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108 of 111 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A very poor release of a masterpiece!, 5 Mar 2004
The UK release of this film is a paradox beyond belief! "Stalingrad" is a military history masterpiece, with a fantastic mix of action, historical accuracy, very good acting and an overall downright unbiased description of the fight for Stalingrad, and the ensuing fate of Von Paulus 6th Army. This would make it a "must buy" for anyone with an inkling of interest in the subject, but for the way it is presented in the UK. Instead of doing the sensible thing, and releasing the film in the original speak (German), giving the choice for subtitles or dubbing, the publisher decided to just "force-feed" us a very dubious quality, English dubbed version. I mean, in a film of considerable drama, at points I nearly had to hold my laugh at the ridiculous German accents that the dubbers used, as it looked more like something fitting for "Allo, Allo" (in all its brilliance) than a serious war film. Bottom line, do not buy the UK dubbed version and either buy the NTSC version in the original language (which I never had the chance to review) or, if you have knowledge of German, the German release. Beyond the issue mentioned, "Stalingrad" is a masterpiece.
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58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing release of a great film, 7 Oct 2002
Finally released on DVD from EIV, this disc is a disappointment. The master used is the existing tape master for the dubbed vhs release (a subtitled German language tape was also available) and as such doesn't look as good as it could (although it's a decent enough non-anamorphic transfer) and you only get the single dubbed audio option (in 2.0 surround) with pretty much no extras. The film, from the same production stable as Das Boot, is a big production so there's probably material available that could have been used to pad out the release, but as is the case with most EIV releases (that aren't just copied over from the US New Line releases) the treatment in the UK is pretty darn shoddy. Stalingrad is a great, if occasionally hard to watch, movie following a platoon from their arrival in the titular Russian city through the Eastern Front campaign as seen through their eyes. To say that it's "Das Boot on the Russian Front" is a tad unfair but it perfectly sums up the general mood and direction of the film. It's gritty, it's grim and it's bloody and given the eventual outcome of Hitlers Russian campaign it's suitably downbeat in its conclusion. Production values are high with realistic battle sequences and the characters are given a human face as we see them facing all the hardships the Russians and their abysmal weather can throw at them. Definitely a recommended film, but sadly not at the top of my list of recommended discs. In the US it was at least treated to a dual language release with the choice of either dubbed English or subtitled German. This would be a better disc to get hold of if you can track it down.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshing Axis view of the second world war., 18 Jan 2002
By A Customer
This film provides a refreshing look at the war in the east, this time from a German perspective. A non-American influence is a rare commodity in the film industry, especially where war films are concerned. The DVD lacks interesting special features, which is a pity as the film must have a great deal of casting and directional interest. The region 2 version is quite recently released, and I think it suffers from a hasty completion. The dialogue is obviously delivered in German, and unlike Das Boot, this DVD has no way of switching it from it's poor English over-dub back into German with subtitles. Visually the film captures the horror of the Eastern Front, and the descent into chaos of the Third Reich. All in all a good film that suffers from a hasty release.
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