Credits

SUBJECT:

Joseph Kanon

SCREENPLAY:

Paul Attanasio

DIRECTION:

Steven Soderbergh

PRODUCED BY:

SUNSET-GOWERS STUDIOS, WARNER BROS. PICTURES, SECTION EIGHT LTD.

DISTRIBUTED BY:

WARNER BROS. ITALIA

ITALIAN EDITION:

SEFIT-CDC

ITALIAN DIALOGUES:

MARCO METE

DUBBING DIRECTION:

MARCO METE

DUBBING SOUND TECNICIAN:

GIANCARLO MATTACOLA

SOUND MIXER TECHNICIAN:

ALESSANDRO CHECCACCI

Voices:

George Clooney:

FRANCESCO PANNOFINO

Cate Blanchett:

MARIT NISSEN

Tobey Maguire:

MARCO VIVIO

Leland Orser:

RICCARDO ROSSI

Tony Curran:

ANTONIO SANNA

Beau Bridges:

MICHELE GAMMINO

Jack Thompson:

RENATO MORI

Dominic Comperatore:

HELMUT PLAKOLMER

Robin Weigert:

BEATE JARZOMBSKI

Ravil Isaynov:

IVAN MELKUMJAN

Italian dialogue				2
Dubbing direction				4

The Good German
Usa 2006

The Good German is like a nice box that, surprisingly, is empty. Soderbergh seems more worried about recreating atmospheres and quotes (finale of Casablanca, a bit over the top) than giving us the chance to actually live the film. For this reason we are not very impressed by this noir in blanc et noir and the excellent Clooney and Blanchett often seem like pretty ornaments, victims of an implacable exposure meter. So, Soderbergh might have had fun, but we didn’t, although we were gratified from an aesthetic point of view.

Marco Mete, dubbing director, makes some good choices, such as having the Germans (Blanchett, Weigert and Comperatore) and the Russian (Isaynov) dubbed by native speakers, saving us from the Sturmtruppen effect; the Italian dubbers also give good interpretations. As regards Marco Mete dialogue writer, he simply seems to be following his nose instead of having an actual plan in the translation. This is how we can explain some clashes (incorrect subjuctives, like in the case of the driver Tully during a conversation forced to sound low: “Vedendolo di persona non avrei detto che fosse un allocco”, or distorting a conversation that is supposed to be private: “Quando sei tornato da Berlino non facevi altro che dire quanto scopasse bene la tua segretaria”), a rather funny mistake in Italian: “I russi stilleranno un rapporto di polizia”, a far-fetched “contattare” for the Berlin of ’45. A different matter is the choice not to dub President Truman’s speech in Potsdam, incomprehensible especially after trying to understand the tone of the newsreel, even acted with an old-fashioned voice.

Maybe it would be right to consider whether it is always a good idea or not for the dubbing director to also be the dialogue writer. This seems to be the trend lately but due to the short amount of time available, the risk of making mistakes is double.

[original review in Italian by Valerio Moretti]