sign in sign up
<<
Home , Alberto Sordi, Dubbing (filmmaking), Hal Roach, Sophia Loren, Telefoni Bianchi

c RIt I c ISM

read my lips the Italian art of By Chiara Barzini

n the thirties, when sound . During the ’s climax, Garbo dubbers were working-class immi- werei beginning to circulate, Musso- gave a taste of her warm, hus- grants living near the studio who lini prohibited the use of foreign lan- ky voice with two uncensored words: were called to record in their native guages in all movies shown in Italy. “Padre! Padre!” But other . But who would want to the Ministry of Popular culture, films passed quietly by. Most Italians hear speak like a which was responsible for overseeing were either illiterate or had difficulties farmer from calabria? Hollywood re- the content of newspapers, literature, reading, which made a visit to the thought its approach, using profes- theater, radio, and cinema, censored movies feel more like sitting for a sional theater from Italy to dub all foreign words adopted into Italian school exam than entertainment. American stars. usage, replacing them with creative or With attendance dropping, the 3,200 In 1933, the Fascists expanded the stunningly literal . (the movie theaters in Italy were falling scope of , banning all for- word cocktail, for instance, changed into financial ruin. eign films dubbed in Italian outside to “bevanda arlecchina,” suggesting a Garbo was not the only Amer- Italy—as if nervous that foreign pro- drink as colorful as the commedia ican producers asked to speak in other ducers might put revolutionary mes- dell’ fool Harlequin; Louis Arm- languages. Italians adored the kooky sages into the mouths of Italian ac- strong became Luigi Braccioforte.) British and American accents of Lau- tors abroad. to better control the Only foreign- sonorizzati rel and Hardy, who read from cue cards process, Italy opened its first nation- films—those in which the spoken in phonetic Italian, and when, in 1939, al dubbing houses—Fotovox, Fono parts were removed and summarizing Italian icon Roma, and Itala Acustica—in Italian intertitles added—could be began dubbing Hardy, he maintained . Actors were hired, and also shown in cinemas. While the rest of the affectation of an American accent. sound technicians, translators, script was importing talkies from Some major studios, such as MGM and adapters, and dubbing directors, who Hollywood, Italy was doomed to Fox, meanwhile, created separate ver- tailored scripts to match the move- watch silent Italian sions of the same movie with casts of ments of the actors’ mouths. Lydia known as telefoni bianchi (“white tele- different nationalities, as was the case Simoneschi, ’s dub- phones”), so called for their motif of with Raoul Walsh’s and ber, supposedly had so many projects betrayed women weeping into stylish ’s Men of the North. As long on hand that she slept in the Fono Art Deco receivers. as the actors on Italian screens spoke Roma recording studios. Audiences in Europe and the Unit- Italian, Mussolini approved. Being Italian, the dubbing industry ed States were finally hearing Greta to compete with these studios, a quickly became a family affair. the Garbo in Anna Christie (1930)—the Paramount executive, the Austrian actors who had taken their voices to film’s tag line was garbo speaks!—but physicist Jacob Karol, introduced began to raise their chil- Italians were left in silence. MGM, in dubbing technology at Joinville, Par- dren and grandchildren in Italian re- an attempt to circumvent Mussolini’s amount’s studio near Paris. cheaper cording studios. Families of dubbers dictum, filmed a special scene just for than hiring several international and rumoristi (those responsible for casts and shooting several times over, creating sound effects) became power- Chiara Barzini is a living in Rome. Her debut fiction collection, Sister the technique involved inserting a ful clans; to this day, most of Italy’s Stop Breathing, was published by Cala- sound track to coordinate exactly best-known voice-over actors are de- mari Press in February. with the moving image. the first scendants of the first generation of

74 HARPER’S MAGAZINE / MAY 2012

(74-78) Barzini Final5.indd_0322 74 3/22/12 11:22 AM er heard. “They were so disappointed, they screamed in unison: No! No! No! Give us [Bran- do’s dubber] back! And I couldn’t agree more. To us, a certain actor means a certain voice. could be no other than , and Sean Con- nery could be no other than .” It wasn’t just the voic- es of the actors that Ital- ians grew to love, but the entire language that the dubbing industry was in- venting. Jokingly called Doppiaggese (“Transla- tionese”), dubbed speech had neither the loose cadences of Neapolitan, Roman, and Sicilian Italian nor the strict vowel sounds of the dubbers. Two of my elementary-school enthusiast,” this development only North. This language, filled with new classmates in Rome, Marzia del Fabbro gives actors an excuse not to project idioms and Italianized American words, and , who came from their voices, to get away with bad at first existed solely in the film world. the dubbing family of the Izzos, went acting disguised as “underacting.” (The word fanculo, a shortening of vaf- off after class to record parts in Sheer The dubbing of Italians into Italian fanculo, “fuck you,” was supposedly cre- Madness (1983), Heartburn (1986), and is now generally reserved for TV ac- ated by dubbers to sync with the lips of Fatal Attraction (1987). (Myriam tors, particularly the female protago- an actor pronouncing the English learned and spoke her first curse word nists of soap that air on the phrase.) Riccardo Paladini, the first na- in any language—“shit, shit, shit!”— Berlusconi-owned Rete 4 and Canale tional-television news broadcaster for as ’s daughter.) In my 5. As Rossi confided, actresses in Ital- Radiotelevisione Italiana, whose daugh- eyes, they were prodigies, alter egos of ian soaps are not always chosen for ter Roberta is now a well-known voice the actors they dubbed and we revered. their elocutive talent. They stand actor herself, was hired for the job in It wasn’t only foreign films that there, and the dubbers 1952 because he spoke with the timbre were affected by the proliferation of speak for them. and impeccable diction of the earliest dubbing. Dubbers’ voices rapidly de- dubbers. Later, screenwriter Ennio Flaia- veloped to such high standards that hen, in the Seventies, inde- no said the “language spoken by dub- Italian actors, including Claudia Car- pendentW cinemas in Italy began to bers” was the true Italian—something dinale, , Silvana show foreign films in their original lan- like the standardized national language Mangano, and (whose guages, the development was not well Mussolini had hoped to introduce. Dub- strong regional accent was considered received. “The only time people got in- bers had done for film and television vulgar), were borrowing voices from terested in them was when they heard what Dante Alighieri did for literature. Italian dubbers to create more sophis- that in By the Eighties, a whole segment ticated personae for themselves. Such Part II actually spoke Italian,” Rossi of Italy’s pop culture existed in Dop- modifications were carried out in told me. Rossi, who collects dubbing piaggese. As children, my and complete secrecy, of course; thanks to memorabilia, has lined his bedroom I took pleasure in calling one an- dubbing, the stars spoke like a family wall with hundreds of black-and-white other the absurd phrases Italian dia- of demigods. autographed photos of American and logue-adapters had invented. We These days, practically all foreign Italian actors, including one of Sean became pollastrelle (“chicks”), ex- films in Italy are dubbed, while the Connery laughing with his dubber, claiming “Grande Giove!” (“Great actors in Italian films are most often Pino Locchi, at a bevanda arlecchina Scott!”) like Doc from Back to the left to speak for themselves. To Ric- party. In The Godfather Part II, De Future. We pretended to be the Blues cardo Rossi, a well-known actor, co- Niro was imitating , Brothers running away from the pie- median, and self-described “dubbing whose voice Italian audiences had nev- dipiatti (cops, in Doppiaggese, are the

Illustration by Matthew Richardson CRITICISM 75

(74-78) Barzini Final5 cx2.indd_0328 75 3/28/12 9:38 AM “One helluva team of writers has produced a book you’ll be “flat-footed”) and answered to our dipping into for years.”—­Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four parents’ demands with “Oh yeah, puoi giurarci, amico” (“you betcha, buddy”), which was the American Rules of the Game actor’s self-confident reply to just about any question. We kept those THe BeST SPORTS WRITING FROM unlikely, wonderful phrases alive to HaRpeR’S MaGazine build bridges between ourselves and our on-screen heroes. P R e FACe B y RO y BLOu NT JR . When I moved to the United States in 1994, I realized that there was a lot I had been missing. The first Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper’s Magazine film I saw in America was Forrest uncovers funny, touching, exciting, intriguing stories of the sporting Gump, in a dingy theater in the San life, both professional and amateur. These essays show that how we play Fernando Valley with my grandmoth- and write about sports reflects and celebrates our nation’s character. er. She spoke no English, and I had a hard time understanding American This collection includes some of the most well-known and respected accents, yet when we saw writers of the past century, including , Shirley Jackson, run across the country that day, we Lewis H. Lapham, A. Bartlett Giamatti, Tom Wolfe, Gary Cartwright, both had tears in our eyes. The puri- Pete Axthelm, George Plimpton, and Rich Cohen. ty of the original voices, the experi- ence of watching every facial expres- Edited by Matthew Stevenson and Michael Martin sion match a true sound, was magical. From then on, for me there F R ANKLIN Order today through www.harpers.org/store was no reverting to piedi- SQUARE Published by Franklin Square Press piatti and pollastrelle. PRESS ISBN 978-1-879957-58-9 Softcover $14.95 ilmmakers have debated the re- spectiveF merits of and dub- Distributed through Midpoint Trade Books bing since the earliest sound films. In “The Impossible Life of Clark Costa,” published in 1940 in the film journal Cinema, director Mi- chelangelo Antonioni wrote that C L U E L E S S Romolo Costa, the actor who M E L O N S I V A C A S dubbed all of ’s perfor- SOLUTION TO THE O V E R R A N O C H R E mances, was a “hybrid individual APRIL PUZZLE born out of a chemical combina- R A M B O G E L D L G U tion.” This “half Clark, half Costa” NOTES FOR “ONE ACROSS” O N E O B L I V I O U S was unbearable to Antonioni, who N O N S E N T E N C E S considered dubbing to be a mere “acoustic surrogate” of acting. To Puzzle editing by Dan Asimov. I N T E R N E T G K S W him, dubbing compromised the in- Note: * indicates an anagram. C F B E S M M U E S L I tention of the director, leading to S O U T H E R N M O S T an artificial product that lacked ar- tistic unity. Pier Paolo Pasolini, who The “clueless” clue answers are syn- A I R H E A D E D D A L called both dubbing and subtitles onyms for CLUELESS. L B G E A S Y D O D G E “evils,” said that, between the two, E L E C T L O I T E R S dubbing was the less harmful, since it allowed you to see the picture in P E R C H Y A N A N A S full. claimed a film would lose 15 percent of its original power when subtitled and 10 percent when dubbed. called ACROSS: 6. me(lo)ns; 8. VA-CA-s(cores); 11. O-v(err)an; 12. e(r)h-C.O., rev.; 13. Ram-B.O.; dubbing a “monstrosity, a challenge 14. hidden; 17. n(ational)-consent seen*; 19. inter-(policema)n; 26. *; 28. sou(the)rnmost*; 31. (qu)easy; 32. go(a)ded*; 33. hidden in rev.; 34. l(o)iters; 35. per-ch; 36. (b)ananas. to human and divine laws.” didn’t agree with DOWN: 1. c(L)ement; 2. reborn-u(nion), rev.; 3. *; 4. love(rev.)-ve(terans); 5. sch-lock; 7. rev.; any of them. Dubbing was an exten- 9. *; 10. s(even)-sues, rev.; 15. hidden; 18. these*-E; 20. *; 22. *; 23. reg.-rub, rev.; 24. hidden; sion of his shoots, a technique he 25. two mngs.; 27. sod-den; 28. salep(riced); 30. (Vi)Agra. would use to retouch and rewrite.

76 HARPER’S MAGAZINE / MAY 2012

(74-78) Barzini Final5 cx2.indd_0328 76 3/28/12 9:38 AM He mercilessly dubbed over his ac- re-create the bodily sensations of Grand tors, changing dialogue in postpro- what they see on the screen before Canyon duction, sometimes having worked them. If there is running in the film, + without a script. (He reportedly in- they will run on their feet. The jerk- 8 DAYS $1095 structed his actors to count aloud in ing,” he explained, “is the result of front of the camera so that he could re-creating large move- Affordable Vacations. $ $ + tax, fees insert new dialogue afterward.) Re- ments in small spaces.” 995- 1395 nato Cortesi, a veteran Fellini dub- 8 days Yellowstone ber who has also voiced Gérard De- here are still few options for 8 days California Coast pardieu, told me that, during the Tthose seeking to watch original- 9 days Canadian Rockies filming of Amarcord (1973), he wit - language films in Italy. The Metro- 10 days Guatemala nessed Fellini ask an old Neapolitan politan cinema on Via del Corso Free Brochure.1-800-CARAVAN lady to tell him a sad story. Over closed early last year after a long bat- Guided Vacations for 60 Years! footage of this woman recounting tle involving intellectuals, show- the tragic tale of her grandson’s business people, and American and drowning, Fellini added a new British expats in Rome, to be re - Caravan® sound track about war and hunger placed with a Benetton store. com recorded by an actor from Emilia- Original-language movie houses do Matt Barrett’s TRAVEL Romagna, combining the vivid ex- terrible business, and subtitlers are GUIDE: Informative, entertaining, essential, 2.25w3h.2012.Adan.indd 1 3/16/12 1:33 PM pressiveness of the South with his paid much less than dubbers. One of and free www.greecetravel.com favorite accent. the few groups to champion subtitling Cortesi started out, like many is ITA-SA (Italian Subs Addicted); Award-winning editor/ghostwriter helps other dubbers, as a brusiante, or they work for free, providing and post- make your ideas, manuscripts, shine. www.davidkohnwriter.com muttering background voice, but ing online Italian subtitles for Ameri- was promoted because he could can TV series, and they offer their sub- Use BidOnTravel.com tips for the low- speak English and French and had titles to independent filmhouses like est prices on great hotels a gift for Spanish and Italian dia- the Kino, a cinema, bar, and indie www.AzureGreen.net Pyramid-charged lects. (In private, Fellini always had filmmakers’ hangout in Rome. magical products. (413) 623-2155 Cortesi speak in a northern Italian Despite such efforts, Italians remain DR. ALKAITIS HOLISTIC dialect because it reminded the di- hooked on dubbing—perhaps because ORGANIC SKIN FOOD. rector of the overnight trains he of simple affection. Familiar voices www.alkaitis.com took as a boy that hummed with yield emotional attachment. Ferruccio DATE SMART/PARTY SMART. Join the the chatter and singing of boozed- Amendola was probably the most rec- introduction network exclusively for gradu- up Alpine soldiers.) Cortesi also ognizable voice in cinema during the ates, students, and faculty of the Ivies, Seven claims to be “amazing” at playing Seventies and Eighties; to most viewers, Sisters, Stanford, U of Chicago, and others. gay men, the general rule being the actors he dubbed (Sylvester Stal- All ages. The Right Stuff (800) 988-5288 that real gay people should always lone, Robert De Niro, , www.rightstuffdating.com dub straight roles and vice versa. occasionally ) were, in some Interested in learning more about Hinduism? “We’re Italians,” he concluded, “a way, all the same person. Riccardo Visit hinduismbook.com country of sbruffoni [braggarts], and Rossi, who becomes dreamy and nos- like to feel that we add something talgic when he talks about Amendola, Unorthodox Erotica, catalog $2. to the original actors.” describes his voice as “warm, pasty ... SBS, POB 8, Flemington, NJ 08822. SynergyBookService.com (908) 782-7101 If you visit a dubbing studio, the not necessarily well behaved, a relevant over-the-top zest of the actors is evi- voice: the voice of a people’s man.... dent in everything from their melo- When we heard him screaming Adri- dramatic speech to their movements; ana! [in Rocky], that’s exactly what he standing in front of the microphone, was, and that’s why we loved him.” they coil and twitch as if suffering Francesco Vairano, a dubber and from facial tics and convulsions. I dubbing director known for adapting asked Cortesi whether this was a foreign films considered to be “undub- consequence of having to focus one’s bable,” such as the French box office lifelong talent into the few centime- hit Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (“Welcome ters between mouth and micro - to the Sticks,” 2008), which relies on phone, a kind of bodily rebellion to linguistic misunderstandings for much QuakerSingles.com the condition of being heard but not of its comedy, explained that actors Connect with singles who seen, and he laughed. “Of course it become just as attached to their parts care about social issues. isn’t easy to spend a life in the dark- as audiences do. Vairano has been one

ness, but this is hardly the reason of the few directors to break the habit Disclaimer: Harper’s Magazine assumes no liability for the con- why they twitch and turn! Dubbers of matching the same Italian dubber to tent of or reply to any personal advertisement. The advertiser as- sumes complete liability for the content of and all replies to any are used to reciting while trying to a foreign actor for all his films, prefer- advertisement and for any claims made against Harper’s Magazine as a result thereof. The advertiser agrees to indemnify and hold Harper’s Magazine and its employees harmless from all costs, ex- penses (including reasonable attorney fees), liabilities, and dam- ages resulting from or caused by the publication placed by the 76 HARPER’S MAGAZINE / MAY 2012 CRITICISM 77 advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.

(74-78) Barzini Final5 cx2.indd_0328 77 3/28/12 9:38 AM Athena HPny17 ad final 3/15/12 1:41 PM Page 1

tm

ring instead to select the dubber ac- the part. “With his modern, mascu- cording to the requirements of the role, line voice, he was perfect for James and, he admits, he was hated by all the Bond. He was the only man who prima donna dubbers for this. “If you could say ‘Mi chiamo Bond, James take that actor away from them,” he Bond,’” Rossi told me, without a hint told me, “they will insult you.” of irony. In 2007, I met dubber , Locchi’s is not the only voice that who provided the voice of the narra- might be irreplaceable. Since the tor for a I co- of in 2009, Italians wrote, Scusa ma Ti Chiamo Amore have been in a state of panic. Who will Created by Dr.. Wiinniifred Cutller,, (“Sorry but I Love You”). He had a be the next ? And will we co-diiscoverer off human pheromones iin 1986.. Top Gun look—tall and tanned, ever be able to love him as we loved wearing tight jeans and Ray-Bans Lionello’s Allen? Lionello, who dubbed INCREASE AFFECTION lifted over his shiny hair. What I most of Allen’s films and adapted sev- Unscented Formulas didn’t then know was that everyone eral scripts himself, translated Allen’s for Men and Women. EFFECTIVE FOR 74% IN AN 8 WEEK he met wanted him to recite Samuel Jewish humor as well as captured his PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC STUDY. L. Jackson’s Ezekiel 25:17 passage neuroses, and became such an icon that Vial of 1/6 oz. added to 2-4 oz. of fragrance, worn daily lasts 4 to 6 from Pulp Fiction, and that I should Allen recorded a poignant elegy for . Willworkformost,butnotall.10:13 for women $98.50,10X for men $99.50. consider it an honor that he would Lionello that was shown at the Gran n Victor (TX) 10X reorder: “Women notice me offer a performance to a stranger. Premio Internazionale del Doppiaggio more, come up to me and feel very relaxed When he finally did recite the soon after the dubber’s death. “My en- around me. I have also noticed a 30% to 40% monologue, it was astonishing, every tire popularity in Italy is owed in such increase in confidence. Casanova and Don- Juan are 2nd and 3rd to me!” dramatic pause carefully timed and a great part to him,” said Allen. “He did n Ann (TX) “I need to get an order of 10:13. every word perfectly enunciated. I an incredible job making me into a Please send two by FedEx. I love it! It brings understood that, if anybody took better actor than I am, a funnier person all the fireworks.” FREE US SHIPPING Samuel L. Jackson away from Ward, than I am ... I was fortunate enough it would have meant taking away a after many years to get a chance to Not in stores TM 610-827-2200 or view the science and order online at part of his soul; he was, as Antonio- meet him, and I was very, very taken www.Athenainstitute.com ni would say, half Ward, half Jack- with the fact that he looked like me, son. Leaving the day’s recording ses- and how attractive he was ...” sion, Ward told me he was off to Dubbers are, as Claudio G. Fava have dinner with , before puts it, the “submarines of acting.” raising an eyebrow and clarifying, Fava is the man responsible for im- “With Meg Ryan’s dubber .. . I am porting to Italy the frantic mania of having dinner with Meg The Bold and the Beautiful, the U.S. Ryan’s voice.” soap that was retitled for Italians with a single English word everyone s the number of channels on would understand, Beautiful. He is AItalian television grows, the bar for also artistic director of Voci dubbing lowers. The grandparents of nell’Ombra (“Voices in the Shadows”), today’s dubbers were scrupulous the- the longest-standing national dubbing ater actors, but the same cannot al- festival in Italy (yes, there is more than ways be said of some of their descen- one!), which is created in the image of dants; the dub world has even the , with red car- For classified rates and information, invented a term, cagaparole (“word- pets, and prizes given to best male and please contact Jennifer Adams, shitters”), for those who recite their female protagonists, supporting actors, Classified Sales Manager, at (212) 420-5757 or email lines fast and get out. But Italy sticks and character voices. It’s an occasion [email protected] to its traditions. Like masks in the to give dubbers, if only for a night, the TEXT ADS: Minimum ten words. RATES per word: 1X Carnevale, voices in Italian film thrill of feeling glamorous, rather than $5.00; 3X $4.90; 6X $4.75; 9X $4.55; 12X $4.45. Tele- phone numbers, box numbers, URLs and email addresses have lives of their own that, if not simply sounding the part. count as two words. ZIP codes count as one word. immortal, often outlive Hollywood Fava once planned to work on orig- Classified Display ads: One inch, $300; Two inch, $590; stars, following the paths of fictional inal-language films but has devoted his 1/12, $720; 1/9, $850. Frequency discounts available. 15% agency discounts for display ads only. Closing dates: 1st of characters. When ’s life to dubbing. “I guess this is exactly the 2nd preceding month. For example: August 1st for the James Bond was replaced by Roger the duplicitous quality of cinema,” he October issue. Prepayment for all text ads and first-time display advertisers is required. Make checks payable to Moore’s, dubbing producers rejected said. “Cinema itself implies a continu- Harper’s Magazine, 666 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, a change to what Rossi calls the ous lie, a game of shadows ... And in or charge your ad to MasterCard, Visa, or American Ex- “WASP, blond, democratic voice” of any case it has been in our genes since press. Include telephone number on all correspondence. For size requirements and inquiries, call Jennifer Adams, , who usually dubbed the Thirties, so I don’t think there’s Classified Sales Manager, at (212) 420-5757 or email Moore; it went without saying that much we can do about it. It’s in the [email protected]. PERSONAL ADS: Minimum ten n words. RATE per word: $5.00. Check, MasterCard, Visa, Pino Locchi would continue to dub veins of Italians.” or American Express only. TO RESPOND TO AN AD: Harper’s Magazine Personals, Box # (4-digit #), 666 Broad- way, New York, NY 10012. 78 HARPER’S MAGAZINE / MAY 2012

(74-78) Barzini Final5 cx2.indd_0328 78 3/28/12 9:38 AM