Inflation (1943)

Edward Arnold: The Devil

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  The Devil : [the Devil laughs uproariously as scenes of war carnage and destruction appear]  Wonderful - wonderful! The best season I ever had. And the cooperation? Simply marvelous.

• The Devil : I'm poisoning them with the urge to keep on buying things - to keep buying until it becomes an obsession... Well, don't you see, Adolf? So much is being diverted to war production, there's very little they *can* buy. And with a little encouragement from me - well, they'll start bidding against each other for goods that become scarcer and scarcer... Well, prices go up. They *must* go up, and the value of the dollar comes down. And that spells inflation. Wages up - more stuff! Bringing more money into circulation. More bidding. Higher prices. Up, and up, in a vicious spiral that ends... down here.

• The Devil : [on telephone with Hitler]  Yes, I know. I got a large consignment of your men from the Russian front this morning... No, they don't mind it. They're glad to be where it's warm.

• The Devil : What distinguishes the successful man from the common herd? His car!

• [last lines] 

  The Devil : Do these things, and you and I'll get together much faster. Do these things, and oblige my friend...

  The Devil : [points to phone as Hitler is heard shouting on other end]  And your most humble servant?

  [he again begins laughing wildly] 

• The Devil : In a word Mein Führer: Inflation.

• The Devil : Hello, Adolf! How are you?

• The Devil : Oh, Adolph! Wait. I've got the very thing. Guaranteed to keep the Stars and Stripes waving forever!

  [laughs] 

  The Devil : At half mast.

• The Devil : What is our next move?

  Devil's Assistant : May I suggest something, dear?

  The Devil : Is it something foul?

  Devil's Assistant : Exquisitely vile.

• The Devil : Well, it started Adolf. A blitz without bullets. I started a Roman Holiday of spending.

• The Devil : You see, Adolf, the home front is their weak spot. Get a few of 'em, just a handful, each doing her or his little bit to gum up the works, and pretty soon you're involving 130 million Americans in a mad, scrambling panic! The economic structure of an entire nation - shatter, because of little things like: the black market - selling freedom for a pair of stockings, hoarding - trading victory for an extra cup of coffee, evasion of ceiling prices - pooring the future for 30 pieces of silver, cashing in war bonds instead of buying them - as good a taking guns from the hands of allied soldiers. Prices will skyrocket! A dollar buys less and less! It takes more and more money to live!

• The Devil : Yes, Adolf. When the world belongs to you, it practically belongs to me.

• The Devil : We have much to offer here. Parades and guns. Racial superiority. Heel clicking. Heil calling. And the joy and glory of slaving and dying for a Führer. Would you like to join up with us?

• The Devil : Fascism wasn't built in a day.

• The Devil : It's a race without rules! Destructive as acid! It's a mad, screaming nightmare! No way to stop it! Nothing!