lizard

Figures: a month after I import it from the UK, Amazon announces that it is taking orders for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as an individual release:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._email_title_1

No date yet, and the price is currently $17.49 but with an MSRP of $24.95 I would expect that it will go much lower in time.

Edit: Amazon says CTHD is now in stock (3/29/10).

nitin77

anyone know if the subs on the US release are the theatrical subs or the same non-theatrical ones on the UK disc.

matome

Cool, I was waiting for an individual release as I already owned the other movies on BD.

Josh Z

They are the dumbed-down translation, unfortunately.

nitin77

bugger, theres no version around with the theatrical subs is there?

Rypro 525

on imdb it said the chinese dvd version has the theatrical subs. Now i would assume this would mean the region 3 superbit version has the real subs, but i can't confirm that or anything

Josh Z

The Region 1 Superbit DVD also has the theatrical subtitles. But for Blu-ray, Sony used the poorer translation for some stupid reason.

(Sadly, the Superbit DVD looks like total crap in comparision to the Blu-ray.)

Rypro 525

Oreally? Might have to pick up the superbit dvd then, if i can find it

lizard

I was concerned about the dumbed down subtitles but, although I did notice them in a few places, it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Nevertheless, why they insist on doing things like that baffles me.

On the subject of the dialog, the commentary is interesting. They point out several instances of jokes or puns in Mandarin that get laughs from Chinese audiences but aren't apparent in the translation.

Rypro 525

^i assume its the same commentary on the DVD correct? Has Ang Lee and one of the producers.

And if i were to make the move to the dark side, crouching tiger would be one of my big upgrades, cause the DVD does look like crap, during some of the night time fight scenes, it looks like there is motion blurring.

lizard

Yes, I believe the extras are the same as the DVD release, including the commentary by Ang Lee and James Schamus. But I hadn't listened to the DVD commentary in a long time, so I couldn't say for sure. CTHD is one of my top 5 favorites, so trying to get it on BD was a priority for me. It is such a pretty movie, it deserves to be in High Definition. But I am biased, of course.

RaMMaR

Too bad Coco Lee's "A Love Before Time" music vid isn't on any of the BD releases (only on the R3 DVD AFAiK).

truelies

Does the UK version still steel case?

lizard

^The one I received in late January was a steel case. FWIW.

lizard

Amazon has pulled this title now: it is no longer available for ordering. Don't know why.

MisterHowie

Agggghh!!!

GenPion

It will still come out individually. Don't give up hope.

lizard

For those unwilling to wait, this is a link to the Amazon UK version:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crouching-Ti...7806660&sr=1-1

The exchange rate has become more favorable in recent days, so the shipped price is about $17.89 (for me, today). It probably still comes in a steelbook case and the BD is fully compatible with USA BD players.

Artman

Thanks for the update(s) lizard, does the UK version have the same subtitles that the US is getting? Will prob just wait but if they're the theatrical subs I'd jump on it.

lizard

^I think it is the same as the current USA release (in the box set) with dumbed down subtitles. But I have never seen the current US version, so I can't say for sure. However, as I mentioned above, I didn't think the subtitles were all that bad on my UK disc.

If someone can provide me specific examples of subtitle changes versus the theatrical or superbit ones, I'd be happy to let you know what they are in the UK version.

Josh Z

All Blu-ray editions worldwide so far have been released by Sony, and have the same subtitles. I don't have specific examples at hand, but the simplified translation overuses modern slang and contractions.

Edit: I've found a post I made on AVSForum when the disc came out.

---

I don't speak Mandarin, but just based on its coherency in English, I thought the subtitle translation was pretty bad. It's not nearly as awful as the dub, but it's still not good. It's filled with all sorts of slang and contractions that don't feel at all appropriate to the formal settings or types of conversations that the characters are having.

For example, early in the movie, Shu Lien asks Li Mu Bai about his Wudan studies. In the original DVD translation, he says, "I left the training early." On the Blu-ray, he says, "I broke it off."

I don't know which is more literal to the Mandarin being spoken, but the new subtitles lose a lot of the poetry of the language. Considering that the original subtitles were written by the English-speaking screenwriter, who undoubtedly knows how he intended the dialogue to come across, I can't imagine why Sony would go to the trouble and expense of commissioning a new translation in the first place.

lizard

That example of dialog on the UK BD is:

"I broke it off. I couldn't complete the training"

Like I said earlier, it isn't as bad as I feared, but I do wish they had kept the more formal dialog in the subtitles, as you suggest.


There are also a number of usages I never understood even in the DVD subtitles. For example: "Shu Lien" is always referred to by her first name in the subs, without her surname, but to my ear the spoken name is "Yu Shu-Lien". Since Zhang Ziyi's character is the daughter of Governor Yu, I assume that the surname was left off the "Shu Lien" subtitles to avoid confusion, since they aren't related. (Perhaps "Yu" is a common surname, like "Smith".)

That's ok, I guess. But why do they translate Zhang Ziyi's character as "Jen"? Her given name doesn't sound anything like that, although I can't remember it well enough to do a proper transliteration; imdb shows it as (Yu) "Jiao Long", which sounds about right . That one always bugged me. Why not just use "Jiao Long"?

Josh Z

These are questions I don't know the answer to. However, the Superbit DVD subtitles are the theatrical subtitles, which were written by James Schamus, the movie's screenwriter. So, for whatever reason, that's how he wanted the character names translated.

rexinnih

I actually ordered this from Amazon UK last month and didn't receive the Steelbook version. Others may vary but not for me.

lizard

Amazon is now allowing the pre-order of this title again. Still no release date.