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Lola/Rath in German version vs American Version


Has anyone else noticed that both Lola and Rath are more complex are different characters in the German version.

I just got done watching both versions back to back (german w/subitles than english). I had never seen the american version before and was surprised at how Lola's character was changed, seemingly subtly but really rather dramactically. Similarly Rath motivation for marriage changes dramtically in the am. ver.

Examples:

1) when the Rath spills Lola's cards on the wedding night and says as long as he has a "penny they will never be sold"

german ver: Lola replies "well you can never tell. we better keep them." at most implying that she's not sure yet that she can rely on him.
american ver: Lola demands he picks them up before they "get dirty" clearly telling him he's nothing and assigning him his fate/place.

2) when Rath is told they are going to be playing at the blue angel as Lola is doing laundry and Rath is getting ready for the stage.

german version: Lola shows some sympathy telling the director to leave Rath alone. The dir. then points out Rath has been living off Lola for 5 years. Lola tells the dir. Rath will be there but then physically comforts Rath and tells him he doesn't have to do what he doesn't want.
american version: the whole exchange is cut to essentially nothing with Lola pretty with the scene where she comforts him becoming one where she is in essence telling him to shut up.

In the German version Lola's disllusionment with Rath is a more understandable. One can interpret her character as thinking she got a "man" to discover she married a "wimp" that she supports for 5 years.

We see Rath as a naive man who willingly jumps into a world he doesn't understand and won't fit in due to his romantic illusions about a woman who hasn't hid what she is. Rath choose to leave his world for something that he will clearly not be happy with. After all, Rath could have chosen to try and bring Lola into his world and choses not to.

The German version argues that to a large extent Rath is responsible for his disintegration. Rath has failed to find a comfortable place for himself in a world he chose. Rath has chosen to not follow through, i.e., refusing to play the Blue Angel, supporting Lola so she won't have to sell her cards, etc.

Anyway, I was just surprised at how much the story was changed between the two versions. Is is that America like clear stories of a man ruined by a woman and not the more complex story of a man self-destructing do to his own failings to understand himself and the woman he chooses to get involved with?




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The German-language version is the ONLY version for anyone serious about film to watch. This is not because ONLY a German-language version COULD be serious but because, in the context of the film's production history, only the German-language version WAS.

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An observation, The German language version of the film is actually a US made film. I guess it's not that big a deal, but if one is looking for it, you won't find it as a German import, but as a domestic film (here in the US).


Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing is made on the Moon! My Uncle from Mars told me, so I know it's true!

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An observation, The German language version of the film is actually a US made film.

that's wrong. this movie was made in Germany, in the city where i live (in the former UFA studios in Babelsberg, Potsdam).

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The movie DCD release says quite specifically that it is a US production. Yes, it was made in Germany, no it was not a German production.

I looked up the information, prior to my statement.


Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing is made on the Moon! My Uncle from Mars told me, so I know it's true!

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are you sure that it's not just the version you own which is an american production? the imdb states that the production company is the UFA which was the most important production company of germany.

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The German version of the film was shot at the same time as the english version. A german production company was involved yes. However, it did not originate in Germany in regards to the origin of production. It is an American film, with German backing, made in Germany. With a German language version shot with it. -Also would like to note that the German version is shot with mostly the same actors as used in the English spoken version. The English spoken version is shorter, as the German actors couldn't handle speaking English all that well, which lead to scenes either being cut short, or eliminated.

In watching the two versions of the film you can see that camera angles, editing and scene changes are virtually identical.

In any case. The German language version of the film is vastly superior to that of the English one.

The same thing was done with Bela Lugosi's Dracula. A Spanish Language film was shot at the same time, using different actors, but the same sets.

Take also for example some more recent films. Ultraviolet is an American film, yet it was shot entirely in China. -With Chinese funding assistance. Same thing. It however doesn't make it a "Chinese" film. Blade II was shot in Prague, note that that doesn't make it a "Prague" film. Again, same thing with the film Underworld, also shot in Prague. The list goes on, and on, and on.

I realise that you must have some pride in your heritage, your country, and the city you are from. My statement is not an insult towards any of that. My statements originated in an effor to tell people who might be looking for the film in the United States that looking for it as a "import" wouldn't work, as it is not as such. While shot entirely in a foreign country, it is a "Domestic" film.


Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing is made on the Moon! My Uncle from Mars told me, so I know it's true!

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well, it seems that you have more profound knowledge on the topic than i expected from your short first comment which sounded like you didn't have any backing by knowledge. i don't argue with your statement out of pride for my country (we germans aren't that patriotic) but because i have never heard of it being something else than german.

nevertheless, i'd still like to argue. the german wikipedia states germany as the land of origin and the imdb keeps the movie under it's german title. while Ultraviolet was made in china it's still on the imdb under the the american title because it's an american movie. a chinese movie has the chinese title on the imdb. so while don't have any problems with it being an american movie i would need a proof to believe this.

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I have to agree with 'T-Ass381' on this subject. In the end it does not even matter whose money was used to produce this film, or distribution or ownership contracts etc..."Der Blaue Engel" is indisputably a German film. And I think it is incredibly arrogant for Americans to try to claim this one as their own. This attitude is why so many people have problems with Americans. Once again, This josef Von Sternberg masterwork is such a part of German culture, and German history, that to claim otherwise is actually quite funny, and totally absurd.

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Von Sternberg was an American . Check out his biography "Fun in a Chineese Laundry " which discusses the film's production . It would not be far off the mark to call the film a German-American production .

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Der Blaue Engel WAS a German-American Production.

Josef (von) Sternberg was an Austrian Jew born in Vienna, emigrated to New York with his family when he was a child. As a film director, he was under contract with Paramount which financed and distributed the motion picture along with UFA.

Universum Film AG wished to be at par with other European studios and produce the first German "talkie". Sternberg, invited by Emil Jannings to direct him in a talking picture, eventually chose Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat for his screenplay. The rest is history.

It is interesting to note that the star of the movie WAS Emil Jannings, not Marlene Dietrich. Mr. Jannings, who was Swiss-American, wished to take revenge of the American studio system which brought his acting career to a halt due to his strong German accent, considered unfit for talking pictures. Incidentally, foreign accents are still an issue in Hollywood, aren't they?

Because the motion picture was banned by the Nazi regime in 1933 and its original reels destroyed, we should thank Paramount Pictures for safekeeping German-language copies, thus allowing today's viewers to enjoy the movie, without prejudice for the absolutely German genuinity of the actors and technical staff at UFA.

At any rate, the story is universal, and the acting timeless. Every time I see this film, I am moved to tears.

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The movie producer was Erich Pommer, born in Germany and later in 1944 he emigrated to USA. The studios were from UFA, and the staff was German also, they made two versions of the movie, one in German and the other in English, using the same crew, actors etc. I prefer the German language version with subtitles.It was and is a German movie.Thats all.
Do you remember the joke?? When two astronauts, one American and the other Russian, are on the moon and one say to the other: Meanwhile we are here we better talk to each other in German....

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foreign accents are still an issue in Hollywood, aren't they?

Tell that to Arnie....


I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.

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Prague is my favorite country. Heh.

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The German version of the film was shot at the same time as the english version.



Scene by scene? German first and English second?

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There are all kinds of stories swirling around "Metropolis" (1927) that during this period UFA was going bankrupt, yet refused to sell itself outright. So the American studios did a lot of "co-production" (and even "production") of various UFA films as a way to sneak in the back door financially. Their goal was that eventually UFA would be so beholden to their financing that they'd basically "own" UFA.

Also, at this time UFA's ranks were swelled by movie people who had worked in America who were having career problems. Not long after winning the very first Oscar for Best Actor, Emil Jannings was a victim of the change to talkies - his thickly accented English was hard for audiences to understand. Rejected by Hollywood, he went to UFA. Likewise Josef von Sternberg's directing career was in a lull, but he had some previous history with Emil Jannings.

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no it was not a German production.
The producer is listed in the credits, on IMDb, and in Wikipedia (and I assume other places too) as 'Erich Pommer'. His German credentials are impeccable - Wikipedia's opening paragraph is "Erich Pommer (July 20, 1889 – May 8, 1966) was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was the most important person in the German and European Film Industries in the 1920s and 1930s.[1] He was involved in the German Expressionist film movement during the silent era as the head of production at Decla, Decla-Bioscop and from 1924 to 1926 at Ufa responsible for many of the best known movies of the Weimar Republic such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), Die Nibelungen (1924), Michael (1924), Der Letzte Mann / The Last Laugh (1924), Variety (1925), Tartuffe (1926), Manon Lescaut (1926) Faust (1926), Metropolis (1927) and The Blue Angel (1930). He later worked in American exile before returning to Germany for a time after the war."

I looked up the information, prior to my statement.
Might we know specifically where you looked it up so others can do the same?

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Not the last time this happened either. Das Boot in German with subtitles was far superior to the English dub.

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