Neverending Story Trailer question (1 Viewer)

[Clinton McClure]

Has anyone else noticed during the trailer of the Neverending Story, the printing on the cover of the book reads: DIE UNENDLICHE GESCHICHTE?
I am no linguist, and only speak two languages (English and Bad English), but I am assuming this translates to: The Neverending Story.
Anyone know what language this is?
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[Edited last by Clinton on September 12, 2001 at 02:28 AM]

 

[Frank L]

German.
You have to remember that this was a German production (actually of what was then West Germany), the movie was directed by Wolfgan Petersen (of Das Boot fame).
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Frank

DVD Collection | Website

 

[Roland Wandinger]

I noticed that too and yes it is German and yes it translates to THE NEVERENDING STORY.
THE -> DIE
NEVERENDING -> UNENDLICHE
STORY -> GESCHICHTE
I'd wish all European movies were as good as this one!

 

[Clinton McClure]

Thanks, guys. I had a suspicion it was German, but I thought the = das. Is it like Spanish and the words change depending on the usage? Guess I should have taken a foreign language in school.

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[Roland Wandinger]

but I thought the = das.

The = der, die and das
It depends on the gender of the object
der = male
die = female
das = neutral

 

[Mathias Klemme]

Also, the book the film is based on , "The Neverending Story", is a german book ("Die unendliche Geschichte" by Michael Ende) and the main character is reading the original german version, of course
Mathias

 

[Mathias Klemme]

I'm curious, is the book's cover in english during the actual film? My copy hasn't arrived yet and I think it was german in the german version.

 

[Nate Anderson]

Yeah, it's english in the movie. They had an alternate book for the German prints. Cool, huh?
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"What if he honks in the car?"
"I'm giving you a no honk guaruntee."

 

[cafink]

der = male; die = female; das = neutral

Why is a boat neutral, but a story female?
And

 

[Hendrik]

(the) war / (the) peace
Der Krieg / Der Frieden (German: masc. / masc.)
La guerre / La paix (French: fem. / fem.)
...who knows why? ...it just developed historically?... linguists to the fore!
...why three genders (German*, Dutch**, English***) when, e.g., the French get by - very nicely, thank you! - with just two (le and la)?
- * das Haus (es) / ** het huis (het) / *** the house (it)
- * der Mann (er) / ** de man (hij) / *** the man (he)
- * die Frau (sie) / ** de vrouw (zij) / *** the woman (she)
(there is no 'it' in French: la maison: es ist ein grosses Haus / het is een groot huis / it is a big house ... but: c'est une grande maison)
. . .

. . .
[Edited last by Hendrik on September 12, 2001 at 01:11 PM]

 

[AaronMK]

I have heard the Germans got a longer cut of this movie. What was cut for the American release?
Also, why was a German movie made in English? (Unless it was VERY well dubbed) I am very happy they did this, but I am just wondering about the logistics of it.
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If a movie is not available in OAR, than it might as well not be available at all.

 

[Hendrik]

...as for the difference between German and other versions of this movie, take a look here...:
Link Removed
Why was it made in English? Look at the cast list: AFAIK there's only one German actor in it... [Enemy Mine is another made-in-Germany (Munich, to be exact) movie that was made in English...]
...side note: the book has been translated into dozens of languages, it seems, and sold a gazillion copies worldwide...
...side note: the author was horrified at what 'they' had done to his book - he hated the movie...
. . .

 

[TheLongshot]

...side note: the author was horrified at what 'they' had done to his book - he hated the movie...

I can understand that. They cut out the second half of the book. Actually pretty dark stuff for a kids book...
Jason
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[Mathias Klemme]

Having only ever seen the german version, I'm curious about the differences. The IMDB is totally wrong though when it says that the german version doesn't have the theme song by Limahl and that the opening credits are white on black background. The song is there, over the opening credits, and the credits appear over shots of clouds, if I remember correctly. Haven't seen this in a while.
As for this being a german movie shot in english: yes, it's a german film, made with german money by a german director, but it was always planned as a worldwide release. It's not uncommon at all. "Enemy at the Gates" was shot here, with german money, which basically makes it a german production.
Mathias

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Right now, I am taking French classes (I'm in High School) and I thought I would clear up a little more about why some words are Masc/Fem/Neut.
It depends on which one sounds best. In French, 'la' and 'le' both mean 'the' but the one that sounds better with a noun sounds better. Example: 'la maison' sounds better than 'le maison.' French, German, Spanish, etc. also have sligtly different grammar than English, such as instead of saying 'What is that?' they say 'What is it that that is?' There is a word for 'it' in French and German, but it isn't used the same way. In French, the word for 'it' is 'ce' and the word 'it's' is 'c'est' (literally, 'it's'). French and German are crazy languages.

 

[Roland Wandinger]

...side note: the author was horrified at what 'they' had done to his book - he hated the movie...

They didn't even let him in to the Bavaria Film Studios anymore during shooting of the movie because he supposably freaked out several times during the shoot.
He was not at all satisfied how they "made" his story into a movie.