MovieChat Forums > Tom Jones (1963) Discussion > No English subtitles on the MGM/UA DVD??...

No English subtitles on the MGM/UA DVD?? Somebody call the manager!

posted 15 years ago by Eric-1226
2 replies | jump to latest

I rented the MGM/UA version of this movie on DVD (it's the longer version, 128 minutes). I discovered to my great annoyance that the DVD is not equipped with English subtitles. Subtitles would really have been helpful, as the dialogue frequently uses older English colloquialisms that are sometimes hard to pick up on in this day and age. The only subtitle tracks included on the DVD are in Spanish, and French. Luckily I have a good reading knowledge of Spanish, so I was able (sometimes forced) to read the subtitles in Spanish. Only then was I able to piece together and understand some of the more undecipherable dialogue. However, truth be told, not all the Spanish translation was correct, and sometimes seemed clunky.

I can't understand why the DVD production crew elected not to include an English subtitle track on this movie, but did go to the trouble of including French and Spanish subtitles (and audio tracks as well, I might add). All things considered, this movie IS afterall an Academy Award winner (notwithstanding the fact that some feel undeservedly so).

Anyway, I just feel that a movie of this stature should have been equipped with English subtitles. End of rant.

"I've always tried to teach you two things. First: Never let them see you bleed. Second: Always have an escape plan." - Q

[–] Spoon-5 13 years ago

Realizing that this is more than two years later, I'll just say that there is a (hidden?) English "Closed Captions" option. I watched the film on my computer with Windows Media Player, and found it by going to the "DVD" button, then "Special Features," then "Captions."

[–] finnegansword 13 years ago

Can't understand plain English, eh? If you quote the expressions you don't understand, I will translate. Not well up on your Latin tags which Fielding quotes, such as from Dryden's translation of Ovid, "Art of Love"? Such an example is to be found in Fielding's voice-over when Squire Western and his sister attend the masked ball at Vauxhall Gardens. Thus:

"To see and be seen, in heaps they run; Some to undo, and some to be undone."

Now do you get the idea, Eric-1226 ?