Paris of the the 1930s in metric - Ninotchka (1939) Discussion

[–] BlueGreen 15 years ago

I suppose even in the late 1930s Hollywood thought of its American viewers as a bunch of unsophisticated rednecks who know nothing about the world...

Not much has changed, really.

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[–] mr-chris-newman 15 years ago

You probably right. I imagine if he started quoting metres and hectares, it would draw blank expressions from the typical American audiences

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[–] BlueGreen 15 years ago

Maybe. (Maybe not.)
But Hollywood certainly does not seem to have much confidence in the American public's intellectual sophistication...

BTW, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in "The Little Shop Around the Corner" they actually used Hungarian shop signs and other inscriptions!
And considering it was also a Lubitsch film, I wonder why, in "Ninotchka", they went with the imperial measure system after all...

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[–] mr-chris-newman 15 years ago

Location filming didn't become common until after WWII with films like the third man. Being German Lubitsch had an european eye for detail but still the studio bosses probably insisted they stuck with feet and inches

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[–] mike54191 14 years ago

The film was in English. If it had been in French the subtitles would have still been translated into English measurements. That's common sense.

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[–] mr-chris-newman 14 years ago

It is an American film though it may well have been translated into French of a French audience and maybe translated into metrics though not necessarily if the translation took place in the US. Its logical

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[–] floydsr 14 years ago

It is an American film though it may well have been translated into French of a French audience and maybe translated into metrics though not necessarily if the translation took place in the US. Its logical

If there's one word to describe that sentence, it's "logical"

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[–] redbrioche 9 years ago

Talking about language -- Leon is French and the Russians all speak French with him. Even Nina. Is that why they were the ones sent to Paris? They all seem to be fluent in French.

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[–] almostfm-1 8 years ago

French was (still is, possibly)considered the "lingua franca" of international relations. Even today, if you've got a passport, the information on it will be in at least two languages-your national language, and French.

Speaking French would probably have been a requirement for that kind of job, even if you weren't going to France.

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[–] Euphrosyne 14 years ago

"it's unthinkable that you would expose all those narrow-minded navel staring USAmericans to anything they're not familiar with."

Americans are very familiar with the metric system.
We just don't like it.

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[–] wallace569 13 years ago

Just to clarify - there's no such system as "U.S imperial". The United States customary system has its roots in British imperial units although there are differences between the two systems as they diverged and developed independently from one another. For example, the USA pint has 16 ounces whereas the Imperial pint has 20 ounces. This is 1939. The British didn't officially adopt the metric system until the mid 1960s (and even to this day both systems are used depending on the context). In the States the first real push towards metrication was in the late 1960s-early 1970s. At any rate, the English speaking audiences of 1939 on either side of the pond wouldn't understand metric measurements if they were used. I think most Americans - and Britons these days have a pretty good grasp of the metric system (after all it IS taught in schools and has been since the 60s-70s) - they just don't use it for common measurements of distances, weights, and the like.

"You want to save humanity but it's people that you just can't stand". - John Lennon

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[–] mdonln 9 years ago

wallace569 says > Americans -... have a pretty good grasp of the metric system ... - they just don't use it for common measurements of distances, weights, and the like.

These days most Americans have a better grasp of the metric system and use it more often than they realize. After all, many of us run 5Ks, we buy 2 liter sized bottles of soda, every other movie we see mentions kilos in association to drugs, we use Megabytes and Gigabytes as computer terms, etc.

I doubt this would have been the case back in 1939. It makes sense the info would have been provided in terms familiar to Americans. They didn't have smartphones or internet access for quick reference. Why confuse anyone? Those who think it's silly that metric units were not used are being ridiculous. The movie is based mostly in France yet the dialogue is in English because that's what Americans speak. The point is it's not unusual for filmmakers to present things in a way audiences could easily understand.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

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[–] 8 years ago

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