of Millay’s poem. Cast Patricia Morison as Jarmilla Hanka John Carradine as Reinhard Heydrich Alan Curtis as Karel Vavra Howard Freeman as Heinrich Himmler Ralph Morgan as Jan Hanka Edgar Kennedy as Nepomuk Ludwig Stössel as Herman Bauer Al Shean as Father Cemlanek Elizabeth Russell as Maria Bartonek Jimmy Conlin as Dvorak Louis V. Arco (uncredited) as German Sergeant Richard Ryen (uncredited) as Gestapo Ava Gardner (uncredited) as Franciska Pritric Lester Dorr (uncredited) as Sergeant Production The film was produced independently by Seymour Nebenzal under the auspices of the Producers Releasing Corporation, a "Poverty Row" studio, and filmed in one week in November 1942, under the title of Hitler's Hangman. The title was changed to Hitler's Madman to avoid confusion with Fritz Lang's similarly themed Hangmen Also Die!. Filming Sirk hired German cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan to shoot the film, but because Schüfftan was not allowed to work in the United States at the time, the cinematography credit was given to Jack Greenhalgh and Schüfftan was credited as "Technical Director." The film opens and closes with Edna St. Vincent Millay's 1942 poem, "The Murder of Lidice". Sirk directed reshoots at MGM's own studios in May 1943, consisting of the inspection of the female university students and Klara's resulting suicide (during which an uncredited Ava Gardner appears), Heydrich's death scenes, and the shooting of the male residents of Lidice. Release The film was originally set to be released through Republic Pictures. However, when it was completed, Nebenzal arranged a screening for MGM chief Louis B. Mayer, who bought it, making it one of the few, and possibly the first, film to be distributed by MGM even though it was originally produced by another company. See also Dramatic portrayals of Reinhard Heydrich List of American films of 1943 Other films on the same subject: Hangmen Also Die! (1943) The Silent Village (1943) Atentát (1964) Operation Daybreak (1975) Lidice (2011) (aka Fall of the Innocent in the UK; aka Butcher of Prague in US)Anthropoid (2016)The Man with the Iron Heart'' (2016) Notes External links 1943 films American black-and-white films Films directed by Douglas Sirk Producers Releasing Corporation films Films about Operation Anthropoid World War II films made in wartime Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films produced by Seymour Nebenzal Films scored by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Films scored by Nathaniel Shilkret American war drama films 1940s war drama films Films set in the Czech Republic Cultural depictions of Heinrich