MovieChat Forums > Night Train to Munich (1940) Discussion > English--Apparently the official languag...

English--Apparently the official language of Nazi Germany


I loved this film but was anyone else kind of annoyed by the constant use of English in this film by all the Nazis even in their "private" conversations. I know older films tend to not use subtitles but Rex Harrison didn't even bother to switch to a Geman accent when he was pretending to be a Nazi officer... Thoughts?

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It would be more annoying not to be able to understand what anyone was saying.

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Well its a fact in sci-fi movies aliens speak English, which only goes to prove that English is THE universal language. ☺

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If a film does this and was made before 1990, I usually give it a pass. Most American audiences even today hate subtitles. It was a long time before that level of realism became common in most motion pictures. "Patton" (1970) is an early exception to this rule.

I'm a stranger here myself

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Another surprising exception: Two American TV series -- "Combat" and "The Gallant Men", both of which premiered in the early 1960s. All actors playing German soldiers, including featured guest-stars, spoke in German.

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Good point, but even a German accent would make it more believable.

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Yes, it was an embarrassment to hear that. Compare with the far more adroit use of German in The Third Man, with the unilingual Joseph Cotten and bilingual Alida Valli, who interprets for him as he goes about Vienna talking to witnesses.

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Still, it's a great movie. Don't get distracted by trivia.

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