The Bunker [DVD] [1981]

This exhaustive (and exhausting) 3-hour TV movie dramatizes the last three months of Adolph Hitler's life, spent in his bunker in Berlin. Anthony Hopkins is repulsively riveting as Hitler, while Piper Laurie is even more frightening as fanatical Frau Goebbels. Joseph Goebbels (Cliff Gorman) feeds the Fuehrer's ego as the Nazi empire crumbles, while Albert Speer (Richard Jordan) defies him. The day before his suicide, Hitler legalizes his relationship with mistress Eva Braun (Susan Blakely). The film's plot extends beyond the suicide, with the triumphant allied forces arguing orver who has proprietary rights to Hitler's remains. First telecast January 27, 1981, The Bunker was based on Joseph O'Donnell's best seller, which in turn was based on first-hand accounts.~Hal Erickson