The Criterion Collection

[Knaldskalle]

Originally Posted by jw007

I mean, who is okay with another actor being dubbed over the original actor?

George Lucas?

David Prowse played Darth Vader in Star Wars, but his voice was dubbed by James Earl Jones.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

George Lucas?

David Prowse played Darth Vader in Star Wars, but his voice was dubbed by James Earl Jones.

I can live with that because it doesn't affect the movie - you're seeing a costume, not an actor. No different than someone voicing an animated character and later being replaced by someone else. I'm sure David Prowse didn't see it that way, of course, but it's hard to argue against using the voice of James Earl Jones for, well, anything.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

No different than someone voicing an animated character and later being replaced by someone else.

The thing is that many times if not all, the drawing of animated characters is built upon the performance of the actors! They even sometimes get expressions or facial characteristics of them

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

The thing is that many times if not all, the drawing of animated characters is built upon the performance of the actors! They even sometimes get expressions or facial characteristics of them

Understood and agreed, but still...

What about Disney movies that are re-released with contemporary voice actors?

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Understood and agreed, but still...

What about Disney movies that are re-released with contemporary voice actors?

Huh? an example? I didn't know anything about such a thing.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Understood and agreed, but still...

What about Disney movies that are re-released with contemporary voice actors?

I've never heard of any such Disney release. Can you give an example?

(Other than, of course, Disney providing English dub tracks with notable Western actors for their Studio Ghibli releases.)

[Nuck Horris]

Susperia has the ultimate cluster**** in dubbing.

They make good meatballs but I'm not sure I like the Italians all that much...

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Huh? an example? I didn't know anything about such a thing.

Originally Posted by jayembee

I've never heard of any such Disney release. Can you give an example?

(Other than, of course, Disney providing English dub tracks with notable Western actors for their Studio Ghibli releases.)

Wasn't speaking of DVD/Blu release, but I remember Disney movies being re-released theatrically during my childhood with contemporary voice actors. I want to say Cinderella, but I'm not sure.

However, I can't find anything about this, so I'm wondering if my memory is playing tricks on me. I swear I'm right though.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Wasn't speaking of DVD/Blu release, but I remember Disney movies being re-released theatrically during my childhood with contemporary voice actors. I want to say Cinderella, but I'm not sure.

However, I can't find anything about this, so I'm wondering if my memory is playing tricks on me. I swear I'm right though.

Never ever heard of such a thing..

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Never ever heard of such a thing..

Unless I can find some actual evidence, I have to assume my memory is playing tricks on me.

[pedromvu]

Black Girl has just been added to the Janus website, not sure if it might be released as a standalone or if they will eventually revive the World Cinema Project:

http://www.janusfilms.com/films/1811

[Namuhana]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Understood and agreed, but still...

What about Disney movies that are re-released with contemporary voice actors?

I know that several foreign dubs of Disney Animated Classics have been updated from previous dubs (Italy and Spain, that I can recall), but I haven't heard of anything about new English dubs of already existing DACs. Different voice actors have been used for the Princess line for their new stuff, though (I believe Susan Egan replaced Paige O'Hara as Belle, for instance).

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

Going back to the discussion of overdubbing audio parts in movies for just a moment. I want to hear a film as it was intended, with the actors on screen supplying complete performances. If that means reading subtitles, then so be it, because so much of a great actor's performance comes not just from the words they are saying, but how they are saying it. Delivery, and emotion, convey much more than words alone could ever do.

I liken this to watching an opera. In Pretty Woman, Richard Gere's Edward flies Julia Roberts' Vivian to the San Francisco Opera House to see a performance of Verdi's La Traviata. Edward tells her the first time a person sees an opera, they will have a dramatic reaction: either they will love it, or hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they hate it, they might learn to appreciate it one day, but it will never become part of their soul. Vivian clearly does not speak Italian, but by the end of the performance, she is moved to tears. She had a visceral reaction even though she couldn't understand what specifically was being said. Think, too, of the line in Shawshank Redemption when Red is talking about "those two Italian ladies, and how to this day I have no idea what they were singing about." The sheer power of their voices, and the emotions coming through in their singing conveyed feeling to a man that had not a clue what they were saying. And judging by the reactions of the men in the courtyard when Andy started playing the opera over the p.a. system, they were moved beyond words. For a short time, the men in that prison felt free because the voices of two ladies soared where they could not go.

Think of Brando in the back seat of that car in On The Waterfront, lamenting what his life could have been. Somebody could watch that scene, and not speak a word of English, and yet, they would take something away from Brando's riveting performance. You need to hear Brando delivering the lines to feel the regret, and the pain, in his voice. Who could read those lines Brando spoke, in another language, and capture the essence of his performance? Very few men have had command of the acting muse the way Brando did.

this list goes on and on...
just from the last film I posted about here - Pickup on South Street. what a disservice it'd be to Thelma Ritter's great performance to remove the inflection and pain in her voice by dubbing it in another language.

[mja345]

How about "The Leopard"? If you are really bothered by dubbing, that film would be your worst nightmare. Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale are both completely dubbed in the 185 minute version. I think Alain Delon had portions of his dialogue dubbed as well. Although the dubbing is very competently done, so it's certainly not like watching some kung fu movie.

[AaronJ]

All I want out of life at this point is a release that includes both Dogville and Manderlay.

Sadly, I don't think I will ever see those.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

All I want out of life at this point is a release that includes both Dogville and Manderlay.

Sadly, I don't think I will ever see those.

No offense Aaron, but I think you need to set your sights a little higher brah.

...there's more important things in life than Criterion.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

No offense Aaron, but I think you need to set your sights a little higher brah.

...there's more important things in life than Criterion.

[Show spoiler]

I dunno, man. Two Von Trier films, both rather experimental, one starring Nicole Kidman and the other starring Bryce Dallas Howard?

Not sure there's much more important than that!

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

All I want out of life at this point is a release that includes both Dogville and Manderlay.

Sadly, I don't think I will ever see those.

I once checked the Amazon stream of Dogville and it looked quite good in HD, don't think there is any source problem at least, rights I don't know.

It would be even better if Von Trier decided to finally complete the trilogy so we can get a trilogy box set , this is of course even less probable sadly.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I once checked the Amazon stream of Dogville and it looked quite good in HD, don't think there is any source problem at least, rights I don't know.

It would be even better if Von Trier decided to finally complete the trilogy so we can get a trilogy box set , this is of course even less probable sadly.

Yeah. Lars has let us down big time. Bastard.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

George Lucas?

David Prowse played Darth Vader in Star Wars, but his voice was dubbed by James Earl Jones.

That was a truly unique exception, as DaBargainHunta said, "you're seeing a costume, not an actor". If you took Robert DeNiro, replaced his voice with that of Melanie Griffith and then CGI'ed his body with Rodney Dangerfield's, that is just not cool at all. I know that never happened in real life, but I'm just saying, I don't like trickery.

On a side note, Lucas did some unusual things with the home video releases of Star Wars, and that was his decision. The only thing that truly bothered me was replacing Sebastian Shaw (who played the ghost of Annakin Skywalker) with the young Hayden Christensen. When you take an actor that you grew up with retaining fond memories of (if for even an 8 second shot), and you conveniently replace him in a new version of the film, for consistency's sake, the line has been crossed. Now that Disney owns the Star Wars franchise, I think we might have a real chance of owning the "original" original trilogy (Episodes IV - VI) on blu-ray.