Why do Nazis in WWII movies always speak with English accents?

[LostinVA]

Is it supposed to make them sound more foreign???

[AlCzervik]

1. I watched The Eagle has landed the other night and Michael Caine kept going back

and forth between his real accent and a german one, it was amusing.

[LostinVA]

2. Ha -- you're right!

[jobycom]

3. They were practicing. They really thought they had England in the bag. nt

[DarkTirade]

4. I think it's just because we're used to having the british play bad guys in our movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKfeJ2mw0LU

[Orrex]

5. They're not British accents

They're Yurpian.

And that's plenty evil enough.

[LostinVA]

6. Damn commie furriners

[unsavedtrash]

15. thanks for a much needed morning laugh

:hi:

[LostinVA]

16. hehehehe

[Jade Fox]

7. Comedian Eddie Izzard has a theory about that.....

Villains with English accents are common in all types of American movies, and Izzard's theory is that we're still fighting the American Revolution against England (or something like that).

The way Izzard talks about it it's quite funny. Me, not so much.

[Shakespeare]

11. That's the first thing I thought of when I read the OP!

:rofl:

[LostinVA]

17. Ha -- I've never seen him say that -- probably true

[Orsino]

18. I think he's right.

Check all the movies set in Imperial Rome. The ruling class always have British accents.

When we hearken back to empire, its the British Empire.

[dgibby]

8. "cause all the real Nazis were in Argentina

[mitchum]

9. The same reason all of the Romans do in all of the Jaysus movies...

even Scorsese succumbed to that cliche in his wretched Last Temptation of Christ

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. "Wath it thomething I thaid?"

"Silence! This man commands a cwack legion! He wanks as high as any in Wome!"

[mitchum]

10. It's a signifier for effete

[smalll]

12. And yet it's us today (not the exemplars of mid-20th-century British Empire culture) who whine...

over the absolue necessity of BODY-WASH! (Did you see that thread last night?) People who live in effete houses shouldn't throw decadent stones. :shrug:

[jeff30997]

13. BODY-WASH ?

You mean that a body should be washed ? Now I know why I don't have a girlfriend.:cry:

[smalll]

24. No no -- soap is to coffee as "body-wash" is to lattes.

Meaning, ridiculously more expensive and neo-snobby.

[JoDog]

14. Have you ever tried

to talk in a credible German accent? It's hard!

[Orrex]

19. If tried to talk in in incredible German accent

And failed. Ja indeed.

[Parche]

20. This Is The Best Ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds85Zko0cT0

:hi:

[alarimer]

22. I've never understood why they don't just have them speak German.

And then subtitle it.

I guess some movies do.

But I think Sean Connery as a Russian with a Scottish accent is the funniest.

[LostinVA]

23. The Connery thing is priceless!

[Orsino]

25. There's also the fact that many Germans of the era...

...would have learned English in England, or from English teachers. It's right that some should have English accents.

[meow2u3]

26. Germans learn British English, for one

as in all Europeans. Latin Americans and Brazilians learn American English. It's a continental thing.

[underpants]

27. Because the Kennebunktport accent would be too telling?

:shrug:

[Bucky]

28. So does the devil. And often very wealthy Americans do too.

Also butlers are invariably British. If I was gonna hire a butler, I'd want him to speak with an Italian accent.

[SoxFan]

29. Same with Imperial officers in the Star Wars series

From Palpatine on down, they all speak with a clipped British accent.