Now the city, it's divided into four zones you know, each occupied by a power. The American, the British, the Russian and the French. But the centre of the city, that's international; policed by an international patrol, one member of each of the four powers. Wonderful. What a hope they had, all strangers to the place and none of them could speak the same language. Except a sort of smattering of German. Good fellows on the whole, did their best, you know.
(From the introduction to "The Third Man".)
"The Third Man" was truly excellent, but I found it strange -- and sometimes infuriating -- that so much of it was in German. Not strange that it contained German dialogue (the film being set, after all, in post-war Vienna), but that it wasn't translated. Not dubbed, not subtitled. I've become spoiled, and have come to expect subtitles as a matter of course. Especially in movies like this, where the dialogue is chiefly English.
It was like being on the bus while other passengers chat in some foreign language: they pause and laugh uproariously; you tend to assume they're laughing at you. Actually understanding them would bring little value to your bus experience (it would probably make it less interesting); but not knowing, there'll always be that anxiety, that uncertainty.
Irritating as it was, I think I saw the film as it was intended to be seen: with no, or very little, understanding of the foreign dialogue -- just "a sort of smattering of German". And, not knowing, it was a brilliant cinematic device.
Holly Martins, the protagonist, can't speak German either. He's helped out by various English-speakers when it's necessary to the plot, but much of the dialogue remains untranslated. Primarily, it creates a sense of alienation. Holly is alone in a strange place, and we -- in the same linguistic boat -- find it easy to identify with him. It adds mystery, as with the rantings of the mad old woman wrapped up in her blanket -- should she merely be instructing the police to avoid walking on her carpet, or telling an amusing anecdote about an onion, she would cut a rather less sinister figure.
Movies like "The Core" are easier to swallow if you're completely ignorant of science, but I've never seen another movie that's improved by ignorance of language. (Except, now that I think about it, "Lost in Translation", where the language barrier was central.)
The question is, if I'd understood it all, would the film have been less? Or would it have been more? I'm sure it'd have been very different.