Suspiria Question????? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Scott]

I have never really heard of this film before and today at Best Buy I came across the 3-Disc set and it sparked an interest. I have gone through a search on the forum and found most of the questions I was looking for. The only thing I could not find info on was the origianal language of the film. I noticed it was an Itailian film so was the original language Itailian and it has been dubbed over with english? Or was it and english lanquage track. Thanks for any info. I want to pick this film up but I personally don't care more for lip sync voicover problems. Thanks again.
Scott

 

[Brad_W]

I've been looking for this film/waiting to have the money and I just picked it up tonight at Best Buy. You should pick it up ASAP. I was very suprised that Best Buy had it on hand. It is a limited edition and Anchor Bay just announced that they sold out of it. What remains in stores is all that is left. I haven't seen the movie in a while and can't wait to watch it.
As to the origingal language, I don't know. I also bought the Limited Edition of Dario Argento's Opera and it too was in english.
Buy Suspiria LE before you can't.
I was happy too because my copy is 8000 out of 60,000
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"I was born to murder the world." -Nix (Lord of Illusions)
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[Mark W]

Suspiria was shot without sound and then later dubbed into a variety of languages. It is explained on the disc that the actors spoke a number of different languages and often recited their dialogue on camera in whatever language they felt most comfortable. Most of the lead actors dubbed their own performances in the English version, but all versions are dubbed. You can decide for yourself which version you prefer since Anchor Bay have provided the French and Italian dubbed tracks along with the English track.

 

[Bill McA]

Most, if not all the actors are speaking English...but the entire film is STILL dubbed in English.
Italian films of the era (and earlier) were filmed without live on-set vocal recording. All dialogue was recorded in post-production in both English and Italian, using the original actors, providing they could actually speak the language that was being recorded.
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[GerardoHP]

Most, if not all the actors are speaking English...but the entire film is STILL dubbed in English.

Not the entire film. Notice Joan Bennett's lines and her dialogue with Jessica Harper in Bennett's office seems to be recorded live, as is an exchange between Alida Valli and the pianist in the studio room.
In the 70's, Italian films were filmed in whatever language the actors spoke best, but films like SUSPIRIA were aimed at the English-speaking market, as are most Argento films, and you will notice that his actors will almost always speak English (unlike, say, Fellini's films, where you can tell most are not speaking English)
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Gerardo

 

[Patrick Scott]

Thanks for the replies, I think I'm learning something here. Is the way this is done in any way disrcacting to the viewing? It is looking like I will pick this up tomorrow so thanks for the info folks.
Scott

 

[Ricky f]

What Numbers did everyone else get ???
I got number 305/60,000
Regards,
Ricky
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[Andy Sheets]

I didn't think it was very distracting. It's nowhere near as distracting as you might see in, for example, the Sergio Leone's westerns.
As for the number, I can't check it right now but mine is somewhere in the low 22,000's.

 

[Brad Vautrinot]

According to the interviews in the DVD supplements, most of Argento's films were dubbed in Italian and English when released. The reason for the Italian film being dubbed in Italian was that usually several of the actors spoke their native language during the filming. Germans spoke German, French spoke French, etc. In the film, Jessica Harper was talking to a university professor about the reality of witchs. The professor was a German actor who spoke his lines in German and Jessica spoke her lines in English. Hard to do as neither knew what the other was saying. She said there were many ocassions when she had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing hysterically using this type of dialog in acting out the scenes.
The third disc is the wonderful Goblin soundtrack. Anchor Bay has given us a superior product with this one.

 

[Patrick Scott]

I went ahead and picked it up today at BB, hopefully I will be able to watch it sometime this week. I will let you know what I think of the picture, as far as the packaging goes, I think it is really well done. This is my first Anchor Bay disc and hopefully not the last. BB did have a copy of Wicker Man in the wood case and I am tempted to get that for no other reason than the package on that seems really sweet........so many disks, such little time...and money.
Scott

 

[BlaineJ]

I have a question.
I just bought Suspiria at BB last week. I had never seen it before but was impressed with the nearly universal raves for this movie.
It sucked.
Did I miss something?
It wasn't scary, suspenseful, or even remotely interesting.

 

[Samuel Des]

Blaine -- I understand your feelings! I'm sorry this first viewing didn't work out. But give it a chance. I felt the same way until I worked through a couple more films. If I may, I'd suggest renting Opera, and then go back to Suspiria. Otherwise, if you continue to dislike it, I'm sure that you can sell it off.
Edit I'm excited to hear what you think Patrick Scott!
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Best, Sam
[Edited last by Samuel Des on September 23, 2001 at 07:25 PM]

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Showed SUSPIRIA to my girlfriend last night (she'd seen parts, but never the entire film). She felt how I have always felt. Great opening, tense and scary, followed by lots of lulls, punctuated with some outstanding sequences and always incredible music, camera work and lighting, before a let down ending that is more cool than scary.

out of 4 for me, with another

in the technical department.
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[BlaineJ]

Sam - thanks for the reply, but am I the only one that feels the movie didn't even remotely make any sense?
I mean...
Spoiler:
The plot revolves around Suzy realizing she's going to a dance school run by a bunch of witches. So what?
Why didn't she just leave? What compelled her to go down to the depths of the witches den? And why did the head witch want to kill her? And how can you stab a ghost?
And what was the deal with the room full of unspooled wire that the girl fell into before getting killed - was that even SUPPOSED to make sense?
This movie was totally unbelievable and uninteresting...
I just didn't get it. I actually feel asleep watching it and had to watch the parts I missed the next day.

...but I do love horror movies. Just picked up Phantasm and looking forward to watching it. Haven't seen it in years.
Blaine

 

[Samuel Des]

Blaine --
You are not at all alone! You are absolutely correct about every one of those points! I was thinking EXACTLY the same things. It was why I scratched my head after my first viewing, too.

But after viewing Opera and Deep Red, I was hooked. It really is true what they say about Argento: he doesn't always make sense, but when his ideas come together -- wow! You'll see what I mean in Deep Red and Opera. If you choose, please let us know what you think of Opera.
Speaking of which, there is a contest to win http://www.hometheatertalk.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000261.html
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Best, Sam
Edit: Too many smilies....
[Edited last by Samuel Des on September 24, 2001 at 01:03 PM]

 

[GerardoHP]

Blaine, you're not the only one who feels this way.
When SUSPIRIA first came out, many (if not most) Argento fans were extremely disappointed in the film. Compared to his previous "gialli", the plot followed no logic, the twists were practically non-existent, the characters' motivations were absurd and the ending was completely predictable.
I have been an Argento fan from his very first film and, after DEEP RED, I thought he was getting better in the complexity of his plots and the way he delivered the surprises, let alone that knockout visual style of his.
Then came SUSPIRIA which I thought was quite a letdown. At the time, I didn't even like the overly stylized sets and lighting which kept reminding me that I was looking at a movie and taking the scares out of it for me.
After seeing it many times, I've come to appreciate it a little more, but I still don't think it's one of his greatest ones. I look at it exclusively for its visual and aural merits and forget about logic, motivation and plot. And I appreciate the stylistic influence it's had over many movies that followed, including PHANTASM.
I think SUSPIRIA represents a kind of change in direction for Argento from which he never quite recovered, from relatively tight plots to a lack of concern for sense. This can certainly still be seen in some of his latest movies like PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and SLEEPLESS which are, IMO, among his worst movies. Since SUSPIRIA, I watch Argento movies knowing that I will love the parts but only occasionally really like the whole thing.
Still, I'm a fan of his amazing visual style and I will not miss any of them. I too suggest that you don't get rid of your SUSPIRIA DVD and pop it in occasionally for a scene or two, forget the whole, and eventually you may find yourself thinking differently about it.
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Gerardo

 

[BlaineJ]

Okay, fair enough.
Maybe I'll give it another try. I was planning on taking it back to BB today and telling them that it was defective and that I had heard a lot of people had problems with this disc (like Opera) so I could get my $$$ back.
I will admit that for a 24 year old movie, the colors were great. I remember an interview with George Lucas talking about how bad the original Star Wars print looked after 20 years before it was restored and re-released a few years ago.
Awright, dammit! I'll eat the $14.95 and come back to it some other time.
A co-worker subscribes to Netflix. Maybe I can give him a couple bucks to rent Opera for me.