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This Week's Dvds
Topic Started: Mar 2 2006, 04:59 PM (54,671 Views)
panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I didn't like it. Why the hell do the Romans always have modern English accents in movies? Just seems silly to me. Of course I'm a classics major and, as you have all been told, a snob.

Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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The Batman
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panzer the great & terrible
Apr 12 2010, 07:45 PM

Why the hell do the Romans always have modern English accents in movies?


The Gaul of them.



Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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Chandu
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panzer the great & terrible
Apr 12 2010, 07:45 PM
Why the hell do the Romans always have modern English accents in movies?
Cuz they'd have to use subtitles if they spoke Latin or Italian.
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...
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Sgt Saturn
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Chandu
Apr 13 2010, 11:04 AM
panzer the great & terrible
Apr 12 2010, 07:45 PM
Why the hell do the Romans always have modern English accents in movies?
Cuz they'd have to use subtitles if they spoke Latin or Italian.
Hey, it worked for Mel Gibson.
The Ol' Sarge
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JazzGuyy
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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panzer the great & terrible
Apr 12 2010, 07:45 PM
I didn't like it. Why the hell do the Romans always have modern English accents in movies? Just seems silly to me. Of course I'm a classics major and, as you have all been told, a snob.

Because they are "noble Romans" and everyone knows that Brits are nobles (at least to Americans; I don't know about Canadians).
TANSTAAFL!
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The Batman
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JazzGuyy
Apr 13 2010, 01:08 PM
panzer the great & terrible
Apr 12 2010, 07:45 PM
I didn't like it. Why the hell do the Romans always have modern English accents in movies? Just seems silly to me. Of course I'm a classics major and, as you have all been told, a snob.


Because they are "noble Romans" and everyone knows that Brits are nobles (at least to Americans; I don't know about Canadians).

We feel the same up here, Jazzy.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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CliffClaven
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In Prince Valiant, everybody, including Vikings, spoke with American accents -- except the villain, who was British.
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Sgt Saturn
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CliffClaven
Apr 13 2010, 05:56 PM
In Prince Valiant, everybody, including Vikings, spoke with American accents -- except the villain, who was British.
Of course, the bad guys are Saxons; so, they should have British accents. The good guys are Celts; so, they ought to have Scots-Irish accents. The vikings, of course, should have Swedish accents.

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Laughing Gravy
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Mammy (1930) arrived today from the Warner Archive.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Laughing Gravy
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The Torchy Blane Collection (9 films, 5 discs) from Warner Archives arrived today. Anybody got a favorite?
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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CliffClaven
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Just got & viewed The Italian Straw Hat, a silent feature by Rene Clair. The Criterion print is very good, as is the Mount Alto score (there's also a piano score I haven't played yet). It's not really for silent film beginners, and it's not about belly laughs -- but if you enjoy J. Tati's gentle brand of humor (and I do) you'll have a lot of fun.

The time is 1895 (though made in 1927, only the high quality of the film gives away its real age). On his wedding day, the hero is riding a buggy and his horse chews up an unattended straw hat. An enraged military man and his lady friend emerge from the bushes. Since the lady can't return to her husband with half a hat, they follow the hero to his home and demand he replace it or the man will destroy the place. So our hero spends his wedding day slipping away from the festivities to try and procure a matching hat, while at home the compromised lady swoons and her restless lover chucks things out the window.

It plays like a slightly risque but very elegant Charley Chase adventure -- the hero even has the moustache and a bit of Charley's manner -- except it takes its sweet time playing out, quietly dealing out little absurdities and twists instead of big standard-issue gags (although there is some slapstick). There's a perfect Hal Roach moment late in the film, where the outraged and slightly drunk wedding guests reclaim all the gifts from the hero's flat and amble into the night. A moment later some police in front of the station house notice what looks like a formally-dressed band of looters. It ends happily -- for the hero and his bride, anyway.

I also picked up another Rene Clair silent from Unknown Video, Le Voyage Imaginaire. Made in 1926, it's less polished and gives an idea of just how far and how fast Clair had advanced to make The Italian Straw Hat the following year.

This is the story, but not all of it. It starts out like a two-reel comedy: A shy young man and two rivals compete for the attention of the pretty typist in their small-town office. There's a bit of farce over flowers the hero brought for the girl, and schoolboy brawls when the boss's back is turned. Then the hero falls asleep at his desk. In his dream, he rescues an old fortune teller from the bullying rivals and is whisked away to an underground kingdom, inhabited by many other crones. His slightly reluctant kisses turn them all into beautiful young fairies, and they reward him by bringing the typist to join them and the fairy tale characters who dwell here (including a Puss in Boots in a hilariously cheap costume). The rivals arrive and clown around. After the evil dark-skinned fairy turns the typist into a mouse for a while, the good fairy decides it would be safer for the mortals to leave and deposits them on top of Nortre Dame (shot on location). There, the rivals turn the hero into a bulldog using a charmed curtain ring. The bulldog and the typist end up in a wax museum after hours, where the figures come to life and the French Revolution characters want to sentence them to the guillotine (they have a tabletop model ready for the dog). An unconvincing Chaplin figure comes to the rescue. The hero wakes up, inspired and assertive. He takes down the rivals, scares the boss, claims the girl and fixes the fortune teller's car. He even tames a familiar-looking bulldog who chased him in the opening scene.

There is a certain fairy tale logic to everything, including the curtain ring, but Clair is still learning. Also, the print doesn't rise about the public domain Keystone level (I don't know if any better exists). Still, I found it strangely appealing and pretty close to what I remembered seeing in a class back in the 1970's. Much (but not all) of the actual comedy still plays, there are some truly odd visuals (if not especially slick or lavish), and I'm still wondering how they got away with shooting slapstick on the roof of Nortre Dame.
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The Batman
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I have The Italian Straw Hat on order, Cliff, so I will read your review after I watch it. But, thanks.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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MovieMan
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This week, I got the John Travolta and Denzel Washington version of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Cleopatra (1999), (Leonor Varela, Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane).
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Don Diego
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Whispering Smith - TMG Good prints, interesting guest stars and a good price for a season set.
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AndyFish
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I like Torchy Blane in Panama-- Lola Lane did a great job and she and Paul Kelly don't seem as middle aged as Glenda and Barton did in the earlier efforts.
I think I like the Chinatown one too, but it's been a long time since I've seen it.
Edited by AndyFish, Apr 25 2010, 02:01 PM.
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