MovieChat Forums > Jing wu men (1972) Discussion > Subtitles to his movies

Subtitles to his movies

posted 19 years ago by arkay
7 replies | jump to latest

Hello,

I just bought the Region 2 HK legends release of the movies which contain dubbed english and cantonese audio tracks. What really bothers me is that the subtitles don't match the english tracks at all, what is said is totally different from what the subtitles show. Being German I usually watch movies in English audio with the subtitles turned on (just to make sure that I get everything right) which is kind of pointless here.

I am wondering which translation is actually accurate, the dubbed or the subtitle? I also tried to watch Fist Of Fury in Cantonese with the English subtitles but some of them seem to make no sense, they are confusing. For example when Chen is referred to as "Fifth apprentice" instead of by name:

(scene where the teacher is talking to Chen's gf regarding his whereabouts)

(Dubbed translation) "It's really a matter of life or death, you know? If you do know, then you must tell me."
(Subtitles) "Fifth's apprentice's life hangs in the balance. If you know, speak up."

So how trustworthy are those subs, or the dubs?

[–] EnterJamesClayton 19 years ago

never trust the dubs, always trust the subs...

I'm not 100% sure but from watching some Hong Kong films with both subtitles and then watching them with dubbing, i'd say that subtitles reflect and translate the original language more accurately.

Dubbing always means the characters get dumb american voices and say things that just sound out of place, something that never really happens with subtitles. The tone/intonation and what the character is actually saying never sounds quite right compared to the action on screen, dubbing spoils great movies.

In your example the subtitles sound more accurate, i'd go for the subtitles every time.

and in a school like that i imagine that Chen would be referred to as Fifth Apprentice more often than his actual name.

THEY WILL KILL US ALL WITHOUT MERCY!!!!

[–] whammazoom 19 years ago

Agreed. Definitely trust the subtitles. Also, in general, dubs are altered so they sync in with the lips, more or less.

[–] muzilon 19 years ago

Yeah, I was surprised at how widely the DVD subtitles differed from the English-dubbed dialog. For instance in the subtitled version it's made clear that Wu (the weaselly interpreter) is actually a Chinese traitor collaborating with the Japanese. Watching the English-dubbed version you'd think he was supposed to be Japanese himself. (Although 'Wu' doesn't sound like a very Japanese name, come to think of it :)

[–] Wylkus 19 years ago

Your lucky man, I got the Bruce Lee Collection box set DVD thing and this and others ONLY have english dubbing which makes me mad beyond belief since you cant hear Bruce Lees voice and the dubbing in general is terrible. Its such a shame

[–] musashi-rings 19 years ago

Your lucky man, I got the Bruce Lee Collection box set DVD thing and this and others ONLY have english dubbing which makes me mad beyond belief since you cant hear Bruce Lees voice and the dubbing in general is terrible. Its such a shame

You're in for another dissapointment then, because the original tracks aren't Bruce Lee's voice either. They're dubbed in by other chinese actors because chinese cinema didn't have the technology back then to directly record the actors voices. Bruce Lee dubs the russian though, and then in Way of the Dragon he dubs the cops at the end who say "alright, turn around. Hands up". It's really funny actually.

[–] sgt_tsuyoi 18 years ago

They actually did have the technology to record live voices directly from the set. However, due to the complexity of the films that they started making in the late sixties and seventies, they decided that it is more economical to record the voices & sound effects after the movie is completed. Bruce's earlier works (the black and white films) were in his own voice in Cantonese. Additionally, most martial arts films were in Mandarin and Bruce's Mandarin was not perfect, so someone else dubbed his voice. They came out with Cantonese dubs after he passed away, so he couldn't record his voice for those.

Bruce's battle cries in the Chinese films are his own voice, though. In the American version of Fists of Fury and Return of the Dragon, they did not his real battle voices.

[–] Wylkus 19 years ago

Just because of how horrible the dubbing is in this movie id have to say the subtitles are better, however id like to comment that despite the claims of some on this thread this is not ALWAYS the case, aLthough it most often is. For example ive heard from a Swede that the dubbing on Seventh Seal DVD is better than the subtitles.