Question about Stalingrad, The Movie

After seeing several postings in this forum I am considering ordering a copy of the movie Stalingrad, but heres my problem, It appears there are more then one. What is the definative version. Sorry but it will either have to be dubbed or have sub-titles for me, I'm barely uni-lingual

 

The best Stalingrad is from the late '70's or early '80's made in Germany by the same guys that did Das Boot I think.
I liked it, except for the ending.

 

Dear Billy, I think the version you are talking about is the one made in the late 1950s called: Hunde wollt Ihr Ewig Leben (Stalingrad Dogs, do you want to live forever?) or something like that. Its good as is Stalingrad.

 

Hello,

At least here in Finland I've seen the "Stalingrad" (the one made in the late 80s or early 90s) in two different versions. The theater version was longer, and the videotape-one was shorter i.e. it missed some combat scenes. Or at least that was my impression after I saw it again on tape a few years after seeing it in the movies.

Could that be the "different versions" you're talking about?

Cheers,
Sami

 

Good Morning Sami: I think he meant the original movie that the 1990's Stalingrad was based on. Its the one I mentioned above called: "Hunde, Wollt Ihr Ewig Leben."

If im not mistaken, I think Wolfgang Priess was in this late 1950's version. I only saw it once at my friends home in Switzerland, and really didnt pay much attention to it as we were having Cognac, and I was still suffering from jet-lag, and was tired. I do remember I liked it very much though.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sami:
"Stalingrad" (the one made in the late 80s or early 90s) in two different versions. The theater version was longer, and the videotape-one was shorter i.e. it missed some combat scenes. Or at least that was my impression after I saw it again on tape a few years after seeing it in the movies.

Could that be the "different versions" you're talking about?

Cheers,
Sami<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I loaned my DVD copy to my brother, so I don't have access to the specifics and this may be wrong, but if I remember correctly, I think that like Das Boot, Stalingrad was originally a German-TV miniseries, massively condensed and heavily edited for theatrical release, and then re-released on DVD with some, but not all, of the original footage restored. I do remember my DVD version being quite a bit longer than a theater movie, but not even close to miniseries length.

For both films, I think the 'director's cut' concept really works: they do cut out some material, and they have to tighten it up enough to fit on a DVD, but they can still go a lot longer than a theater release. For both these films, I get the idea there was probably some 'stretching' of the material to fill it out to miniseries length.

As far as the language issue, the DVD version allows you to select the sound-track language and subtitles in any combination. For both Das Boot and Stalingrad, I preferred to set the audio on German and enable the English subtitles -- that way, I could hear the sounds and inflection the director intended, but still understand what was going on.

It is a really great movie, and like Das Boot, the emphasis is on 'what it was like to be there and do that.' Anyone looking for a hoo-ray, glorified depiction of war is going to be extremely disappointed. But if you're interested in the human experience of these events, its hard to imagine any movie doing a better job of it.

PS: if you're shopping, I got my DVD copy from Amazon.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by alath:


I loaned my DVD copy to my brother, so I don't have access to the specifics and this may be wrong, but if I remember correctly, I think that like Das Boot, Stalingrad was originally a German-TV miniseries, massively condensed and heavily edited for theatrical release, and then re-released on DVD with some, but not all, of the original footage restored. I do remember my DVD version being quite a bit longer than a theater movie, but not even close to miniseries length.

For both films, I think the 'director's cut' concept really works: they do cut out some material, and they have to tighten it up enough to fit on a DVD, but they can still go a lot longer than a theater release. For both these films, I get the idea there was probably some 'stretching' of the material to fill it out to miniseries length.

As far as the language issue, the DVD version allows you to select the sound-track language and subtitles in any combination. For both Das Boot and Stalingrad, I preferred to set the audio on German and enable the English subtitles -- that way, I could hear the sounds and inflection the director intended, but still understand what was going on.

It is a really great movie, and like Das Boot, the emphasis is on 'what it was like to be there and do that.' Anyone looking for a hoo-ray, glorified depiction of war is going to be extremely disappointed. But if you're interested in the human experience of these events, its hard to imagine any movie doing a better job of it.

PS: if you're shopping, I got my DVD copy from Amazon.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

- In short: Yep, thats probably the reason for the difference in the versions I saw.

Cheers,
Sami