warcp

I remember asking my brothers this when I was like 8 and we were watching some movie where they were affecting accents and my brothers just laughed and laughed at me... Ahhh, the mind of a child...

sundog

the odd thing is, I knew this thread was going to be about the language because I've heard others make similar complaints in regard to Paths of Glory. In particular, my aunt and uncle, enthusiastic cinephiles, found the English speaking French soldiers too distracting. I just rolled my eyes as loudly as possible upon hearing this.

ThatGuamGuy

No, wait, go back ... regard ... if you don't know what French sounds like anyway, how do you *know* they weren't speaking French?

Quote:

The black and white filming was probably intended, I don't the think perfect english speaking french soldiers were.

I can't leave this one alone ... what do you think happened? Do you think Kubrick was in the editing room and said, "Shit! I forgot to tell every single actor that I wanted them speaking either in French or possibly just with French accents! Damn! I can't believe that slipped my mind!"

It was entirely intentional, and I'd love to hear why you still think it wasn't, since we've all explained why it was.

(And, when you say "probably", you should realize that it was *entirely* intended. There's no "probably" about it. They shot it that way because the movie wouldn't be right in color, and it ended up losing them grosses. Even then, black and white was declining in popularity, it's just that, back then, there were still exceptions to that. I just find it weird that you're a self-described Kubrick fan who can't accept that, even that far back, he was in total control over what he did. He made the choices to do these things. You can dispute the choices and their validity, but don't imply or outright state that they weren't Kubrick's choices.)

gcribbs

I decided to stop watching movies. I realize now that they are not real and so should not be enjoyed .


Starts throwing away his Dvd's


Thanks Chill Pill

Abranut

Paths of Glory kicks so much ass it's not even funny. Whutchu talkin' bout Chill Pill!?

ToddSm66

2001 always bothered me too...Seems like HAL should have had more of a Stephen Hawking type of accent.

marty888

Are you sure? Could be someone slipped the wrong film stock in the camera.

jaeufraser

You're right. It definately happens a lot. Casablanca was supposed to be a 3D full color film, but the cameraman didn't notice he had the wrong film stock til they were done shooting. Happens all the time.

And the original poster has a point. I know I can't stand Disney's Beauty in the Beast...I'm like...what's with all the frenchie's speaking perfect english??? And didn't they notice they forgot to hire actors??? What's with all the drawings?

Grubert

Actually, when I saw that, I wondered why everybody spoke perfect English except the chandelier who, being equally French, decided to do ze Maurice Chevalier.

Chill Pill

What a bunch of smart asses you guys are. Im impressed.

Besides, what a bunch of crying sissies at the end of the movie. Typical French. Its war! Kill the enemy!

Patrick Mirza

Stick to the Adam Sandler films and leave the quality stuff for the rest of us who can appreciate it.

By the way, when are we going to see your masterpiece, Chill Pill? With all your talk, you'd think you would have the monster of all anti-war films (with proper spoken languages, natch) to unleash on us.

rennervision

Set the DVD to the French language track with English subtitles. Problem solved.

Sex Fiend

This is actually a pretty elementary concept to grasp, so I don't get why so many people seem to be flummoxed by it. The inherent assumption of most dramatic art is that the audience will understand that characters in the dramatic narrative, who in versimilitude may be foreign or speak in a different native tongue than the audience, are still essentially intended to relate to the audience primarily, rather than to one another. If the characters in the narrative are supposed to be of a different linguistic origin than the audience, it still makes sense to have dialogue in the native tongue of the audience since they are intended to share the same POV as the characters.

Hence, no matter what language a film's dialogue is recorded in, it is assumed that the intended audience for the film is the native speakers of that dialogue. Thus, a French film, produced for distribution in France, will generally be recorded with French dialogue, regardless of whatever nationality the characters are intended to be, and so forth. And of course, when the film is distributed in other countries, the language difference is compensated for either by subtitling or dubbing in a different language. Does anyone really believe that Chinese audiences who are watching Die Hard dubbed in Mandarin will suddenly exclaim (in Mandarin, of course) "Bruce Willis sure doesn't look Chinese. How come he speaks Mandarin? And why are those terrorists speaking Mandarin? That doesn't make any sense."

Like all narrative arts, films do require some suspension of disbelief, as there is inherent unrealism in any sort of dramatic presentation. "Realism" - in it's most profound sense - would also dictate the existence of a "fourth wall" blocking your view of any interior scene, or that characters could never express their inner thoughts through voice-over narration. Does the existence of these inconsistencies also ruin your enjoyment of movies?

Terrell

They are not alien in the story. I agree his argument is a superficial one. But the comparisons with Star Wars are off base. It's obvious characters in Star Wars speak in english, or are subtitled in English for one reason. So we can understand them. Who would want to watch Star Wars if every character spoke in a strange language we couldn't understand? Nobody!

Though, you could make this argument about nearly every movie that incorporates character from other countries. You could make the same argument about Gladiator. It's obvious why they do it that way. Americans don't want to see a movie that's subtitled in English all the through the movie. It wouldn't do well. There are exceptions to this, such as Passion of the Christ. But more often than not, they don't want to have to stare down at the subtitles to understand a movie.

Rizor

Same thing with Moulin Rouge. You'd think people in Paris would speak with a French accent!

I can usually let this kind of stuff slip, but for some reason, it really bugged me when I was watching Time Bandits. Here's a movie where so much of it depends on characters understanding each other and traveling back and forward in time through different countries. You've got Napolean speaking English, and then for some strange reason, you've got the little English boy making conversation with King Agamemnon (from Ancient Greece) in perfect English! There's no way they could've understood one another much the less establish such a father-son relationship!

Chill Pill

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Patrick Mirza
[B]Stick to the Adam Sandler films and leave the quality stuff for the rest of us who can appreciate it.

Big Daddy has so many different levels its not even funny, my friend. Casual viewers will most likely to be unable to see into it tho. Oh well, some of us have it, some of us don't.

Sex Fiend, great reply.

You are all absolutely correct anyway. I just have a different way of expressing little pet peeves of mine.

Anyway, its amazing how a movie that old stills looks good today. That battle scene is simply great.