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Culture

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Jan 22nd 2010 6:28am




Filed Under:
copyright, hitler, mashups, videos


Director Of The Hitler Downfall Movie Likes The Hundreds Of Parody Clips

from the go-forth-and-parody dept

Perhaps if you've been living under a pop culture rock for the past few years, you were unaware of the popular hobby of creating subtitled videos of an angry Hitler reacting to something going on in the world today, using a clip from the German movie Downfall. For example, here is Hitler responding to NBC's snafu with late night television programming with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien:
While there have been reports of takedown notices sent on these videos, apparently the director of the original movie quite likes them. davebarnes alerts us to a short interview with Oliver Hirschbiegel, the director of the movie, and he's a fan of the clips:
"Someone sends me the links every time there's a new one," says the director, on the phone from Vienna. "I think I've seen about 145 of them! Of course, I have to put the sound down when I watch. Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I'm laughing about the scene that I staged myself! You couldn't get a better compliment as a director." Some of Hirschbiegel's favorites are the one where Hitler hears of Michael Jackson's death, and one in which the Fuhrer can't get Billy Elliot tickets
Of course, as director, and not producer, he probably does not hold the copyright and has no say in whether or not the clips are allowed -- but it is worth noting that he seems to quite enjoy them.

24 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    hitler would be proud, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 7:04am

    an no money was made BUT free advertisng

    then people got how can i get this film or see it

    amazing isn't it why suddenly you have a director speaking of liking it

    HIS ART GETS SEEN not shelved for control freaks in California

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
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    faceless (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 7:24am

    Re: an no money was made BUT free advertisng

    one of these days i need to watch the movie, i love the reaction clips!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Mr Big Content, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 7:27am

    This Is Why ...

    ... artistic lefty freetards like him should stick to making content, not owning it.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 7:33am

    The movie is really great. You should see it. I'm happy to see that he understands that this doesn't hurt his movie in any way. No one is going to confuse Downfall with a comedy, and these parodies aren't taking any money away from the real film. I'm sure the real copyright holders are having a cow though.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    icon
    mdmadph (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 7:39am

    I think these parody videos have been great -- I never would've gone out and actually rented out the real movie (which is actually a great movie) had it not been for these parodies.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    interval, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 7:55am

    The film is a classic, and so are the parodies. The best one is what I believe is one of the first ones; the classic Windows Vista Snafu. "I reinstalled that printer driver 5 times!" *Slam pencils on map of Germany* Classic.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 8:04am

    My Fav

    My favorite is when Hitler's XBox 360 got hit with the banhammer.
    Hilarious!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Jon, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 8:17am

    Hitler on Microsoft

    The one where he rants about windows 7, Bill Gates, and Microsoft is by far the funniest one.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    icon
    Coughing Monkey (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 8:25am

    we in the USA had a show on TV like this a few years ago it was called Fractured Flickers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw8iiyv3yMI

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    Westfork, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 9:15am

    I only heard of this movie

    Because of the parody flix, I ordered it of of Amazon teh next day.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    icon
    Tom Landry (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 9:48am

    The Billy Elliot one is by far the best of the bunch.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    stephen, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 10:48am

    he just bought a t.o. jersey

    my favorite is the one about hitler going nut because the giants beat his cowboys in the playoffs. but the line in this about about starting the war in order to bomb andrew lloyd weber's house is pretty priceless.

    as to downfall being a comedy: nazis going crazy in the bunker as the russians close in? that's pretty funny. very very good movie.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 10:50am

    Re: This Is Why ...

    Oh yes, because those who own the content should not be the ones who make it, right?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 10:58am

    Re: Hitler on Microsoft

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggEH4ZZh_Qc

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    icon
    Paul Renault (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 2:07pm

    Re:

    Me, I think the Grammar Nazi one has a nice smart self reference. Plus the bits about the finger pointing...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    DK2, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 2:20pm

    I have been wondering for a while what the people behind this sort of thing thought of it, he seems like a pretty cool guy.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    icon
    Chargone (profile), Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 2:27pm

    Re: Re: This Is Why ...

    ... can you actually see the name of the person you're responding to there and NOT realise that he's being sarcastic here?

    details are your friend. :)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 22nd, 2010 @ 4:06pm

    The fact that he has an appreciation of the pieces shows him to be a true artist.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  
    identicon
    nclow, Jan 24th, 2010 @ 5:09pm

    I had not heard of the Downfall movie until the video meme came onto my radar. I watched NBC/Leno version of the video and laughed my pants off, and went straight onto hunting others. I looked up the movie on imdb so I could read the synopsis, and it sounded like something I would really enjoy so I added it to my watch list, which means I'll be getting it from netflix or some other source within the next week.

    The thought process behind the takedown notices is totally alien to me. Both the videos linked from the wired article are gone. Since when did free press for your product stop being a tremendously wonderful thing? That would seem to be a fact you could pick up in business 101. I'm a living example of someone who is now interested in the product by the very process that the copyright holders of that product are fighting to destroy, and I truly can't imagine what goes through their heads when they take action like this. It's more than a generational gap. It's like they're from another planet.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 24th, 2010 @ 9:27pm

    Re:

    I hope you enjoy the movie. I thought it was excellent.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  
    identicon
    Jack Momma, Jan 25th, 2010 @ 8:56am

    "No one is going to confuse Downfall with a comedy, and these parodies aren't taking any money away from the real film."

    "as to downfall being a comedy: nazis going crazy in the bunker as the russians close in? that's pretty funny."

    I'm really quite impressed that you inferred that plot solely from the parody clips. Or maybe you know German. Many others, however, could not and do not (respectively).

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  
    identicon
    Ben Scott, Jan 25th, 2010 @ 11:45am

    I've always been a fan of these Hitler subtitle parodies (Hilary Clinton realizes she's going to lose the Democratic nomination is my favorite), but somehow when I watched the actual movie a few months ago I didn't realize until moments before the famous scene that I was watching the source movie for all these parodies. Watching that scene in context in the middle of the movie is pretty surreal after you've seen all these parody videos.

    Good movie though, highly recommended.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  
    identicon
    mcluhan, Jul 6th, 2011 @ 12:11am

    truth version

    youtube.com/watch?v=h0hNAKAlg-g

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  24.  
    identicon
    kanchan prashar, May 16th, 2013 @ 2:42am

    urja aim

    send by massage
    kanchan Prashar
    email urjathakur@hotmail.com
    mob no 9872832816

    start my carer tv acting line

     

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