MovieChat Forums > Le petit soldat (1963) Discussion > why no translation?

why no translation?

posted 17 years ago by otis von zipper
8 replies | jump to latest

The long scene involving the other train passengers sitting across from Bruno having a conversation is not translated. Any reason for this?

[–] mjw-13 17 years ago

wondered the same thing ... probably because the subtitler got lazy
its definately the subtitler's fault no matter which way you cut it, maybe he did it for personal reasons, maybe he just didnt get around to it ....

What i want to know is .... what are they talking about?? Doing that thing to his knee lol, and then to his head, what on earth

Please no! I have a wife and three girlfriends!

[–] NicoB37 17 years ago

It is not translated because you can barely understand what they're talking about, even if you speak french.

[–] Sanjuro-15 17 years ago

My DVD is translated (Optimum box set released this month).

If it doesn't make much sense in French then I guess the subtitles are pretty accurate 'cos they don't make any sense at all really. It's seems to be long-winded joke about intelligence and a missing anvil...

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 16 years ago

It was translated on my DVD, it's the one from the Godard collection.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] AssetsonFire 16 years ago

It was translated on my copy. A joke about someone trying to prove their intelligence but ending up looking stupid.

How do you like them apples?

[–] rick-220 15 years ago

It's actually a very important bit where the one guy tells a joke. Although not mentioned, in the context of the film it relates directly to the French - Algerian situation.

The essence of the 'joke' is that a small team beats a big team by using intelligence. And even after the small team explains to the big team how they did it, the big team is still too dumb to understand. It's actually quite funny.

voting history: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=629013

[–] bostonfilmfan 13 years ago

There are more translation problems with this DVD than that, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's just an oversight. Some of the mistakes are just frightening. Remember, the subtitles name Klee as an author of the painting "Who are we, where we are from..." while the character clearly says Gauguin? And the worst of all, later the character tell a story that happened to someone in Gestapo in 1947 (I repeat - in 1947)! I want to look this translator straight in the eyes and ask him (or her) a few questions...

[–] 13 years ago

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