''Schichlegruber Doing the Lambeth Walk'' is a 1942 short propaganda film by Charles A. Ridley of the
UK Ministry of Information
The Ministry of Information (MOI), headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of the First World War and again during the Second World War. Located in Senate House at the Univers ...
.
It consists of edited existing footage taken from
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda.
A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
's ''
Triumph of the Will
''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his n ...
'' to make it appear as if they were dancing to the dance style
The Lambeth Walk
"The Lambeth Walk" is a song from the 1937 musical '' Me and My Girl'' (with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay). The song takes its name from a local street, Lambeth Walk, once notable for its street market ...
.
The film was distributed uncredited to newsreel companies.
Alternative titles
The film has many alternative titles:
* ''Hoch der Lambeth Valk''
* ''Germany Calling''
* ''Hitler Assumes Command''
* ''Lambeth Walk''
* ''Hoch Der Lambeth Walk''
* ''Hoch der Lambeth Valk: A Laugh-Time Interlude''
* ''Lambeth Walk – Nazi Style''
* ''Hitler Doing the Lambeth Walk''
* ''Schichlegruber – Doing the Lambeth Walk''
* ''Gen. Adolf Takes Over''
*''Panzer Ballet''
Background
The Lambeth Walk
"The Lambeth Walk" is a song from the 1937 musical '' Me and My Girl'' (with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay). The song takes its name from a local street, Lambeth Walk, once notable for its street market ...
was becoming popular in Berlin.
In a speech that achieved attention in 1939, a speech about "revolution of private life" (one of the next big tasks of National Socialism in Germany), a member of the Nazi Party declared it "Jewish mischief and animalistic hopping".
The name "Schichlegruber" derives from Adolf Hitler's father
Alois Hitler
Alois Hitler (born Alois Schicklgruber; 7 June 1837 – 3 January 1903) was an Austrian civil servant in the customs service, and the father of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Alois Schicklgruber was born out of w ...
, who was illegitimate and originally named Alois Schicklgruber after his mother,
Maria Schicklgruber
Maria Anna Schicklgruber (15 April 1795 – 6 January 1847) was the mother of Alois Hitler, and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler.
Family
Maria was born in the village of Strones in the Waldviertel region of the Archduchy of Austria. ...
.
Reception
The film reportedly enraged
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to ...
to the degree that he ran out of the screening room kicking chairs and screaming profanities.
Members of the
Danish resistance
The Danish resistance movements ( da, Den danske modstandsbevægelse) were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the initially lenient arrangements, in which the Nazi occupation autho ...
would raid theatres and force the projectionists to show the film, among others.
As a humorous mashup that satirizes its original footage, the film shares similarities to 21st century
remix culture
Remix culture, sometimes read-write culture, is a term describing a society that allows and encourages derivative works by combining or editing existing materials to produce a new creative work or product. A remix culture would be, by default, pe ...
, particularly that of the post-2006
YouTube Poop.
References
[Adam Green.]
Lambeth Walk – Nazi Style (1942)
, Open Knowledge Foundation
Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) is a global, non-profit network that promotes and shares information at no charge, including both content and data. It was founded by Rufus Pollock on 20 May 2004 in Cambridge, UK. It is incorporated in England a ...
, 20 June 2012.
[Schichlegruber - Doing the Lambeth Walk (1941) Release Info]
, imdb.com. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
External links
*
Lambeth Walk - Nazi Style on YouTube
* {{Internet Archive short film, id=1942-01-07_Gen_Adolph_Takes_Over, name=Gen. Adolf Takes Over
1942 films
British World War II propaganda films
British black-and-white films