Yesterday I posted a Fox Movietone newsreel depicting Hitlers inaugural event in 1932. Is it possible to continue the theme of Fascist takeovers (which for some reason seems to be on a least a few people’s minds) but on a less somber note? The answer is yes–sort of. Behold the above 1935 parody titled ‘Hoch Der Lambeth Walk’. It was produced bv the British Ministry of Information, using footage from Leni Riefenstahl’s recently released ‘Triumph Of The Will’ and was apparently a big hit with English audiences. The stop motion backwards/forwards gags are similar to ‘Fractured Flickers’ episodes (made thirty years later, of course) and there’s a certain Pythonesque spirit to the whole thing (made forty years later, of course). Just a few years later the English would have nothing to laugh at, but that’s one of the most haunting things about looking at any propaganda footage; without knowing the future outcome, the present-day as depicted looks shockingly naive. The beauty of this little film is, of course, that humor was being used to defuse what was clearly already being regarded as seriously sinister developments in modern day politics. I was going to say that in our day something like this might find a home on TikTok, but then I remembered that…well, you know…
, footage from Leni Riefenstal’s 1935 “Triumph of the Will” was released in Germany. The British Ministry of Information put together its own propaganda film using footage from “Triumph of the Will” and setting it to the British dance tune “Doin’ The Lambeth Walk”. The film apparently delighted English filmgoers Humour was being used as a weapon of war to boost morale and to subvert the powerful. It is thought the film was seen by Goebbels himself who apparently left the screening screaming and shouting vulgarities.