The Twilight Zone (TV Series)

He's Alive (1963)

Ludwig Donath: Ernst Ganz

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ernst Ganz : I've seen it before. I've seen it all before.

  Proprietor : That was another time, Mr. Ganz. Another place, another kind of people. That doesn't go here.

  Ernst Ganz : That's what we said, too. They were brown scum. Temporary insanity, part of the passing scene, too monstrous to be real. So, we ignored them or laughed at them. Because we couldn't believe that there were enough insane people to walk alongside of them. And then one morning, the country woke up from an uneasy sleep, and there was no more laughter. The Peter Vollmers had taken over. The wild animals had changed places with us in the cage. But not again. It mustn't happen again. We can't let it. We simply can't let it happen again. All, all that nightmare. Oh, no. No, not this time.

• Ernst Ganz : [Ernst has interrupted Peter's speech]  Go on, Mr. Vollmer. You were saying? I can tell them what you were saying. I've heard it before. I've heard it a thousand times before. In Munich, in Berlin, on a hundred different street corners. It was drivel then, and it is drivel now.

  Peter Vollmer : [weakly]  You've got to stop, Ernst.

  Ernst Ganz : [to the crowd]  Well, what is this one here? The new model? A 1963 fuhrer right off the assembly line? Well, this one is not so new. He's not so fresh. This one is nothing but a cheap copy!

  Frank : [whisper]  Peter, we've got to do something about it. We're losing the audience. Let me get rid of him. Let me get rid of him.

  Peter Vollmer : [to Frank]  Just leave me alone.

  Ernst Ganz : [to the crowd]  Well, let me tell you about this one. About the breed, the species. They're all alike. They are all alike. Problem children. Sick, sad neurotics, who take applause like a needle!

  Peter Vollmer : [pitifully]  That's enough, Ernst. Please. Please?

  Ernst Ganz : Listen to me, Peter, and let them listen. Or else I'll tell them about a quaking, whimpering boy who cried on my couch; who still cries on my couch.

  Peter Vollmer : [quietly]  Please don't, please Ernst. Please don't.

• Peter Vollmer : It's not hate. It's, uh, it's a point of view, it's a philosophy.

  Ernst Ganz : Ah, I know the philosophy. I know it quite well. Nine years in a place called Dachau. You know who put me there? Peter Vollmer. A lot of Peter Vollmers. Frustrated men, sick men, angry men. But the result, the effect - never mind the cause -... 12 million bodies in shallow graves. And it all started with young men in uniform talking on street corners.

• Peter Vollmer : You wouldn't listen to me, Ernst. You wouldn't pay attention to me.

  Ernst Ganz : On the contrary. I listened to you all that I could stand.

  Peter Vollmer : I couldn't even begin to tell you what's happened, Ernst. It's too incredible, it's too unbelievable. There's no stopping us now.

  Ernst Ganz : No stopping you, Peter. An old man stopped you tonight, with a few words. He stopped you with the truth.

  Peter Vollmer : No, you're wrong, Ernst. It's not just me anymore. There's someone else behind us. Someone that you would tremble at.

  Ernst Ganz : He'd have to be a very imposing figure, Peter. More imposing than you.

  [Peter pulls out a gun, pointing it at Ernst] 

  Ernst Ganz : More imposing than that, too, Peter.

  Peter Vollmer : That's only because you don't think I'll use it. Which only goes to show that you don't know me very well, Ernst.

  Ernst Ganz : I know you, Peter. I know you. From a ravaged little boy wanting love to a torn man craving respect, identity, pride. Peter, I don't fear you, so you may do what you have in mind at any time you wish. But this last one reminder to you. You can never kill an idea with a bullet, Peter. Never.

• Peter Vollmer : I'm all steel now. Ernst, I'm made of steel. No sentiment, no softness. Just purpose and will.

  Ernst Ganz : Then shoot. Kill. Destroy me.

  [Peter shoots Ernst, who collapses to the floor] 

  Ernst Ganz : All steel, all strength. But at the expense of the thing most other men have. Some fragments of decency to tell them right from wrong... make them feel guilt at dishonor... that make them... that make them love. Yes, Peter... you have steel... but you have no heart.

  [Ernst dies] 

• Frank : Pete, don't let him do this. Put him down. Put him down.

  Ernst Ganz : Yeah, put me down, put me down! Shut me up. Stifle me - why don't you? Why can't you?

  [He grabs Peter's arm, showing his organization's insignia] 

  Ernst Ganz : Because this is your courage right here. This is your strength. This, and the torch lights, and the crowd, and the Sieg Heil!

  [Peter slaps Ernst's face] 

  Ernst Ganz : ... The rebuttal. The only sort of answer your kind knows how to give.

  [to the crowd] 

  Ernst Ganz : This is your fuhrer. He's yours. I give him to you. A gift from the sewers.

• Ernst Ganz : One sips wine, Peter. This is not medicine.

  Peter Vollmer : Well, I'll keep that in mind for next time.

  Ernst Ganz : For the next time? Just how many next times do you suppose a human being has in the scheme of things?

• Peter Vollmer : A man does what he believes in.

  Ernst Ganz : A man usually does.

  Peter Vollmer : Well, I believe certain things.

  Ernst Ganz : Is that a fact?

  Peter Vollmer : Yes, well, what difference does it make if we don't think alike about the same things? I mean, we're friends. You've known me since I was a kid.

  Ernst Ganz : When you were a little kid, Peter, and I used to find you crying at my door late at night... I could pity you then.

  Peter Vollmer : And now?

  Ernst Ganz : What do you think? Now you peddle hate on street corners, as if it were popcorn.

• Peter Vollmer : You let me come here. You let me come here; you never sent me away.

  Ernst Ganz : No, I never did. I never do. That's the weakness you scream about on your street corners. Sentimentality, softness, the weakness that makes a man his brother's keeper. Oh, I must be one of the worst of your criminals, Peter. Sentimental, soft! And very preoccupied with my brother. I should close the door on you. Perhaps this is my sickness. I - I only see the boy, not the man.

• Peter Vollmer : Look, why don't you understand? You're like a father. You're the only thing in the world that I've ever loved. What have I ever had to love? What? A drunken father who used to slam me against the wall? An old lady who had no marbles in her head? She didn't even recognize me half the time. That's why I used to come here, because... because you were gentle with me, and you'd talk to me, and you fed me, and you took care of me. Ernst... Ernst, you're my father.

  Ernst Ganz : [shuts his eyes]  That's the boy again speaking. A little boy with so much fear in him.

• Proprietor : He's got a voice on him.

  Ernst Ganz : I knew it when it was just a whimper.

  Proprietor : That's a bad kid, that one. Used to be, used to be people would laugh at him. But lately, he gets the crowds, and not many people laugh either. You've known him a long time, haven't you?

  Ernst Ganz : Since he was a child. A silent, little boy with very little to say.