As he moves from Hamburg to Berlin, an actor's star rises alongside Hitler's as he becomes an unapologetic pawn and a puppet for the National Socialists and sees his theater taken over, wife emigrate, friends persecuted, and mixed race mistress deported. From a book by Klaus Mann (Thomas' son), Ivan Szabo's film is characterized by a virtuoso performance from Klaus Maria Brandauer in what is otherwise a captivating but often incohesive production.*** out of ****
note: I couldn't find an original language version of the film and was forced to resort to an American dubbed treatment which may have sullied my view of the picture.
