If you are watching now on TCM, maybe you can answer this...Why are the French women some of the soldiers meet speaking French, while the 'German' soldiers don't even have so much as a German accent? They don't even try to sound German from the movie so far. Yeah I know its 1930, but the teacher in the beginning had a German accent, but only a few of the soldiers do.....
shareIf they all had German accents, you'd complain their accents aren't authentic and you'd STILL complain they're speaking English. If they speak German, you'd complain that the entire film is subtitled. Can't win. Most viewers would rather hear a non-attempt than hear a terrible accent anyway. Not to mention the fact that films WITH SOUND was still a pretty new concept. Back then, they probably didn't notice or care about the accents and languages. They were just happy to see films without titlecards.
Obviously, it makes sense to have the French women speaking non-English because they are speaking a language different from the protagonists. It also makes sense, instead of subtitling the entire film, to simply exchange German for English and make it a more enjoyable film experience for all English-speakers (the main audience for the film).
If they all had German accents, you'd complain their accents aren't authentic and you'd STILL complain they're speaking English. If they speak German, you'd complain that the entire film is subtitled.
Most viewers would rather hear a non-attempt than hear a terrible accent anyway.
It does not sound like a German accent to me. More like upper-class from some part of the United Kingdom that I cannot pinpoint.
That's not what he meant though. He meant that some frump like you would find something to complain about. For you, your complaint is the language, for others the accent, and others still the subtitle. There is always something to complain about such great films, just look at TGF board.
shareThe English spoken in this film represents German.
To have them speak German with some clownish 'German accent' would be absurd.
Thankfully there was no attempt made at something like this.
Yes, surprisingly many films do that (use an accent to represent people speaking in a foreign language) and I always hate it.
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To even things up, Kirk Douglas playing a French soldier speaks unaccented English in Paths of Glory.
shareI hate the cheesy German accents sometimes used in the movies. Marlon Brando in The Young Lions comes to mind.
In All Quiet on the Western Front most of the actors playing young German soldiers have American accents. It makes them seem to me like just young guys, not some stereotyped enemy. That is the point of the movie. Young guys get talked into joining up, thinking of parades and medals. The reality is horrible as they soon find out.
The French girls speaking French emphasizes that even though they don't speak each others' language, they still could get together for some fun during a war.
Great movie.
What IDIOTS! The OP is right - the fact that these so-called "Germans" speak perfect English is confusing and ABSURD! We had just come out of the silent era so subtitles would've been familiar to1930 audiences. This HUGE gaffe hurts the film's credibility. It's also 30 minutes TOO long.
shareYou're crazy. It sounds incredibly cheesy when they use accents to represent someone speaking a foreign language. Not to mention that it inhibits the actors' ability to engage in nuanced acting, because they have to concentrate on the phony accent all the time.
For me, if a movie is about people in another country speaking their own language, I want them to use the real language and put English subtitles, or just have them speak with American or British accents (as in the excellent miniseries CHERNOBYL from a couple years ago).
In 2018 I went to see the Jennifer Lawrence film RED SPARROW, and I walked out after less than five minutes because they were doing the cheesy accent thing to represent speaking Russian. I absolutely will not watch a movie that does that.
BTW, i'm not defending this movie overall necessarily. The dialogue is really cheesy and the acting is iffy. But "German" accents like you are asking for it would have just made it worse.
I guess you've never seen Meryl Streep, or Judy Garland and Mintgomery Clift in "Judgement at Nuremberg." These actors studied with dialect coaches and pulled off their accents very well.
The same should've applied to the actors in AQOTWF.
So you are wrong.
Meryl Streep has done excellent accent work, and of course there are a number of British actors who speak flawless American English in various projects. So I'll withdraw that objection. To my knowledge, though, Streep has always used accented English because she was playing an immigrant or foreign national who was ACTUALLY SPEAKING ENGLISH WITH AN ACCENT. I haven't seen "Judgement at Nuremberg", but if Garland and Clift were speaking English with a German accent to indicate that they were actually speaking German, then I don't want it (I can't be "wrong" about what I prefer). I don't care how well they continued to act while using the phony accents, the fundamental concept of using accents this way comes across as incredibly lame.
And it's not just me. Here is what the creators of the "Chernobyl" miniseries had to say on the subject:
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/chernobyl-why-the-cast-didnt-use-russian-or-ukrainian-accents/
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Was it ever planned for Jared Harris, who played nuclear scientist Valery Legasov in the multiple Bafta-nominated drama, to speak his lines in English using a Russian accent? No. ‘That accent on film is tremendously stupid,’ was Renck’s explanation.
Agreeing that Soviet accents on Western screens have long been an unfunny punchline, series creator Craig Mazin agreed. ‘Fake accents, generally speaking, are bullshit.’
‘The people that were the most pleased about our choice in the accents were the Russian speakers,’ Mazin continued, relaying feedback from members of the crew and viewers who were ‘tired of hearing their language butchered and mocked.’ The production took great pains to ensure that what appeared on screen didn’t look like ‘another dumb impression’ of people from Eastern Europe.
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Keep in mind that this is a production with a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, that was nominated for NINETEEN Emmys and won ten, including Best Limited Series of 2019.
Those are options they take.
To me hearing Meryl Streep talk in a stupid accent when I know she can speak perfect English is just distracting and absurd.
I agree, but maybe the budget was tight.
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They lost the war. What did you expect?
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