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Part of
Reassessing Dubbing: Historical approaches and current trends
Edited by Irene Ranzato and Serenella Zanotti
[Benjamins Translation Library 148] 2019
► pp. 41–61

Chapter 2
When the Thief of Bagdad tried to steal the show

The short-lived dubbing of Hollywood films into Arabic in the 1940s

Between 1946 and 1951, U.S. distributors began dubbing a small number of films in Arabic for the North African and Middle Eastern markets. This experiment seems to have been motivated by an economic interest to penetrate those foreign markets and also in response to rising nationalism. Two models of dubbed versions existed at the time: the colonially-imposed French versions and the economically-motivated Persian versions. Battling against the former, and taking inspiration from the latter, U.S. distributors found themselves facing insurmountable political difficulties and eventually abandoned the practice of dubbing in Arabic. This case study foregrounds dubbing as a specific distribution strategy and highlights the political dimensions of this practice.

Keywords: dubbing, film distribution, Hollywood, Arab world, Iran, film industry, film policy, legislations, colonialism, Arab nationalism
Article outline
  • Mapping dubbing and subtitling in 1930s-1950s Arabic-Speaking Countries
  • The language of the colonizer: French-dubbed U.S. films
  • Dubbing into Arabic: An effort to expand Hollywood’s market
  • The success of Persian-dubbed films
  • The demise of the Arabic dubbing strategy
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Filmography
Published online: 6 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.148.02min
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Filmography

Arabian Nights
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Caravan
. Arthur Crabtree. UK 1946.Google Scholar
Jungle Book
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Le meravigliose avventure di Guerrin Meschino
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Premier Rendez-vous
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Ruys Blas
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Samson and Delilah
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The Seventh Veil
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Sinbad, the Sailor
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
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Song of Scheherazade
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Swiss Miss
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Tarass Boulba
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The Thief of Bagdad
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The Wicked Lady
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