My take: Downfall

HD Goofnut · 10-27-2009, 09:42 PM

Title: Downfall (Der Untergang)
BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc
Video: 1080p/VC-1
Audio: 5.1 German Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Subtitles: English Only
Run time: 149 minutes
Studio: Momentum Pictures
Rating: Unrated
Region Coding: Region Free
Player used for review: LG BH200

Cast/Crew Info:
Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler
Alexandra Maria Lara as Traudl Junge
Corinna Harfouch as Magda Goebbels
Ulrich Matthes as Joseph Goebbels
Juliane Köhler as Eva Braun
Heino Ferch as Albert Speer
Christian Berkel as Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck
Thomas Kretschmann as SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel

My take: (the breakdown)

Based on the books Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge and Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest the viewer is immersed into the final days of Adolf Hitler's life and the fall of the city of Berlin. With the Russians surrounding the city on all sides Hitler begins to have a serious mental breakdown where he places the blame of the fall of the Third Reich on just about everyone but himself. Ganz gives the best rendition of Hitler I have ever seen in my life on screen and Maria does a fantastic job as Traudl Junge, who had been Hitler's personal secretary for about two and a half years up until the siege of Berlin. When it becomes apparent to Hitler's officers that he will not leave Berlin they have no choice but to stay by his side. Some officers flee the city and most are captured by the Russians and either die in prison or finally get out some years later. This is best film to date in the world to depict Hitler's last days and I strongly recommend this is as a purchase. Due to some violence/gore please be mindful of children under about 15 years of age.

I fell in love with this transfer of Downfall from the start. The colors are strong, bold, and well saturated and flesh tones are right on the money. Fine detail is exquisite as every pore, facial hair, and bead of sweat is clearly visible on each actor's face. Grain is extremely heavy and I liked this because it gives the film a gritty appearance that makes you feel like it was really filmed in 1945. However, grain haters will not like this natural film look in the slightest, but it does remain consistent and never becomes noisy.

We are stuck with a basic 5.1 Dolby Digital track that is German with English subtitles, which is great because I can't stand dub tracks. This is primarily a dialogue driven film and it is clearly prioritized and easy to hear most of the time, but there a few instances where low spoken words are tough to pick up. For a lossy track I was impressed by how the surrounds opened up with the few explosions and there was even some help from the sub. For a regular 5.1 Dolby Digital mix I was rather impressed.

There are quite a number of extras (including some galleries) which explore the making of the film and how it is indeed historically accurate. I won't list them all, but they are all worth checking out. It also appears that they are all presented in 480.

Movie: 9.5/10
VQ: 9.5/10
AQ: 8/10
Supplements: 9/10
Final word: A Must Own

As always thanks for reading folks.

oblioman · 10-27-2009, 09:48 PM

Thanks Goof,,,never have heard of this movie,,,but am sort of a WW twixt and german buff and will put it in the que.

tvine2000 · 10-27-2009, 10:52 PM

isn't it strange goof that they get these movies you don't know about , the pq is great ,but they can't get the catalog titles right. i did see this on dvd and fell in love with this movie

**bruceames** · 10-27-2009, 11:02 PM

I have this on both Blu-ray and HD DVD (which has even more grain than the Blu-ray), but still haven't watched past the first 45 minutes. I'm a WW2 buff as well, so I'll have to sit down and watch it through the next time.

HD Goofnut · 10-28-2009, 08:53 AM

No problem guys. I just wanted to add that this title is not available in the U.S. and must be imported from the U.K.

ack_bak · 10-28-2009, 01:05 PM

This is one of the best WWII movies out there IMHO concerning Hitler's Nazi Germany and is very accurate historically.

A must see for WWII fans IMHO. I keep forgetting to import the Blu-Ray version of this movie and am glad to hear you thought highly of the PQ. I will add this to my Christmas wishlist.

And Goofnut, if you have not seen Sophie Scholl: The Final Days yet, I recommend importing that one as well (Nikopol recommended it to me).

HD Goofnut · 10-28-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ack_bak

This is one of the best WWII movies out there IMHO concerning Hitler's Nazi Germany and is very accurate historically.

A must see for WWII fans IMHO. I keep forgetting to import the Blu-Ray version of this movie and am glad to hear you thought highly of the PQ. I will add this to my Christmas wishlist.

And Goofnut, if you have not seen Sophie Scholl: The Final Days yet, I recommend importing that one as well (Nikopol recommended it to me).

Where is Niko by the way? He hasn't posted here in quite some time.

Chris Gerhard · 10-28-2009, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oblioman

Thanks Goof,,,never have heard of this movie,,,but am sort of a WW twixt and german buff and will put it in the que.

This is the movie that the HD DVD downfall parody was dubbed to. I have had the DVD set for years and will pass on the Blu-ray but this is one great WWII film about Hitler.

Chris

marryroy · 11-04-2009, 01:49 AM

hi there...

The definitive movie about Hitler was "Hitler: The Last 10 Days," ca. 1973 with the inimitable Alec Guinness as Der Führer and Simon Ward as an unwitting observer to the madness of the last hours in "Der Führerbunker" under Berlin.

JohnnyTex · 11-06-2009, 11:41 PM

I've seen this on DVD and really liked it. I thought the actor who played Hitler was chillingly convincing in portraying those last days, very interesting.

HD Goofnut · 11-07-2009, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyTex

I've seen this on DVD and really liked it. I thought the actor who played Hitler was chillingly convincing in portraying those last days, very interesting.

I agree that Bruno Ganz did the best portrayal of Hitler on film.

JMS · 11-08-2009, 10:05 AM

Thanks for the review Goofnut. Both your and other reviews tell me this is a must see. I finally put this in my Q. My hesitation on this one is the prospect of reading subtitles for two and a half hours.

Several years ago I rented a VHS of the German TV production of The Wannsee Conference (remade in English as Conspiracy with Kenneth Branagh in 2001 for HBO). I had to give up on it as the rapid-fire dialog was just too fast for me to read.

I am looking forward to seeing Bruno Ganz. To date, my favorite Hitler is Steven Berkoff in War And Remembrance.

**bruceames** · 11-08-2009, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMS

Thanks for the review Goofnut. Both your and other reviews tell me this is a must see. I finally put this in my Q. My hesitation on this one is the prospect of reading subtitles for two and a half hours.

Interesting they don't have an English audio option on this or the Sony DVD release several years ago, since on the Spanish HD DVD release, they do offer an alternate Spanish audio dub (and subs, of course). I wouldn't mind seeing the option for English audio if they already have the soundtrack and they just have to throw it in. Why not? Some people would like to see more foreign movies but the "work" in reading subs for 2 hours kinda kills the point of watching a movie for relaxation purposes (from their point of view). That said, I prefer the real audio and reading subs, but just saying there's nothing wrong with enjoying it with a dubbed track as well.

JMS · 11-08-2009, 04:00 PM

I do appreciate that some people like to experience a movie in its native language. But when there's tons of dialog, your eyes are pretty much glued to the bottom of the screen, and watching an actor's nuanced performance is out of the question. We had this conversation a while back regarding the Swedish vampire move Let The Right One In. The dubbed in English was apparently done by non-actors, and as a result the movie in that form was distractingly bad. I ended up watching the film with the subtitles because the dialog was relatively sparse, plus I never really heard that language spoken before. But I am certainly not a purist, and I will turn on the dubbed track on most foreign movies if available.

**bruceames** · 11-08-2009, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMS

But when there's tons of dialog, your eyes are pretty much glued to the bottom of the screen, and watching an actor's nuanced performance is out of the question.

That's an excellent point, and it's hard to argue with that. There's going to be a trade off somewhere when watching a dialogue-driven movie in a foreign language, and frankly I think the better option would be to watch the dubbed version, IF an excellent one is available. The bottom line I think is choose the version that's lets you enjoy the movie the most, without having purist sentiment as an obstacle to that end.

10-27-2009, 09:42 PM	#1
HD Goofnut The Official HDF Reviewer Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Mississippi, U.S.A. Your resident Dune, Star Wars, and war film expert Age: 27 Posts: 6,840	My take: Downfall [UK] Title: Downfall (Der Untergang) BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc Video: 1080p/VC-1 Audio: 5.1 German Dolby Digital Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1 Subtitles: English Only Run time: 149 minutes Studio: Momentum Pictures Rating: Unrated Region Coding: Region Free Player used for review: LG BH200 Cast/Crew Info: Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler Alexandra Maria Lara as Traudl Junge Corinna Harfouch as Magda Goebbels Ulrich Matthes as Joseph Goebbels Juliane Köhler as Eva Braun Heino Ferch as Albert Speer Christian Berkel as Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck Thomas Kretschmann as SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel My take: (the breakdown) Based on the books Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge and Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest the viewer is immersed into the final days of Adolf Hitler's life and the fall of the city of Berlin. With the Russians surrounding the city on all sides Hitler begins to have a serious mental breakdown where he places the blame of the fall of the Third Reich on just about everyone but himself. Ganz gives the best rendition of Hitler I have ever seen in my life on screen and Maria does a fantastic job as Traudl Junge, who had been Hitler's personal secretary for about two and a half years up until the siege of Berlin. When it becomes apparent to Hitler's officers that he will not leave Berlin they have no choice but to stay by his side. Some officers flee the city and most are captured by the Russians and either die in prison or finally get out some years later. This is best film to date in the world to depict Hitler's last days and I strongly recommend this is as a purchase. Due to some violence/gore please be mindful of children under about 15 years of age. I fell in love with this transfer of Downfall from the start. The colors are strong, bold, and well saturated and flesh tones are right on the money. Fine detail is exquisite as every pore, facial hair, and bead of sweat is clearly visible on each actor's face. Grain is extremely heavy and I liked this because it gives the film a gritty appearance that makes you feel like it was really filmed in 1945. However, grain haters will not like this natural film look in the slightest, but it does remain consistent and never becomes noisy. We are stuck with a basic 5.1 Dolby Digital track that is German with English subtitles, which is great because I can't stand dub tracks. This is primarily a dialogue driven film and it is clearly prioritized and easy to hear most of the time, but there a few instances where low spoken words are tough to pick up. For a lossy track I was impressed by how the surrounds opened up with the few explosions and there was even some help from the sub. For a regular 5.1 Dolby Digital mix I was rather impressed. There are quite a number of extras (including some galleries) which explore the making of the film and how it is indeed historically accurate. I won't list them all, but they are all worth checking out. It also appears that they are all presented in 480. Movie: 9.5/10 VQ: 9.5/10 AQ: 8/10 Supplements: 9/10 Final word: A Must Own As always thanks for reading folks. __________________ My Review Setup Sanyo DP46848 46" 1080p LCD Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 DirecTV HR21-100 HD DVR Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 System LG BH200 Super Blu Toshiba HD-A20 Sony 40 GB PS3 (Now with Netflix streaming!) 156~205~My Movie Collection Latest Review: *My Sister's Keeper* Be sure to check out the Blu-ray Review Request Thread Last edited by HD Goofnut; 10-28-2009 at 08:55 AM.

10-28-2009, 08:53 AM	#5
HD Goofnut The Official HDF Reviewer Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Mississippi, U.S.A. Your resident Dune, Star Wars, and war film expert Age: 27 Posts: 6,840	No problem guys. I just wanted to add that this title is not available in the U.S. and must be imported from the U.K. __________________ My Review Setup Sanyo DP46848 46" 1080p LCD Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 DirecTV HR21-100 HD DVR Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 System LG BH200 Super Blu Toshiba HD-A20 Sony 40 GB PS3 (Now with Netflix streaming!) 156~205~My Movie Collection Latest Review: *My Sister's Keeper* Be sure to check out the Blu-ray Review Request Thread

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10-27-2009, 09:48 PM	#2
oblioman OTIS,,me hero Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Someville TN Posts: 4,554	Thanks Goof,,,never have heard of this movie,,,but am sort of a WW twixt and german buff and will put it in the que.

10-27-2009, 10:52 PM	#3
tvine2000 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: vermont Posts: 902	isn't it strange goof that they get these movies you don't know about , the pq is great ,but they can't get the catalog titles right. i did see this on dvd and fell in love with this movie

10-27-2009, 11:02 PM	#4
bruceames Moderator Join Date: May 2006 Location: San Rafael, CA Posts: 10,166	I have this on both Blu-ray and HD DVD (which has even more grain than the Blu-ray), but still haven't watched past the first 45 minutes. I'm a WW2 buff as well, so I'll have to sit down and watch it through the next time.

10-28-2009, 01:05 PM	#6
ack_bak Hidef Junkie Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,416	This is one of the best WWII movies out there IMHO concerning Hitler's Nazi Germany and is very accurate historically. A must see for WWII fans IMHO. I keep forgetting to import the Blu-Ray version of this movie and am glad to hear you thought highly of the PQ. I will add this to my Christmas wishlist. And Goofnut, if you have not seen Sophie Scholl: The Final Days yet, I recommend importing that one as well (Nikopol recommended it to me).

11-04-2009, 01:49 AM	#9
marryroy What is HD? Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 3	hi there... The definitive movie about Hitler was "Hitler: The Last 10 Days," ca. 1973 with the inimitable Alec Guinness as Der Führer and Simon Ward as an unwitting observer to the madness of the last hours in "Der Führerbunker" under Berlin.

11-06-2009, 11:41 PM	#10
JohnnyTex Strong Lurker Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 108	I've seen this on DVD and really liked it. I thought the actor who played Hitler was chillingly convincing in portraying those last days, very interesting.

11-08-2009, 10:05 AM	#12
JMS I'm gettin' all pixelated Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Columbus,OH Posts: 576	Thanks for the review Goofnut. Both your and other reviews tell me this is a must see. I finally put this in my Q. My hesitation on this one is the prospect of reading subtitles for two and a half hours. Several years ago I rented a VHS of the German TV production of The Wannsee Conference (remade in English as Conspiracy with Kenneth Branagh in 2001 for HBO). I had to give up on it as the rapid-fire dialog was just too fast for me to read. I am looking forward to seeing Bruno Ganz. To date, my favorite Hitler is Steven Berkoff in War And Remembrance.

11-08-2009, 04:00 PM	#14
JMS I'm gettin' all pixelated Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Columbus,OH Posts: 576	I do appreciate that some people like to experience a movie in its native language. But when there's tons of dialog, your eyes are pretty much glued to the bottom of the screen, and watching an actor's nuanced performance is out of the question. We had this conversation a while back regarding the Swedish vampire move Let The Right One In. The dubbed in English was apparently done by non-actors, and as a result the movie in that form was distractingly bad. I ended up watching the film with the subtitles because the dialog was relatively sparse, plus I never really heard that language spoken before. But I am certainly not a purist, and I will turn on the dubbed track on most foreign movies if available.