The Goofy, Anti-Nazi Parody Video That Enraged Goebbels

[jimmy olsen]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video. Secondly, the thing that strikes me is how far editing has come. A teenager with a YouTube account and some software ripped off bittorrent could do better.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/02/12/_lambeth_walk_nazi_style_the_goofy_anti_nazi_parody_video_that_enraged_goebbels.html

The Goofy, Anti-Nazi Parody Video That Enraged Goebbels

By Rebecca Onion
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, at 11:00 AM ET
Share on Facebook


The Vault is Slate's new history blog. Like us on Facebook; follow us on Twitter @slatevault; find us on Tumblr. Find out more about what this space is all about here.

The "Lambeth Walk" was a popular dance craze in the U.S. and the U.K. in the late 1930s. The song, from the musical Me and My Girl, referred to a street in a Cockney district in London. Dancers strode back and forth, punctuating their "walk" with high kicks and broad gestures. (You can see a rendition from a 1984 production of the musical here. Advance to the 2-minute mark to see the whole cast dancing the Walk.)

In 1940, an enterprising official at the British Ministry of Information put together this video, "Lambeth Walk—Nazi Style." The official, Charles A. Ridley, edited parts of Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 propaganda film Triumph of the Will to make it appear as though Nazi soldiers and Hitler were doing the Lambeth Walk.

The gag was all the sweeter because a Nazi Party member had publicly denounced the dance in 1939 after the craze caught on in Berlin, calling it "Jewish mischief and animalistic hopping."

Partisans on both sides recognized the effectiveness of this bit of parody. Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels apparently ran out of a screening room in a rage after viewing it. And according to historian Erik Barnouw, the Danish resistance used to enter cinemas in occupied Denmark and force projectionists to show the short.

The Ministry of Information distributed the video without narration to newsreel companies, who supplied their own commentary. This 1942 version is from Universal Studios and was titled "Gen. Adolph Takes Over"; it's available in several formats on the  Internet Archive.

video
http://bcove.me/xsrjq0hm

[Valmy]

Well it is hardly shocking that a modern computer could do better than the scissors method they used to use.

I remember watching a Nazimentary where they mentioned this film.  I believe when it was screened all the Nazis started laughing before Goebbels went into a rage and then suddenly all the other Nazis were outraged as well.

[MadImmortalMan]

Lambeth Road is a Cockney area? That's right across the river from Parliament isn't it?

[Sheilbh]

Lambeth Road is a Cockney area? That's right across the river from Parliament isn't it?

Yep. Lambeth's a big bit of centre/south-west London.

[mongers]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video. Secondly, the thing that strikes me is how far editing has come. A teenager with a YouTube account and some software ripped off bittorrent could do better.

So why aren't more of those teenage geniuses making popular satirical  attacks on political authority, instead of just posting 3rd rate slogan-pictures on Faceplant ?

[jimmy olsen]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video. Secondly, the thing that strikes me is how far editing has come. A teenager with a YouTube account and some software ripped off bittorrent could do better.

So why aren't more of those teenage geniuses making popular satirical  attacks on political authority, instead of just posting 3rd rate slogan-pictures on Faceplant ?

It doesn't take a genius. They're not interested in politics, they're in interested in making angsty music video mashups.


Not sure who made this, but I suppose this is the closest thing I've seen lately to the video in the OP, though it's not as much editing, but letting North Korea speak for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJNBfBr-OGU

[CountDeMoney]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video.

Go fuck yourself, you simpleton little fuck.  She can use the word "video" all she wants.

You fuck.

[jimmy olsen]

It's a historical blog, she should strive to use words that aren't anachronistic.

[garbon]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video.

Go fuck yourself, you simpleton little fuck.  She can use the word "video" all she wants.

You fuck.

[garbon]

It's a historical blog, she should strive to use words that aren't anachronistic.

Are you really nitpicking about articles on slate?

[crazy canuck]

The tune has a nice beat and you can dance to it

[mongers]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video. Secondly, the thing that strikes me is how far editing has come. A teenager with a YouTube account and some software ripped off bittorrent could do better.

So why aren't more of those teenage geniuses making popular satirical  attacks on political authority, instead of just posting 3rd rate slogan-pictures on Faceplant ?

It doesn't take a genius. They're not interested in politics, they're in interested in making angsty music video mashups.


Not sure who made this, but I suppose this is the closest thing I've seen lately to the video in the OP, though it's not as much editing, but letting North Korea speak for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJNBfBr-OGU

Well this is the problem, there's all this amazing technology and distribution methods available and how many people at doing what about anything, politically.

Think of all the trouble and danger people endured in Eastern Europe to produce and put out samizdat, nowadays political pamphleteering is all but dead. 

[garbon]

Think of all the trouble and danger people endured in Eastern Europe to produce and put out samizdat, nowadays political pamphleteering is all but dead. 

Bad for the environment. I don't need more papers to stick right in the recycling bin.

[Ed Anger]

First of all, she should use the word film instead of video.

Go fuck yourself, you simpleton little fuck.  She can use the word "video" all she wants.

You fuck.

Timmay's assburgers is all active tonight.

[katmai]

Timmay you are such a fucking idiot.