By Lee Pfeiffer
Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ aren't generally linked together in any way, shape or form- but their names were invoked in a lawsuit regarding copyright infringement in L.A. this week. A judge has issued a summary judgment in a case against Warner Brothers and the producers of The Matrix film franchiset by a screenwriter, Thomas Althouse, who alleged that that key aspects of the movies were derived from a 1993 script he wrote. Althouse contends the lawsuit took so many years to file because he had only recently watched the films in question and came to the conclusion that references to Hitler being brought back from the dead could be traced to his script. He also maintained that Christ-like allusions could have also derived from said script. The judge dismissed the complaint saying that he could find no substantial similarities and noted that allusions to Christ can't be copyrighted, as they have been invoked in fiction throughout the centuries. I guess any would-be plaintiffs about to sue over Ben-Hur or The Greatest Story Every Told might now rethink their strategies. As for Herr Hitler, Althouse probably didn't bone up on his retro movies or he would have known that Nazi clones coming back from the dead is a concept that dates back decades in films such as The Frozen Dead (1967) and the more prestigious The Boys From Brazil (1978). For more click here