Mister Goldfinger, not Herr Goldfinger?
Napoleon Plural
LondonPosts: 10,274MI6 Agent
This is something that's only just occurred to me.
Auric Goldfinger is meant to be German, right? He's played by a German, though his voice is (excellently) dubbed by Michael Collins. Are Germans called 'Mr'? It's not their title, is it?
In the film they get away with it, because Connery's delivery makes it sound like he's being slightly facetious.
Hugo Drax has a French accent, though he was meant to be German in the Fleming novel. But he is 'Mr Drax' according to most in the film. Is he ever referred to as Monsieur Drax?
Dr No doesn't matter, with a title.
Is this done to make the whole thing appear less xenophobic? Allies get the Monsieur treatment don't they, I am thinking of Monsieur Aubergine in AVTAK.
Auric Goldfinger is meant to be German, right? He's played by a German, though his voice is (excellently) dubbed by Michael Collins. Are Germans called 'Mr'? It's not their title, is it?
In the film they get away with it, because Connery's delivery makes it sound like he's being slightly facetious.
Hugo Drax has a French accent, though he was meant to be German in the Fleming novel. But he is 'Mr Drax' according to most in the film. Is he ever referred to as Monsieur Drax?
Dr No doesn't matter, with a title.
Is this done to make the whole thing appear less xenophobic? Allies get the Monsieur treatment don't they, I am thinking of Monsieur Aubergine in AVTAK.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Comments
have been correct, I guess ?
Didn't Drax in the novel adopt a history of being a Liverpool dock worker, before being injured
In the war ? So could do a good British accent as he needed to for his war work.
In the film he was meant to be an American ? So no knighthood.
"auric goldfinger, sounds like a French nail varnish"
"he's British, though he doesn't sound like it"
Obviously I'm aware he is not British but maybe he's referred to as Mr to flatter him.
Though he tried to bring the Eiffel Tower from Paris, France and his chateau is built in the French style of architecture. [Obviously, this is because it was filmed in France and not California!] I think he's meant to be French or French-American in the MR film. In the accompanying novelisation, Christopher Wood has Bond debating what side he was on in the war and has him thinking it may have been the German side given his hatred of the Russians. In the MR source novel Drax was a German Nazi impersonating a Liverpudlian war veteran. It's a muddled identity in the film version though to be fair.
You are correct, in the novel he was born in Riga (Latvia) in 1917, but Bond speculates early on that he might be a "Balt", which would include Estonia and Lithuania as well. Based on his name though, I wonder if he was intended to have been ethnic German in spite of being from Riga. I believe there must have been a German-speaking minority there since the whole region was controlled by the Teutonic Order for a very long time.
Movie-Goldfinger certainly is believed by the majority of my countrymen to have been German, because Gert Fröbe dubbed himself with his very iconic Saxon accent.
In the original English though, I think it makes sense for Bond to call him Mr.
"- That is something to be afraid of."
Goldfinger is a naturalised Brit in the novel, and by implication (Leiter's line, quoted above) in the film too so "Mr" is appropriate. Besides, if he was using "Herr" then the lyrics in the title song wouldn't scan!
The voice is actually English actor Michael Collins doing a German accent.
Correct. But it is a confusing case altogether
"- That is something to be afraid of."
"- That is something to be afraid of."
All in German
They'll bild up nicely. ;%
I do have some other German magazines, ...... But their about a different subject.
Ahem, back on-topic (well, sort of). I haven't seen SPECTRE in Deutsch yet, so didn't know that Waltz did his own dub though of course it makes sense. My wife is German, and I'm not bad at the language (though Higgins has great fun with my attempts), and have often enjoyed the Bond films while there.
Thing is, start calling her Mrs Klebb and she just doesn't sound menacing! In fact, if Bond were to start doing such a thing, he would come across as sexist. Then again, you have Fraulein Bunt, that is a definite example of using the foreign title.
At the risk of sounding a bit retro/xenophobic, a sexy German femme fetale would be an interesting match for Bond. On the same theme, Fleming really didn't care for the Germans after the war, and to date the cinematic Bond has never had a German ally, I believe.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I think that she is Fraulein Irma Bunt in the original OHMSS source novel too.
Octopussy would've been the perfect chance, with TND a close second. I don't think we'll see Bond return to Germany any time soon. But I'll keep hoping.
"- That is something to be afraid of."
Colonel Klebb, of course.
"You forget to whom you are speaking!" [Crash of whip.]
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Indeed but Helga Brandt falls more into the henchwomen category.
"- That is something to be afraid of."
Not to worry, Nap,. We all make mistakes.