Not Bad But Should Have Been Set In A Western Country
No one spoke Hungarian.
One big problem for me.
Anyone feel that the country needed to be changed in the movie to an English speaking one?
No one spoke Hungarian.
One big problem for me.
Anyone feel that the country needed to be changed in the movie to an English speaking one?
Not at all a problem, this is conventional for everyone to speak English in a foreign country during the Holloywood studio system days.
The idea that it takes place in Hungary adds to the charm of the film.
Look at Schindler's List. The majority of the characters speak English.
shareI don't think the setting detracts from the film at all. It adds a lot of poignancy to realize that the Nazis were about to destroy this entire country and send its Jewish population to the gas chambers, of which certainly Felix Bressart would have been a part. In that way it's similar to the film "To Be or Not to Be", another great Ernst Lubistch movie.
shareThen do you also have "big problems" with westerns where the indians don't speak Lakota or Navajo.
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Rome! By all means, Rome.
If they're native Indians and the film takes place in America and they speak English, then no because America is an English speaking country. If they ALL speak German, French, Italian etc, then yes.
shareConsidering it was released to an American English audience, no I don't think it's a problem that it's not in another language.
shareI agree with pontipy - this has never bothered me - it's never bothered me that all the Polish citizens in "To Be or Not to Be" also speak American English and don't try for any particular accent though the story takes place (mostly) in Warsaw. The idea is help the audience feel at home and familiar in unfamiliar circumstances - it's helped, sweetly, in this story, by the little bit of text at the start of the movie, that the store is "just around the corner" (from Andrassy Street, in Budapest), and from the very first shot of the plaza, in early daylight, with the cobbled, wide streets, the horse and cart, and bicycle: right away, I like where I am. Right away, there's a feeling of "home", even though I have never lived there. And the first major character we see is the sweet, humble and gentle Felix Bressart, waiting to get into the locked store where he works. By the time everyone is gathered and waiting for the boss to open the door, I have a good handle on who everyone is, and the English language coming from them is a fitting as the old-fashioned, Hungarian setting. Lubitsch has accomplished, for me, what he intended to: brought me happily and effortlessly, into his world. A language I can understand without effort is vital to this. In this case, it's American English. I'm content.
shareMy issue is not with the language but the picture painted of the setting. Given the cars, I guess it is set between the wars when Hungary had become a soviet Republic. Sorry, but it doesn't seem like one, and it has been candy-coated. Still love the film; James Stewart us my all time favourite actor.
Best comment I've ever read on IMDB, Elena-28. Informative and illuminating without ever being patronising.
sharei understand the original book was set in budapest, and Lubitsch did not want to change that. he hAd no problem making english language films aet in foreign countries. Trouble in Paradise for instance is set in france, but everyone speaks English in that. Ninotchka likewise is set in France, but again everyone speAks English. the same goes for numerous other films by other directors. All those English versions of The Three Musketeers for example.
shareAssume they are speaking their native language and we are hearing it in ours.
Earth without art is just "eh."
No. If you change the location, you have to change the names, etc., why change the original story so much? It is set in Hungary, deal with it, if it bothers you that much watch it with Hungarian dub, there, problem solved.
shareHow is Hungary not a western country? And how does "western country" = "English-speaking" to you?
share