COME WHAT MAY Subtitle Issues (1 Viewer)

[Eastmancolor]

The new Cohen Blu-ray of the WWII era film COME WHAT MAY unfortunately only has English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Sound effects and off-screen noises are noted. I think the subtitle "horse whinnying" appears about a dozen times. The film is primarily in French and German (with some English too). And of course the English dialog has English subtitles.

They really should have included standard subtitling as well. As-is it's a bit of a chore to watch the film.

Also the subtitles appear half in, half out of the 2.35 frame, so if one is projecting the disc onto a screen masked to 2.35, you're out of luck.

It would be great if they would recall this and fix it. It's a good film and it deserves it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

English SDH subtitle tracks have replaced standard English dialogue only subtitle tracks for a long while now. For better or worse, that's the way the industry went. They end up having to make an SDH track for a multitude of purposes besides just the BD, and it apparently saves money not to have to author a second track. I too would prefer an option for dialogue only subtitles but I think that ship sailed years ago.

As for the positioning of the subtitles, many BD players will allow you to adjust where they appear onscreen.

 

[Mark-P]

Are you saying that with the SDH track turned off there are no automatic subs for the French and German portions of the film? How was this presented theatrically? Without any subs at all? If it was properly subtitled in the Theater then it should be on the Blu-ray as well, if not I would consider that recall worthy.

 

[Mark-P]

English SDH subtitle tracks have replaced standard English dialogue only subtitle tracks for a long while now. For better or worse, that's the way the industry went. They end up having to make an SDH track for a multitude of purposes besides just the BD, and it apparently saves money not to have to author a second track. I too would prefer an option for dialogue only subtitles but I think that ship sailed years ago.

As for the positioning of the subtitles, many BD players will allow you to adjust where they appear onscreen.

I don't think that's accurate. I purchase lots of foreign language Blu-rays and they are always properly subtitled (not just SDH).

 

[bigshot]

English language films often have descriptive subtitles only. They figure you don't need English subs if you speak English.

 

[Mark-P]

I could only find one review of the Blu-ray online and it doesn't mention the issue. The back of the box also states "French, German, English with English subtitles". Are you sure you are not just assuming that the French and German portions of the film aren't subtitled when you select "none"? I think you might be surprised and the subtitles are automatic.

 

[Eastmancolor]

I played the disc again and the only options are subtitles or no subtitles. I played it with no subtitles selected and that's what I got no matter what language was spoken. But if you select English subtitles you get the descriptive type.

I have quite a few non-English-speaking films on Blu-ray and DVD and I can't think of one off the top of my head that only has the descriptive subtitles. I'm sure they're probably some out there but I think they are the exception to the rule, thank goodness.