The Conformist (1 Viewer)

[Sean A]

For those of you like me, who are tired of waiting for Paramount to issue The Conformist on DVD, it is being shown tonight on TCM. I'm breaking out a blank
DVD-R, to tide me over until it gets an official release

 

[Bob Cashill]

When Film Forum showed THE CONFORMIST in 1995, I thought for sure the film would hit LD. Now, a decade later, Film Forum is reviving THE CONFORMIST (the same "new print," I wonder?) this summer, so maybe, just maybe, a DVD release is in the offing...

 

[Dom]

Prays

 

[Marc Colella]

Damn, I was hoping this thread had info on a DVD release.

I guess I have to keep waiting.

For those of you in the Toronto area, Cinematheque will be playing it on August 16,17 and 18.

According to the website, it's a:

"a beautiful print, with a long deleted and crucial sequence restored".

 

[Frank*C]

While awaiting the DVD release, you could watch it tonight on TCM at 11pm PT

 

[Jon Martin]

Did anyone watch the film last night?

With intro and promos, it ran 114 minutes. Maltin lists it at 115. Was it time sped or cut?

 

[Sean A]

Unfortunately, they ran an English-dubbed version . (It was some of the best dubbing I've seen or heard, but still, I would have preferred subtitles).

And Friday at 2AM EST is TCM'S International films slot, dedicated to foreign cinema. Why was a dubbed film shown then ?

 

[george kaplan]

Um, dubbed or subtitled, it's still a foreign language film.

 

[Marc Colella]

But if it's dubbed in English, then it removes one of the major factors of it being a foreign-language film... the foreign-language.

 

[george kaplan]

Yeah, but if it's subtitled, then it becomes a film that you are reading and processing in English. If you want the foreign language film not to be contaminated by English then you also need to forgo subtitles. The original film doesn't NOT have English writing on top of the picture.

Do Hollywood films that are dubbed into a foreign language become foreign language films because of the dubbing?

 

[Marc Colella]

Subtitles don't "contaminate" a foreign-language film... it's there only for those who don't understand the language.
A dubbed audio track stops people from experiencing a major portion of the original actors performance.

Subtitles don't take anything away from the artistic vision of the film, dubs do.
Equating subtitles to the butchering of the original language audio track is silly.

 

[george kaplan]

Sorry, this argument has been hashed to death on HTF, and I'm not in the mood to go through it again. You are perfectly welcome to the opinion that dubbing is worse than subtitling, but it is logically clear that BOTH impact the original film, and neither represents the director's original intent. The Conformist was NOT made with the intention that non-Italian words would be on top of the screen, blocking out part of the picture and distracting from it. If it were, it would have been released in Italy that way.

You can make a reasonable arguments that dubbing does more damage to the film than subtitling. Certainly it does 'different' damage. But to claim that subtitling does 'no' damage is patently absurd.

 

[Marc Colella]

Fine with me... you're the one who tried to draw parallels between the two in the first place.

Now to bring this back on topic, Im definitely thinking about checking this out at the Cinematheque - as I don't know when we'll ever see this out on DVD.

I'd love to see Criterion handle this, but I dont think Paramount licenses anything out to them. Perhaps we'll see this on High Defintion DVD? The gorgeous cinematography deserves the best picture quality possible.

 

[george kaplan]

No, you're the one who made the statement that a dubbed Italian film was somehow no longer an Italian film.

 

[Jon Martin]

Actually, that isn't alwayst true.

Look at all the "International" films from the 60's (such as Visconti's THE LEOPARD), where all the actors spoke their own language during filming and they were all dubbed into whatever language the film was released in. All the Cinecitta films, especially Fellini's, that didn't use natural sound and were dubbed later. Watching a lot of Fellini's films even in the subtitled form is as bad as watching some martial arts films, the dubbing is so bad. You don't notice as much since you are reading subtitles though.

THE CONFORMIST seems to have been dubbed pretty well. There are several examples of good dubbing. The Costa Gavras film Z actually, I think, plays a lot better in dubbed form than subtitled.

 

[Marc Colella]

I agree, but consider this acceptable since this was the director's intent.

 

[Vincent Matis]

I can't see why this forum should only advocate OAR and not OL (original language). Dubbing is, most of the time, like P&S an actor's performance...

 

[Henry Gale]

What a coincidence to find this thread today. I was watching Visions of Light this morning and when they showed clips from The Conformist I had two thoughts:
1) The Coen's saw this before they did Miller's Crossing.
2) I want to see this film.

If we get the subtitles UNDER the frame will some of you please....you know.

 

[Damin J Toell]

It doesn't. From the HTF Mission Statement: "We the members of the forum are interested in the film product to be recorded and reproduced as closely as possible to the way the original creator(s) of that particular film intended." Furthermore, "We expect the original film and sound formats to be preserved on home video, and embrace the home video formats (like DVD) that allow this to be possible."

No distinction is made between sound and visuals. Indeed, both are given the same level of respect. Obviously not everyone understands the full implications of this forum's purpose.

DJ

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Visions Of Light is one of my favourite documentaries - just an amazing film. It's the main reason why I also want to see The Conformist.