Fellini's symbolic use of language can provide important insights into his work. In the course of his career, Fellini moved away from a neorealist approach to spoken sounds as social descriptors, toward a more elaborate use of language and verbal signs as symbol, where language functioned as both object and tool of representation. In Amarcord (1973), the director employs language not only to recount and reinvent his own memories, but also to assert a subtle political discourse against levelling systems of culture such as fascism. This important political dimension created by Fellini's use of verbal signs has unfortunately been lost in the dubbed English version of Amarcord that was released by Warner Home Video in 1985, and reissued by Criterion in 1998. In the article the author examines the English version of Amarcord, not for the purpose of condemning an instance of 'unfaithful' adaptation, but rather to explore some of the admittedly difficult theoretical problems behind film dubbing, especially of authoritative works which, like Fellini's Amarcord, make a specific political and ideological use of language.