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Reassessing Dubbing: Historical approaches and current trends
Edited by Irene Ranzato and Serenella Zanotti
[Benjamins Translation Library 148] 2019
► pp. 63–78

Chapter 3
Locked into dubbing

Retracing the origins, establishment and fortune of Italy’s mainstream AVT practice

In this contribution I will look at a selection of archival documents which help us gain a better understanding of the reasons behind the introduction of dubbing in Italy during the early 1930s and its establishment as the country’s mainstream AVT practice in the decades that followed. Commercial, political, cultural and linguistic issues were at stake, and they affected the way foreign-language films were translated and circulated in Italy for mass consumption. These particular historical circumstances triggered a long-standing cultural and commercial habit and had enduring consequences for the development and diversification of the AVT industry in Italy.
Keywords: archival research, AVT industry, AVT history, dubbing, foreign languages, Hollywood, Italian, subtitling
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • 1.No country for subtitles: The silencing of foreign-language talkies (1929–1933)
  • 2.Italians do it better: The production of Italian talkies abroad and the move to Rome
  • 3.Some like it subbed: The press and the public voice their opinion
  • 4.Old habits die hard: The dubbing monopoly under democracy
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
  • Filmography
Published online: 6 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.148.03kea
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Filmography
The Big House (Carcere). George W. Hill. USA. 1930.Google Scholar
The Big Trail (Il grande sentiero). Raoul Walsh. USA. 1930.Google Scholar
Chi non cerca trova. Edward Sedgwick. ITA. 1930.Google Scholar
La donna bianca. Jack Salvatori. USA/FRA/ITA. 1930.Google Scholar
Luigi la Volpe/Monsieur La Volpe. Hal Roach. USA. 1930.Google Scholar
Paramount Revue. Lothar Mendes, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Frank Tuttle, Victor Schertzinger, Otto Browner, Ernst Lubitsch, Edwin H. Knopf, Edmund Goulding. USA. 1930.Google Scholar
Perchè no?. Amleto Palermi. USA/ITA. 1930.Google Scholar
Il richiamo del cuore. Jack Salvatori. ITA. 1930.Google Scholar
La riva dei bruti. Mario Camerini. ITA/USA. 1930.Google Scholar
Il segreto del dottore. Jack Salvatori. USA. 1930.Google Scholar
La televisione/Canzone del mondo. Charles de Rochefort. ITA. 1931.Google Scholar
La vacanza del diavolo. Jack Salvatori. USA. 1931.Google Scholar