#4327876 - 01/11/17 02:37 PM
War movies and languages
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,386
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
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Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,386
Miami, FL USA
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Continuing the trend we've had recently on SimHQ with war movies, I was wondering about a different aspect that I don't recall ever being discussed before on SimHQ to the best of my knowledge. This is the topic about which languages are used in different war movies and what works best.
For me personally, I always prefer to have the different sides of a conflict use their respective languages and thus include the appropriate subtitles. So films like Patton, Tora Tora Tora, The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far got it right in my opinion.
While I really enjoy other war movies like The Blue Max, Paths of Glory and Cross of Iron, it does annoy me to some degree that the correct languages are not used.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4327884 - 01/11/17 02:55 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,105
Chucky
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,105
UK
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Correct language and subtitles all the way here.
EV's are the Devils matchbox.
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#4327885 - 01/11/17 02:55 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 49,716
Jedi Master
Entil'zha
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Entil'zha
Sierra Hotel
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Posts: 49,716
Space Coast, USA
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I wonder if any producers ever commissioned a study to see if films with accented English, correct or not, do better than films where significant parts are subtitled in the proper language.
My guess is they did because there is a widely held belief that people don't like subtitles outside of a few phrases here or there. There is also the issue of needing to find actors who speak that language. Getting an actor who doesn't know it to try and act while speaking words they don't understand results in an inferior performance. That is why Rome was not filmed with the actors speaking Latin and subtitled.
Of course, subtitles are still vastly preferable to godawful dubbing.
The Jedi Master
The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
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#4327892 - 01/11/17 03:24 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,503
DM
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,503
Prague
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Yeah original language + subtitles all the way here. In fact I like it so much, when I play Silent Hunter 3 I actually change the ingame language to German (with subtitles) to get a better "Das Boot" feel
"They might look the same, but they don't taste the same."
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#4327915 - 01/11/17 05:49 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 5,534
Alicatt
Hotshot
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Hotshot
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 5,534
Ice Cold in Alex or Eating in ...
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OV en ondertitels the double set of Flags of our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima would not be the same without the original language. One thing I'm waiting for is to get Assassin's Creed on Blu Ray so I can get the English subtitles for the Spanish sections
Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil Sons of the hound come here and get flesh Clan Cameron
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#4327917 - 01/11/17 06:01 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,105
Chucky
Veteran
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Veteran
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Posts: 12,105
UK
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Tarantino uses quite a few native speakers in his films. Inglorious Basterds was very good as was Kill Bill although I'm wondering if Thurman did a good job with her Japanese or not. The Man from Okinawa is my favourite chapter in Kill Bill.
EV's are the Devils matchbox.
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#4327919 - 01/11/17 06:08 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: Chucky]
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,386
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
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Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,386
Miami, FL USA
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The Man from Okinawa is my favourite chapter in Kill Bill. Is that the one where Uma goes to have her custom sword made?
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4327926 - 01/11/17 06:25 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
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Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
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Well, can anyone imagine John Wayne trying to speak German in The Sea Chase? Good grief, even for non-German speakers it would sound like John Wayne trying to speak German.
Hell, he didn't even try for a German accent.
Or Chinese. God, I'd love to watch Blood Alley with John Wayne butchering Chinese with his inflection and cadence.
So sometimes it's better to have the actors speak like they normally do, and to hell with accents and different languages.
That said, if it's done right, I prefer normal languages where there are two or more. If it's all on one side, English is okay, as since I'm viewing it from their perspective I should know their language.
It's the same reason I snort at the idea that putting English labels in foreign cockpits within sims is wrong. I'd bet the German pilots in their FW-190's could read the labels. Why make it so I can't?
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events. More dumb stuff at http://www.darts-page.comFrom Laser: "The forum is the place where combat (real time) flight simulator fans come to play turn based strategy combat."
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#4327927 - 01/11/17 06:30 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,105
Chucky
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Veteran
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Posts: 12,105
UK
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The Man from Okinawa is my favourite chapter in Kill Bill. Is that the one where Uma goes to have her custom sword made? Yup.I like the fighting scenes but that sushi bar one I just love. I think that scene introduced me to Sonny Chiba. Never knew of the guy.
EV's are the Devils matchbox.
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#4328100 - 01/12/17 02:30 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: Dart]
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Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 49,716
Jedi Master
Entil'zha
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Entil'zha
Sierra Hotel
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 49,716
Space Coast, USA
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Or Chinese. God, I'd love to watch Blood Alley with John Wayne butchering Chinese with his inflection and cadence.
Ni hao, pilgrim! Xie xie! The Jedi Master
The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
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#4328281 - 01/13/17 08:47 AM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,586
kaa
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,586
France
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Speaking of Das Boot, I admit that the English dubbed version is quite good since the same actors did the dubbing for the most part but yeah, the original German version is still far superior. With some political correctness : I remember Frenzen's fart becoming Frenzen's feet in the English version !
"Anyone can shoot you down if you don't see him coming but it takes a wonderfully good Hun to bag a Camel if you're expecting him." Tom Cundall.
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#4328306 - 01/13/17 12:22 PM
Re: War movies and languages
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,876
Immermann
SimHQ's resident fire enthusiast.
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SimHQ's resident fire enthusiast.
Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,876
Lule/Norrbotten/Sweden
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I prefer subtitles. All foreign movies are shown with subtitles in Sweden. Only children's movies and TV shows are dubbed.
"When I saw The Matrix at a local theatre in Slovenia, I had the unique opportunity of sitting close to the ideal spectator of the film - namely, to an idiot." - Slavoj Zizek
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