The Hitler Phone Scene is a scene in Downfall that is often used in parodies.
In Downfall
Hitler emerges from his private study asking where the artillery fire is coming from. Wilhelm Burgdorf, feeling reserved, wishes him a happy birthday first, before breaking the news that the city center of Berlin is under fire, elaborating that the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag are being shelled. Hitler demands to know where the shells are coming from. Burgdorf didn't have the answer, but he suggests that Hitler talk to Karl Koller, who is on the phone. Upon being asked of the origin of the artillery firing, Koller responded that he doesn't know, explaining that he's in Wildpark Werder. Hitler speculates that the Soviets might have captured the railway bridge over the Oder.
Koller, however, denied that there is one. He explains that the artillery isn't long-range, and the shells' caliber are only 10 and 12 cm, so the enemy is closer and would have positions near Marzahn, which Hitler noted is a mere 12 km from the city center. Hitler is furious about the situation, of the utter lack of air support, and rants that the entire Luftwaffe leadership should be hung. He slams the telephone handset.
Recovering from his temperamental burst, he describes the 'unheard-of' situation to the generals. As he is making his way back to his study, Hans Krebs admits to the possibility that the artillery might be long-range after all, however, Hitler brushes it off, calling it "nonsense".
In Parodies
This scene is frequently used by parody makers as a means of providing bizarre crossovers with other films and providing Hitler with a means of interacting with people outside of the movie Downfall. In order to do this, a lot of Untergangers edit out the scenes with Koller and replace them with a piece of footage, a music video, a clip from a movie, or something else. The result is that Hitler calls (or in some cases gets phoned by) all kinds of strange people, among them:
- Lady Gaga
- Santa Claus
- Elmo
- Barney
- Justin Bieber
- Rebecca Black
- Anton Chigurh
- Brian Cowen
- Group Captain Lionel Mandrake
- King Charles III
- King Leonidas
- Angry German Kid
- Patrick the Starfish
- Inglorious Basterds Hitler
- Gordon Ramsay
- Willy Wonka
- Lionel Ritchie
- Gotye
- God Himself
- Another version of Hitler ranting
- Vladimir Putin
- Joe Biden
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- The real Hitler
- Pingu
- Kim Jong-un
- Eminem
- Weegee
- Rin Hoshizora
- Beavis and Butthead
- Nico Yazawa
- Konzta Izumi and Kagami Hiiragi
- Donald Trump
- Yevgeny Prigozhin
However, on quite a few occasions, the scenes with Koller are kept in, such as in Hitler Phones an ISP Center.
At the end of the scene, Hitler usually ends up saying "Piss off".
TheSilverUniverse included a green screen version of the scene in one of his greenscreen packs. This made it easier for Untergangers to change the background, making it possible to have Hitler make calls from all kinds of places. One such example can be found in JennieParker87's Urgent business in the bunker parody.
Other uses of the scene include Hitler making phone orders (e.g. to the Krusty Krab) or taking an oral exam.
This scene is also used for conversations between Hitler and other characters from Downfall, where different phone scenes from the movie are combined.
Some video game parodies have Koller calling Hitler in the midst of playing a game, usually to inform that he's going to lose or received complains that he plays awfully, much to Hitler's annoyance.
Transcript
German transcript and English translation | ||
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Speaker | German | English |
HITLER | Burgdorf, was ist los?! | Burgdorf, what's going on?! |
Woher kommt die Schießerei?! | Where's that gunfire coming from?! | |
BURGDORF | Mein Führer, darf ich Ihnen zum Geburtstag gratulieren. | My Führer, may I wish you happy birthday. |
Mein Führer, das Zentrum von Berlin steht unter Artilleriebeschuss. | My Führer, the center of Berlin is under artillery fire. | |
Granaten sind in dichter Folge am Brandenburger Tor, am Reichstag und bis hin zum Bahnhof Friedrichstraße eingeschlagen. | Grenades have hit in tight succession at the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag and right up to Friedrich street Station. | |
HITLER | Von wo kommt der Beschuss?! | Where's the gunfire coming from?! |
BURGDORF | Mein Führer, wir haben noch keine Meldung! | My Führer, we don't have any reports yet. |
Ich spreche grad mit Koller. | I'm speaking with Koller just now. | |
HITLER | Koller! Geben Sie mir Koller. | Koller! Put me through to Koller. |
Koller. | Koller. | |
Sie wissen, dass Berlin unter Artilleriefeuer liegt? | Do you know that Berlin is under artillery fire? | |
KOLLER | Nein. | No. |
HITLER | Das sagen Sie... | So you say... |
Hören Sie den Beschluss nicht? | Do not you hear the shelling? | |
KOLLER | Nein, ich bin in Wildpark Werder. | No, I am in Wildpark Werder. |
HITLER | Riesige Aufregung in der Stadt... | Huge excitement in the city... |
Die Russen sollen eine Eisenbahnbrücke über die Oder haben! | The Russians should have a railway bridge over the Oder! | |
KOLLER | Der Feind hat keine Eisenbahnbatterie an der Oder. | The enemy has no rail battery on the Oder. |
Es handelt sich hier nicht um Fernfeuer. | This is not long-range gunfire. | |
Der Divisionsgefechtsstand der Flak am Zoo Bunker meldet, dass es sich hier... um Geschütze nur des Kalibers 10 bis 12 Zentimeter handelt. | The anti-air divisional command post at the Zoo Bunker reports that these are...guns with calibers of only 10 to 12 centimeters. | |
Die russische Batterie ist beim Marzahn in Stellung gegangen. | The Russian battery has taken up position at Marzahn. | |
HITLER | Das sind ja nur 12 km bis zum Stadtkern. | That's only 12 km from the city center. |
Ist der Russe schon so nah? | Are the Russians so close already? | |
Man müsste die ganze Luftwaffenführung sofort aufhängen! | They should hang up the entire Luftwaffe leadership at once! | |
Das ist unerhört. | This is unheard of. | |
Unerhört! | Unheard of! | |
Der Russe steht 12 km vorm Stadtkern! | The Russians are 12 km from the city center! | |
Und ich erfahre das sozusagen auf Nachfrage! | And I am told this on demand, so to speak! | |
KREBS | Mein Führer, vielleicht handelt es sich ja wirklich um Fernfeuer! | Mein Führer, maybe it's really long-range gunfire! |
Sie erwähnten eine Eisenbahnbrücke über die Oder! | You mentioned a railway bridge over the Oder! | |
HITLER | Ach, Unsinn! | Oh, nonsense! |
Trivia
- Koller is the most edited-out person from this scene. In addition, Hitler's addressee of "Koller" is nearly always replaced with "Hello" in the first line of the phone dialogue.
- Interestingly enough, "Koller" is pronounced similarly to "hola", which is Spanish for "hello".
- Other than Hitler and Koller, Burgdorf, Krebs and Martin Bormann appear in this scene, but with a minor role. Out of the three other characters, Bormann is the only one who doesn't have any dialogue at all.
- Unlike the movie, where Hitler asks where the artillery fire is coming from, the parodies usually show him asking either who's on the phone or if they've managed to call a specific individual.
- This is the earliest scene from the movie that is commonly used for parody making, occurring a few minutes into the movie (Apr. 20, 1945 in the timeline).
- The line, "Ach, Unsinn!", known better as "Piss off!", is spoken by Hitler in this scene anytime it ends; unless it was skipped or edited out. Interestingly it literally means "Nonsense", which has the same connotations. Only a few parodies, notably Hitler and the Fuel Crisis used the correct translation (Utter nonsense) for the scene.
- Common mondegreens include "caller" and "hello" from Koller, "nine" from "nein", "so fucked, oh faggot!"
- Hans Krebs was not in Berlin on 20 April. He only arrived on the 21st.
- Goof: At the beginning of the scene there is a man standing with a tray of dinner plates in the corridor behind Hitler, the same corridor where Krebs comes out. He seems to disappear after Hitler picks up the phone, the fact is that the camera never pointed to that corridor again (the corridor where Krebs comes from leads to the Vorbunker, while the corridor where Hitler walks leads to his study room.)
- Used in part 4 of Glove and Boots' "Countdown to New Year's" video series.
Gallery
Previous Traudl, Gerda and Constanze wake up to artillery fire |
Hitler Phone Scene View Template Page |
Next Eva and Traudl discuss in the kitchen |
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