Is it true that you can understand movies with the sound off?

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But I guess Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs would still make sense with the sound turned off?
Think of the opening scenes in Dogs when they’re having breakfast at the diner. Then Buscemi doesn’t want to tip. The others (all armed robbers) are horrified & outraged & insist he tips. This shows us they have some humanity vis à vis female minimum wage earners.

Then the scene with Eddie & Joe when Madsen comes to visit after his release from prison. This tells us he went to prison for 4 years for the family without ratting them out. We then see what the family plans to do for Madsen to show their appreciation.

I can go on & on, but a silent movie it’s not.
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Yeah, I was thinking of that scene too

Well in screenplay writing, they also teach us, not to have dialogue unless you have to because movies are a visual medium. But I think Tarantino breaks that rule.



Try Two Popes with the sound off. It would more or less be two old farts staring at each other.
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I can't figure out WHY I would want to watch a movie with the sound turned off. If I'm watching at home and everybody is asleep, I'd use head phones. Sound is the reason why movies are not called Silent anymore. Given the sudden transition back then, I assume that almost everybody who actually bought tickets welcomed sound.



If its just conversations... I wonder what people would have thought of Travolta/Jackson talk burgers with the volume off. A lot of Tarantino's would be plain garbage then

The point is proven, then.



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Yeah thanks, I guess I should hold off on watching some movies, I want to see before I can find English subtitles for them.



If it's a non-English language movie without subtitles, it would be better in its original form with sound because, at least you'd have both sound FX and vocal inflection and expression. It's better with understandable words, but I've seen a few movies in other languages with no subtitles and got at least some of the idea of what's going on. It's not perfect, but the percentage of what you can grasp goes up.



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I tried this with porn.. Worked like a charm.


But, I would test this if i could, but I haven't been in the right frame of mind to watch any movie, despite all my free time.



Well in screenplay writing, they also teach us, not to have dialogue unless you have to because movies are a visual medium.
To me, this makes zero sense. But that’s just me.

Try Two Popes with the sound off. It would more or less be two old farts staring at each other.
Really.

Just now thinking of On the Waterfront without dialogue. One wouldn’t have a clue what’s happening.



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Oh okay thanks. Well one movie I keep wanting to try to find an English subtitled version of is The Night Overtake Me (1986), but cannot find one.



Oh okay thanks. Well one movie I keep wanting to try to find an English subtitled version of is The Night Overtake Me (1986), but cannot find one.
You didn't look very hard. I'll send you a link with English subs.



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Oh I got the link. Thank you very much! I looked around once in a while and just tried to keep my eyes open, but I missed that one. Thank you very much!



I`ve neber tried watching films with the sound off, but I think it is possible to understand it



There are more than a few eastern bloc films, masterpieces, with no available subtitles the last time I checked.

I am a native (european) portuguese speaker, that learned american english in a foreign country with 4 years of age, I am fluent in Castillian and Galician (2 languages of Spain, Castilian is called "spanish" in South America), I took 3 years of French in middle school and I understand spoken Italian.

But I don't know "jack ****" of Ukrainian, Romanian or Russian, and still I await for the subtitles, even though I made trailers/clips for such epic films, without watching and trully understanding them.

Case in point:

I) Romanian film with the director himself (a boxing man) fighting box against a former SS guard from Auschwitz, that abused him in WW2:



II) Soviet version of a Mark Twain's book, the soviet film beeing called "New Adventures of a Yankee in King Arthur's Court":



III) 1983 Ukrainian film about a cosmonaut facing death in orbit, done with the help from the Soviet Space Agency and with soviet scientists and cosmonauts helping the ukrainian film crew:

This video is from a friend that digitized the portuguese VHS tape, from a small rogue portuguese film distributor that dared defy the National ban on soviet/communist Cinema, because in the 1980's the portuguese government was under the influence of the american CIA, I can discuss and explain it later, but in essence this communist film had to go to the USA first, and only then it could be imported to Portugal, because of sad anti-communist measures, forced on my country by Nixon and Reagan..



This is an american-dubbed version with portuguese subtitles, from a cold war VHS tape, but I allready had access before to the original russian spoken restored version, with no subtitles, as offered by the ukrainian studio on You Tube.

I don't wish to listen to an american dubbed version of such a mastery of work, even though such version has portuguese subtitles.

I will wait for proper english subtitles, to acompany the soviet version, with original russian or ukrainian dialogues:



The above clip was made by me, a few years ago, I haven't checked recently if subtitles are currently available. At the least, at the time, the film was free on You Tube, on the channel of the oficial studio.