the Third Reich.
Understanding why and how the German people supported and often worshiped Adolf Hitler is
almost impossible now without going back to the late Weimar years, the intense
Kampfzeit, and
considering the historical context of that time.
Four 'Movement' Films of the Third Reich by William A. Gillespie. ©2026
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