Lip-synch on Criterion's 8 1/2 ? (1 Viewer)

[Deepak Shenoy]

I finally got a chance to watch 8 1/2 last night and noticed that in a majority of the scenes, the dialogue was badly out of sync with the actor's lip movements.
Did Fellini do this intentionally to give the dialogues an artificial feel (I heard that the dialogue is recorded in post-production on most Italian films) ? Or do I have a bad disc ?
By the way, I really enjoyed my first viewing of this classic, although it might take me many more viewings to digest the film completely.

 

[Jon Robertson]

I think every Italian film was recorded without sound until really quite recently, and all dialogue was re-recorded in post production.

That should account for some of the misnomers you're seeing in regards to lip movement.

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

It's not a glitch - it's a result of the post-production dubbing. I didn't notice anything comparable to the Rififi fiasco, though.

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

phew! I've just ordered this and it would be a right pain to return from overseas!

Jussi Tarvainen - do you know about Criterion replacing the faulty copies of "Rififi"?

I sent mine to Jon Mulvaney in NY and he replaced it with the re-pressed copy, no problem!

 

[Randall Dorr]

In Italy at the time, it was common practice to have all the actors speak in their native languages. The film was shot without sound, and dialogue was recorded in post.

Take a look at The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Eastwood's words match his lips because he was speaking English. But many of the other actor's words don't match their lips because they were speaking something other than English.

 

[teapot2001]

In addition to what everyone has said, I think Fellini played music during the filming to achieve the cadence.

~T

 

[GerardoHP]

These discs are not flawed. That's the way the original films are. In addition, the 8 1/2 transfer is pristine and the disc is a must-have.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Indeed if Truffaut's Day for Night is to be believed, the actors in Fellini movies weren't even required to say their lines, they might just be counting to 20.
And yes, Italy is notorious for post dubbing everything and casting non Italians in major parts. You haven't lived until you've seen Walter Matthau open his mouth and have Italian come out.
Ted