The Hitler Phone Scene is a scene from Downfall, and it's often used in parodies.
In Downfall
The scene begins with Hitler emerging from his private study and asking where the artillery fire is coming from. 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 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 ranted that the entire Luftwaffe leadership should have been hung. He slams the telephone handset.
Recovering from his temperamental burst, he describes the 'unheard-of' situation back to the generals. As he is making his way back to his study, 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 Leonidas
- Angry German Kid
- Patrick the Starfish
- Inglorious Basterds Hitler
- Willy Wonka
- Lionel Ritchie
- Gotye
- God Himself
- Another version of Hitler ranting
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- The real Hitler
- Pingu
- Kim Jong-un
- Eminem
- Weegee
- Rin Hoshizora
- Beavis and Butthead
- Nico Yazawa
- Konzta Izumi and Kagami Hiiragi
However, on quite a few occasions, the scenes with Koller are kept in, such as in Hitler Phones and ISP Center.
Hitler talks to Fegelein while being on vacation.
TheSilverUniverse included a greenscreen 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 Krabs) 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.
Transcript
| German transcript and English translation | ||
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Shells have hit in tight succession at the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag... and right up to Friedrichstraße Station. | |
| HITLER | Von wo kommt der Beschuss?! | Where's the shelling coming from?! |
| BURGDORF | Mein Führer, wir haben noch keine Meldung! | My Führer, we don't yet have any reports... |
| Ich spreche grad mit Koller. | I'm speaking with Koller just now. | |
| HITLER | Koller! Geben Sie mir Koller. | Koller! Give me Koller. |
| Koller. | Koller. | |
| Sie wissen, dass Berlin unter Artilleriefeuer liegt? | You know that Berlin's under artillery fire? | |
| KOLLER | Nein. | No. |
| HITLER | Das Sagen Sie... | So you say... |
| Hören Sie den Beschuss nicht? | Don't you hear the shelling? | |
| KOLLER | Nein, ich bin in Wildpark Werder. | No, I'm in Werder Game Park. |
| HITLER | Riesige Aufregung in der Stadt... | Huge commotion in the city... |
| Die Russen sollen eine Eisenbahnbrücke über die Oder haben! | Apparently the Russians have captured a railroad bridge over the Oder! | |
| KOLLER | Der Feind hat keine Eisenbahnbatterie an der Oder. | The enemy doesn't have any railroad artillery along the Oder. |
| Es handelt sich hier nicht um Fernfeuer. | It's not a matter of long-range fire. | |
| Der Divisionsgefechtsstand der Flak am Zoo Bunker meldet, dass es sich hier... um Geschütze nur des Kalibers 10 bis 12 Zentimeter handelt. | The anti-aircraft division command post at the Zoo Bunker reports that it's a matter... of ordnance only 10 to 12 cm caliber. | |
| Die russische Batterie ist bei Marzahn in Stellung gegangen. | The Russian battery has been taking positions near 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 that close? | |
| Man müsste die ganze Luftwaffenführung sofort aufhängen! | They should hang the entire Luftwaffe leadership! | |
| 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'm informed of this only "upon request", as it were! | |
| KREBS | Mein Führer, vielleicht handelt es sich ja wirklich um Fernfeuer! | Mein Führer, perhaps we're dealing with long-range artillery after all! |
| Sie erwähnten eine Eisenbahnbrücke über die Oder! | You mentioned a railway bridge over the Oder! | |
| HITLER | Ach, Unsinn! | Oh, rubbish! |
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.
- Other than Hitler and Koller, Burgdorf, Krebs and Bormann appear in this scene, but with a minor roles. 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.
- 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 come 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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