MovieChat Forums > Odissea (1968) Discussion > I have the German/Italian DVD - I wonder...

I have the German/Italian DVD - I wonder what language the actors spoke?

posted 9 years ago by DickyBettsBass
6 replies | jump to latest

Hi all,

I just bought the German/Italian DVD, because I suddenly remembered seeing this series on TV when I was young, in black and white at the time! Nevertheless, I was really impressed! As I speak German and have read 'The Odyssey', I don't have a problem understanding it, though I completely agree a multi-language version with various subtitle tracks would be great!

I have a question about the language spoken by the actors though. I know the 'original' version is in Italian, but I also know that Italian films from the era nearly always featured international casts and were dubbed by, I guess, nameless voice actors. I remember Spanish actor Fernando Rey telling an anecdote that he was desperate how to deal with his dialogues in an Italian movie, and the director told him to just count numbers all the time, as it didn't matter anyway!

So what would be the language(s) spoken on the set? Did the leading actors all speak their native languages, Italian, or perhaps English? I know Barbara Bach was married to an Italian at the time, and lived in Italy - she is credited as Barbara Gregorini. Did Bekim Fehmiu and Irene Papas also speak Italian? Did any of the leading actors dub their own voices?

Just curious!

Dicky

[–] asterisk-893-146033 9 years ago

Serbian & Croatian (before dissolution of Yugoslavia it was known as serbocroatian officially).
You can hear it in ep. 4 in 28 min. I have translated to english. Also Telemachus at Pylos is with Dalmatian folk song.

[–] DickyBettsBass 9 years ago

This is the answer I least expected, but thanks anyway! Do you mean that Polyphemos (the Cyclops) speaks Serbocroatian? I don't think I fully get the reference.

Anyway, what I meant was what the leading actors like Bekim Fehmiu, Irene Papas, Barbara Bach or Renaud Verley spoke on the set before they were dubbed into Italian. Did they all speak their native languages, learn their dialogue in Italian, or was English the chosen language? I get the impression a number of languages were spoken, but it's hard to tell from the movements of their lips.

Dicky

[–] asterisk-893-146033 9 years ago

No, I guess they have speak (mostly) Italian. But much of minor actors as well as Bekim F. did spoke serbocro. I just say that you can hear that language (as Serb it easy for me to identify) here & there. Plus, much of maritime scenography was made in Dalmatia.
Now honestly I. Papas & Fehmiu spoke ether Ital. or Eng. but I don't know that precisely. Fehmiu was polyglot, Irene as I know didn't bother with slavic languages.

[–] DickyBettsBass 9 years ago

Thanks again, Asterisk, also for the location of Dalmatia! Good to know.

I know it's hard to tell what languages were spoken. As I've said, I watched the German version, and Karl-Otto Alberty (Eurimaco) appears to speak German, because I noticed his German lines are 'lip-synched'.

I also watched parts of the French-dubbed version on YouTube, and Renaud Verley (Telemaco) appears to be completely in sync with his French dialogue. Lines in his speech like "la mort de mon père - vous tous" and "je n'ai pas la valeur de mon père, mais même si je l'avais ..." look very authentic.

If so, recording these Italian movies must have been a logistic nightmare: every single line in the script translated into a number of languages, interpreters everywhere, actors having to react naturally to parts of dialogue spoken in languages they didn't understand etc.

Some Italian movies do look very messy to me, but in this case, it's remarkable how fluent the movie is, and how well all the acting and the speech patterns are attuned to each other. It's a true masterpiece in this way!

Dicky

[–] DickyBettsBass 9 years ago

I can answer part of my original question. At the end of the last DVD in the Italian set as well as the German one, there is a documentary on historical and technical aspects of the Odyssey. This is a special of the popular science TV programme Superquark, broadcast in two parts by Rai Uno in December 2000 and January 2001, and presented by Piero Angela.

Part of it is an interview with Irene Papas, who, apart from looking stunning more than 30 years after filming, turns out to speak Italian fluently!

Dicky

[–] asterisk-893-146033 9 years ago

Apart the language, I find out that primary locations for this seriess are Brac island and Razanac district.