animatedude

i dont know about you guys but the UK edition is the winner for me.

pro-bassoonist

I tried to compare the R1 and R2 (German Premium edition) versions as much as I could here. Hopefully people that are on the fence regarding which version is the best one to own (at this point) will find some answers...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17098

Ciao,
Pro-B

dvdisoil

Thank Pro-B , have been looking forward to this review. Though you seem to slightly tilt towards the R2 version I probably will be getting the R1 ( DDD has it for 18.xx shipped) , the commentary track alone should satisfy me in the extras department .

slop101

So the English commentary track on the R1 is not on the German R2?

pro-bassoonist

Slop101...unless I am missing something there is no English commentary on my German disc. I spent the last 48 hours mostly comparing the audio/video quality between the two discs.

Regards,
Pro-B

pro-bassoonist

I actually do for the resons I specified in the review...the overall presentation of the R2 set (design, massive non-subbed extras, DTS track, etc). But I also understand that this film has been treated VERY POORLY in the US. Looking at some of the comments in existing reviews I think that there were some uneasy people out there. Unless the market proves me wrong...I don't think that anyone limited by a R1 player can expect more (read a SE). That is precisely why I ignored the subtitles issue and lack of extras and went against my quality principles placing the disc in the Collector's series.

To be honest with you (and everyone else) interested in seeing Der Untergang this was THE BEST FOREIGN PRODUCTION that should have earned an Oscar last year....not Mar adentro aka The Sea Inside.

Ciao,
Pro-B

flixtime

Actually, this reminds me of a question I had some time back when I watched the German DVD. On the German DVD, at the very start of the film they show the older Traudl Junge as she does the opening narration. I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but I don't remember her being shown at the beginning when I saw it in U.S. theaters. I do remember the narration but I think it was over a black screen until they show the younger version of Traudl and the other women walking through the woods to the bunker.

pro-bassoonist

The narration is clearly in the R1 dvd and it was in the theater when I saw it...again....even with the German company logo and a text that warns against piracy, etc...this DVD seems like a direct replica of the German print (unless someone proves me wrong this is my opinion)

Pro-B

flixtime

I am in most definite agreement.

flixtime

Just to clarify, yes, the narration was in both versions I saw, it's just that I seem to recall that in U.S. theaters they did not show the older Traudl Junge until the end. When I watched the German DVD with a couple of people I'd seen the film with in theaters they didn't recall her being shown in the beginning either. Yes, the narration was there but over a black screen for the most part. But hey, my memory ain't what it used to be, so I yield to your expertise.

flixtime

Also, and please bear with me, because it's been a while since I've watched the film. The German DVD shows the title in German (naturally). When I saw it in theaters I seem to recall the title was shown in English aka "Downfall" (and I don't just mean "Der Untergang" with "Downfall" in the subs below). I understand the R1 DVD is a port of the German release. I'm just curious if the U.S. theatrical release had these minor changes (and yes, I should have asked these questions months back). And yes, my memory could be playing tricks on me.

pro-bassoonist

The R1 DVD opens with the anti-pairacy text present on the German DVD and Constantin Film's logo following immediately after. The title however is replaced by a simple DOWNFALL...I think that it could have been way too obvious if Sony would have left Der Untergang there with a subtitled English name....but what makes me think that this is the exact print used for the R2 version (aside from the technical specs) is the German anti-piracy message...which is not even susbtitled....As far as the title they used in theaters here in the US....hmmm....I will be lying to you if I said they used DOWNFALL for sure....it seems like the natural option but I really don't remember. Sorry.

Regards,
Pro-B

Dane

Absolutely. Bruno Ganz got cheated big time for not receiving an Oscar for his perfomance. Damn, he delivered a good portrait of Hitler! I have never seen anything like that in my whole life.

run1

I disagree, and think "Mar adentro" is the better movie.
Wait wait wait...... put down that hammer!
;-)
I do think it's a pretty good movie.
I saw Der Untergang theatrically here in Norway (where it was a huge hit. Approx. 260 000 saw it. Biggest hit of the year here is the latest Star Wars, with some 360 000). While I found it to be very impressive, it did leave me a littl bit cold. Coming out of the movietheatre I was actually rather puzzled about that, because looking back I can't really fail the movie on anything in particular. It certainly looked the part, it had a terrific atmosphere, the actors did STELLAR work (everyone raves about Ganz ,and his performance is massive, but my "favourite" was the guy who was Goebbels. He was chilling)...... What I've come up with, is that I might have been too familiar with the subject-matter. I'd seen the documentary "blind spot" (which stayed with me much longer than Der Untergang) and just read "The fall of Berlin". So there was nothing much that surprised me with the fates of any of the people involved. Frankly, I thought the movie was at it's most interesting AFTER Hitler finally dies. The escape through russian lines was something I had little knowledge of.
So; good movie, but a little too......safe?

seymouru

That guy's eyes were truly scary. And watching him stand outside the door while his wife was in the kids' bedroom...my God. I can't imagine that Goebbels himself could have been much creepier.

glorafiedg

Just wondering if anyone has purchased the Region 3 DTS-ES version that was released last week. http://www3.cd-wow.com/detail_result...uct_code=20502

If so, how does it compare to the other releases? Picture quality, Sound Quality and Subtitles.
Thanks

The Valeyard

Any reviews for the Canadian 2-discer yet?

BearFan

Is the Canadian version realy a 2-disc version. I looked on dvdsoon and saw that they listed it as 2 discs, but did not include an extras list. Amazon.ca did not show it as being a 2-disc set.

I watched the US disc, extra included on a Netflix rental and was very tempted to by a region-free PAL DVD player just for this movie, but am now leaning against thing having recently purchased a new player.

This was a teriffic movie, I've not read the books that the movie was based on, by have read "the Bunker" and saw it's 1980-ish TV movie and the Trevor Roper 1947 book. The movie was almost exactly what I have visualized these events.

If the Canadian disc has a similar set of extras to the UK version, I'm all over it, hoping someone can confirm that it is the same or very similar to the UK version.

I listened to about 1/2 of the commentary on the US version and will listen to the rest tonight and think that it is one of the better commentaries I have heard, very informative and well spoken.

slop101

The Canadian disc it still too much of a mystery (and they usually screw up PAL to NTSC dvds anyways).

I might just wait for the UK disc, as it's a 2-disc set, so I'm assuming that it has all the extras of the German set subtitled along with the English commentary.

animatedude

trust me guys! wait for the UK version...for 2 reasons:

1-it has all the extras of the germany disc and all the extras are subtitled.
2-amazon.co.uk list it as a boxset..so expect really cool digi pack.

BearFan

Pardon my stupidity here, but for me, in the US, to play the UK Disc, I would need to get a region-free (or UK region (2?)) DVD player that plays PAL discs, but can display them on a NTSC TV.

I've never considered getting a non-Region 1 DVD before this.

slop101

^ Yes. It is assumed that everyone here on the InternationalDVD board has an all-region player with PAL conversion capabilities.

animatedude

exactly.

pro-bassoonist

Just a small note:

Michael T:

I attempted to answer your question by replying to your email but it bounced back twice. So, I will post my answer(s) here:

Only the Premium double set (Germnay) has optional English subtitles on the main feature. There are no subs on the extras. In addition there are no subtitles for the main feature on the single edition German disc.

Second, yes...from all the preliminary info I have the UK disc appears to be an exact replica of the German Premium edition. Constantin Films, the German distribs, have licensed all materials for the UK disc, including the extended interviews. The commentary in the R1 you asked about...yes it is in English and I do not know whether or not it will be on the UK double disc. Hope this helps!!

Ciao,
Pro-B

ps
If any of the readers here feel that I have to note in the review that there is an upcoming Double UK disc with all extras from the German premium edition please let me know. Since the info is in this thread though maybe I should not.

cine

I did a Google search on the UPC of Canadian version and found that some etailers do list it as 1 disc but there are others besides DVDSoon who list it as 2 discs, e.g., http://www.cinemamontreal.com/aw/cdv....La_Chute.html, so there is hope :-).