MovieChat Forums > Until They Sail (1957) Discussion > Disasterous line misreading.

Disasterous line misreading.

posted 16 years ago by vonhangman
10 replies | jump to latest

I liked almost everything about "Until They Sail" but it is curious how little attempt was made to reproduce the New Zealand accent.

For instance, near the very start of the movie, there is an emotional scene where one of the sisters has to explain to another that Kit has been killed.

Here is her reading of the line:

"Evelyn, Kit's dead!"

[I think it was Evelyn who got the bad news, but I could be wrong. For the purposes of this post, it isn't important.]

Dramatically, the way the line is read is devastating. As acting, it can't be faulted, except for verismilitude. For the line should be read like this:

"Ivilun, Cut's did!"

[–] ksf-2 16 years ago

i know its an old war flick, but the above post really needs a SPOILER warning (as of 10/13/2008) before announcing someone gets knocked off...

[–] vonhangman 16 years ago

Hardly. The line in question occurs in the opening minutes of the film. Cut's dith usn't cintral to the plot.

[–] jkholman 15 years ago

Applying a spoiler tab is a courtesy, it is not about what you or I think of the film. One point of the scene you mention is to catch the audience's reaction to the news of the person's death. It is spoiled when the viewer knows in advance what is going to happen, even if the scene takes place early in the film. I watched this for the first time two weeks ago, and one of the things that caught me offguard was the news of Kit's death. It did alot to shape the story for me.

- JKHolman

[–] vonhangman 15 years ago

Will, iviryone uz intitled to their opunion, but I don't thunk guving away somethung quite tangential to the main story of a movie, and that occurs only munutes unto the movie, qualufies as a spoiler one luttle but. Believe me, I have been burned by unsinsutuve spoilers myself, and I wouldn't do anything that would affect a person's plisure un watching a movie. On the other hand, a person who wanted to know absolutely nothing about a fulm before seeing ut would probably be will advised not to vusut the umdb board at all ahid of watching ut. No reasonable person could possibly claim my post had compromised "Untul They Sail." I thunk you ought to dusplay some common since.

[–] jkholman 15 years ago

vonhangman,
sounds like you consider yourself above common courtesy, or is it an inability to admit to committing an error? Then you resort to childish gibberish in your last post on this thread. Such oafish behavior (something your friends and spouse, if you have one, know better than we do) leaves no recourse but to deal with it in a very practical manner. I will take your advice and exercise some common sense - by utilizing the ignore button. That ought to be enough to satisfy both of us. You get to flap your jaw [innocuously] and I can enjoy social intercourse with the other visitors of this site. Leave out the retort, you can only make yourself look worse than you already do.

- JKHolman

[–] vonhangman 15 years ago

Swill. You are an igregious nutwut inyway.

[–] dirtyswayze 15 years ago

Lol vanhangman. He is a nitwit. Are you english? In my experience americans can't distinguish an nz accent, but kiwis never make jokes about it.

[–] jellyree 8 years ago

Funny you should mention that.

A few years ago I picked up a hitchhiker in Texas. He said one sentence and I said, "New Zealand."

He was very surprised that I had correctly guessed his homeland.

[–] gary-64659 8 years ago

The everyday Kiwi doesn't recognise he even "has an accent" at all, just like your average American. The only one allowed to make jokes about the accent is/was comedienne Lynn of Tawa (Ginette McDonald), and she was so cutesie doing it no one noticed.

[–] gary-64659 8 years ago

Vonhangman, a pity no one actually took your point -- some people on this site are really thick, not to mention authoritarian. Are you Lynn of Tawa in disguise, or her brother?