why is he hesitating (and then spilling the ink) when he's supposed to sign the guest book upon arriving at the chateau? He is not supposed to be illiterate cause at the beginning we see him read a newspaper. Is it that he can read but cannot write? Any ideas?
shareI think its because neither of the names they use in their disguise is on the guest book so he deliberately spilled the ink over it to hide the fact the chateau was not expecting the two generals they were posing as. I think.
sharegood point, I've never thought of that explanation but it does make sense. Thanks!
shareThe guest book was signed in blackletter script, a fancy style of lettering that was used in German society. Since neither Wladislaw or Reisman were practiced in that kind of lettering, he spilled ink on the guestbook to avoid the need to sign it.
share[deleted]
I assumed as you did in your first sentence that he could speak, but not write German. But it worked out. He and the major did quite well in their disguises.
shareIt could be either - they did not know the names of the officers invited, so they confused the issue - or they did not know how to simulate German handwriting, which may have been different in this period. I think the first explanation is more likely.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
I think the details of why he spilled the ink are deliberately left to the viewer to speculate. The answers already given explain good reasons for spilling the ink within the plot of the movie.
The real reason for his hesitation is to cause the audience to gulp and think, "Oh, no, they just go in and it has already gone wrong." Then Wladislaw does some quick thinking and solves the problem. That fixes things until the next problem arises.
The movie is a suspense drama. Therefore, crises need to appear and then be resolved. How well this is done depends on the skill of the screen writer(s).
The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.
Soldiers disguised in enemy uniform behind enemy lines can be given away by quite small things so, yes, it is a suspenseful moment.
Some of the Germans caught operating behind US lines in American uniform in December 1944 (and executed for it) were reportedly detected because they were travelling four to a jeep. There had apparently been a US Army regulation to avoid that so as to cut down on the number of casualties in road accidents, so men in US uniform travelling four to a jeep aroused suspicion. Others were caught because their ID cards were correctly spelled - the authentic official US Army ID card had a minor misspelling.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."