Line #32 Main/BritishNazis


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9	->''"And the most bitter pill to swallow is that [the British-accented {{mooks}}] look like Nazis. '''We helped DEFEAT the Nazis!''' Maybe we won't next time, America. Maybe after China BUYS you and puts you all to work in the sweatshops and you all crawl to Europe for help, we'll go: 'Hmm, well, we would, but apparently we're evil, so hands tied.'"''
10	-->-- '''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''', ''{{VideoGame/Killzone}} 3''
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12	The trend to cast British actors as ThoseWackyNazis, or more broadly, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName villains who are not named as Nazis]], or cannot be Nazis in context, who are however PuttingOnTheReich. Because y'know, [[EvilBrit British people are evil]].
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14	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant This trope is not about]] British people who were members of the Nazi party, or British fascists. (That would fall into NaziNobleman; Stories about Britain being conquered by Nazi Germany, or falling under the control of native fascist regimes, go under DayOfTheJackboot or AlternateHistoryNaziVictory.) It is also not about British actors playing any evil German characters -- such as Creator/AlanRickman in ''Film/DieHard'' -- as Not AllGermansAreNazis.
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16	A SubTrope of EvilBrit, PuttingOnTheReich and frequently FakeNationality. Also a SisterTrope to TheQueensLatin in that the main reason it exists is that to an American audience, a British accent ''sounds'' European enough while still being comprehensible without subtitles. See also JewsPlayingNazis.
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18	[[noreallife]]
19	----
20	!!Examples:
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22	[[foldercontrol]]
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24	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
25	* Creator/IanMcKellen portrayed a NaziGrandpa in ''Film/AptPupil''.
26	* An inversion in ''Film/BitterVictory'', in which German actor Creator/CurdJurgens plays an ''Allied'' ([[FakeNationality South African]]) officer.
27	** He also plays the Polish colonel in ''Me and the Colonel''.
28	* David Thewlis and Rupert Friend in ''Film/TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas''.
29	* James Mason again as Seibert in the 1978 adaptation of ''Literature/TheBoysFromBrazil''. The film, however, subverts the trope as the even more evil Dr. Mengele is played by Gregory Peck, and Nazi-hunter Lieberman is played by Laurence Olivier.
30	* Creator/AnthonyHopkins played Hitler in ''Film/TheBunker1981''.
31	* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', the leaders of the Nazi offshoot organization Hydra are played by Creator/HugoWeaving[[labelnote:*]]'' ethnically British, but lived all over the Commonwealth ''[[/labelnote]] and Creator/TobyJones. Creator/RichardArmitage also gets a brief role as HYDRA assassin Heinz Kruger.
32	* In ''Film/Conspiracy2001'', every Nazi except Eichmann (who is played by the American Creator/StanleyTucci) has a British accent. This was deliberate -- the mainly British actors kept their natural accents, as it was felt that putting on an accent would shift the focus from the evil of the protagonists to how well Creator/KennethBranagh could do "Saxony-Anhalt".
33	* In ''Film/DakotaHarris'', Australian actor Max Phipps portrayed a Nazi agent posing as an Allied operative.
34	* Creator/JamesMason as Field Marshal UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel in ''Film/TheDesertFox''.
35	* ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'': Creator/MichaelCaine plays a Nazi commando charged with assassinating Winston Churchill. However, he and the rest of his men object to Hitler's cause and are fighting for their own freedom after being sentenced to death.
36	* Creator/AlecGuinness played Hitler in ''Film/HitlerTheLastTenDays''.
37	* Averted in ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'', where the main Nazi is played by Austrian Creator/ChristophWaltz. In fact, ''all'' of the German characters in the film, Nazi or not, are portrayed by either Germans or Austrians. Well, one unnamed German general is played by an Italian, and Creator/QuentinTarantino himself plays a German soldier in a cameo, but there's not a British Nazi to be found.
38	* Creator/DirkBogarde in ''Film/TheNightPorter''.
39	* Creator/MalcolmMcDowell in ''Film/ThePassage''.
40	* Arnold Ernst Toht was played by British actor Ronald Lacey in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
41	* Creator/TimothyDalton as Neville Sinclair in ''Film/TheRocketeer'' is an interesting case. When first seen, Sinclair is a suave British movie actor -- but it's later revealed that he is not only a Nazi spy allied with the Third Reich, but also that he is not a British Nazi at all, but in fact a German one.
42	* Creator/RalphFiennes as Amon Goeth in ''Film/SchindlersList''.
43	* The main cast of ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' is not German: Creator/EddieIzzard, Creator/BillNighy, Creator/KennethBranagh, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Cranham, Creator/TomHollander and, last but not least, David Bamber as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Noticeably, while the opening makes it clear that the TranslationConvention is in use, Hitler is the only person who keeps his German accent. The film does have German actors, like Creator/ThomasKretschmann or Christian Berkel, but their roles are secondary.
44	[[/folder]]
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46	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
47	* Creator/RobertCarlyle played Hitler in a TV miniseries called ''Series/HitlerTheRiseOfEvil''. Also featured were Brits Chris Larkin and Justin Salinger as Hermann Goering and Joseph Goebbels, respectively.
48	* The miniseries ''Series/{{Nuremberg}}'' about the eponymous trials featured British actor Creator/BrianCox portraying UsefulNotes/HermannGoring. To add further irony, he makes several anti-British jokes.
49	* The BBC docudrama series ''Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial'', which dealt with the same subject matter, featured an almost entirely British cast for characters including Rudolf Hess, Hermann Goering, and Albert Speer.
50	* On their show ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', the two titular British comedians had a sketch where they play Nazis [[HeelRealization who slowly come to realize they're the bad guys]] because they're [[EvilWearsBlack wearing black uniforms]] [[SkeletonMotif with skulls on them]]. Another sketch comically depicted Karl Doenitz's succession to Hitler at the end of the war, with Mitchell as Doenitz and Webb and James Bachman as unnamed German officers.
51	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BritishNazis