Tweet MGM's Foreign Langauage Versions (1930-1931)

I was reading on IMDb about the foreign language versions of Ramon Navarro's early talkies and got me wondering how many, if any, survive. Other films had foreign versions also like Strangers May Kiss and wonder if any of these survive as well. Would be fascinating to see.

I'm trying to find Copies of Novarro's, "Sevilla de Mis Amores," &, "Le
Chanteur de Seville." Anyone have any Suggestions? Also, if there's a
Spanish Language, "Strangers May Kiss," what's the Title? Lastly, are
there Any "Foreign Lang." Titles, anyone's interested in seeing? Titles,
pls.
Sid Bloomberg

The German language version of ANNA CHRISTIE is a bonus on the English language DVD. The print is rough but the film is superb.

I've seen a number of other German versions and they are excellent, as one would expect with directors like Sjostrom and Feyder. Edward G. Robinson stars in the German version of "The Knew What They Wanted"/"A Lady to Love".

David Shepard

Not mentioned is the Spanish-language version of Dracula(1931) with Lupita Tovar which seems too follow the American script but is a lot longer in surviving material.

I bought a book probably about 1995-6 from Spain about the Spanish-language films made in Hollywood but it disappeared either when I moved my shop a few doors down the street or after the fire in the new location. It was very informative and in English.

By the reverse we have seen films turn up of English-language versions made simultaneously on the same sets in Europe, often also French versions were made in Babelsberg as well in Berlin at the same time.

We have had Liliom with Charles Boyer(Fox-Europa) and has been on two DVDs. Liliom was originally a Hungarian film made at the time, Liliomski or similar spelling. This exists. "M" in a recently found English-language version which looks good on the Masters of Cinema set in Blu Ray. It's a little better in surviving quality than Anna Christie in German(some different sets in that one in German) & the been available in various forms for a longtime is the English-language version of The Blue Angel. A couple of others have been made available from Bel Canto Society in NYC in English versions. "M" incidentally is dubbed not remade and shorter.

Marlene Dietrich's husband, a German, was working in the early 30s in Joinville, Paris dubbing movies. It might have been at the Paramount French studios which is ironic seeing that his wife(often in name only) worked for them firstly in Hollywood. Paramount & MGM, had money in ufa, I believe which I am sure Goebbels resented. MGM & other exchanges were closed down in Germany after the war was well in progress by what I have read.

At the time of the war for America there was a slew of dub negs etc for German features but I don't know what happened to them if that was so.

On You Tube is some surviving scenes from the Swedish version of Hollywood on Parade, the rest appears to have disappeared soon after the film finished its run there. The webpage All Talking All Singing All Dancing run by a Swedish gent has details and links.

I have many of the German films in the original form on DVD but no other versions added and few trailers. But more importantly, they don't include English subtitles on most of their DVDs. One film is The Congress Dances with Lilian Harvey which was made in different versions at the time. There is at least one pre-code scene in that one.

The first version of the Fiddler on the Roof story was made in USA just before the war and in Yiddish(Tevye the Milkman) but not, of course, a musical as such. I have a number of Yiddish restored films from the 1930s made either in USA or Poland on DVD. These do have English subtitles, most redone, sometimes over original English subtitles.

There was a 1935 version of Pygmalion made in Germany a full two years before the British film came out. Jenny Jugo played Elisa(European spelling). It had a large cast of which at least one male was a major star and producer(Gustaf Grundgens).
A fascinating part of early sound films that I like to see and collect.

Not mentioned is the Spanish-language version of Dracula(1931) with Lupita Tovar which seems too follow the American script but is a lot longer in surviving material.

I bought a book probably about 1995-6 from Spain about the Spanish-language films made in Hollywood but it disappeared either when I moved my shop a few doors down the street or after the fire in the new location. It was very informative and in English.

By the reverse we have seen films turn up of English-language versions made simultaneously on the same sets in Europe, often also French versions were made in Babelsberg as well in Berlin at the same time.

We have had Liliom with Charles Boyer(Fox-Europa) and has been on two DVDs. Liliom was originally a Hungarian film made at the time, Liliomski or similar spelling. This exists. "M" in a recently found English-language version which looks good on the Masters of Cinema set in Blu Ray. It's a little better in surviving quality than Anna Christie in German(some different sets in that one in German) & the been available in various forms for a longtime is the English-language version of The Blue Angel. A couple of others have been made available from Bel Canto Society in NYC in English versions. "M" incidentally is dubbed not remade and shorter.

Marlene Dietrich's husband, a German, was working in the early 30s in Joinville, Paris dubbing movies. It might have been at the Paramount French studios which is ironic seeing that his wife(often in name only) worked for them firstly in Hollywood. Paramount & MGM, had money in ufa, I believe which I am sure Goebbels resented. MGM & other exchanges were closed down in Germany after the war was well in progress by what I have read.

At the time of the war for America there was a slew of dub negs etc for German features but I don't know what happened to them if that was so.

On You Tube is some surviving scenes from the Swedish version of Hollywood on Parade, the rest appears to have disappeared soon after the film finished its run there. The webpage All Talking All Singing All Dancing run by a Swedish gent has details and links.

I have many of the German films in the original form on DVD but no other versions added and few trailers. But more importantly, they don't include English subtitles on most of their DVDs. One film is The Congress Dances with Lilian Harvey which was made in different versions at the time. There is at least one pre-code scene in that one.

The first version of the Fiddler on the Roof story was made in USA just before the war and in Yiddish(Tevye the Milkman) but not, of course, a musical as such. I have a number of Yiddish restored films from the 1930s made either in USA or Poland on DVD. These do have English subtitles, most redone, sometimes over original English subtitles.

There was a 1935 version of Pygmalion made in Germany a full two years before the British film came out. Jenny Jugo played Elisa(European spelling). It had a large cast of which at least one male was a major star and producer(Gustaf Grundgens).
A fascinating part of early sound films that I like to see and collect.

You are probably talking about a film called "Cita en Hollywood" written in Spanish by Juan Heinink and Robert G. Dickson (who does not speak the language!).

Fox Film Corporation was the most active of the studios producing Spanish language films until it became 20th Century-Fox. I captured last year from Filmoteca LA CRUZ Y LA ESPADA, the last of the José Mojica vehicles for the studio. In the Spanish language catalog are sound remakes of certain silent films without an English version counterpart and some original ones as well.

MGM produced a number of sound remakes in Spanish, without English language versions. I would love to be able to see WU LI CHANG, from which I can provide a still that I found in an auction site.

Warner Bros. distributed an Argentine film called LA FUGA (1937) and a few clips can be found in YouTube (I posted them). Paramount also released two films: RADIO BAR (1936) and MATEO (1937), of which I got a lousy version yesterday.

One of my dream films is the French version of The Crowd Roars (1932) featuring Jean Gabin(!) in the James Cagney role.

I'd love to see the French language version of THE MERRY WIDOW w/Chevalier, MacDonald and Fifi D'Orsay subbing for Minna Gombell. There used to be a minute or so of it posted on YouTube, of Chevalier marching & singing.

Here is a still of Ernesto Vilches from WU LI CHANG, repeating for the MGM cameras the role that Lon Chaney did a few years earlier in MR. WU.

Here are the opening minutes of LA FUGA (1937), a film that for years it was considered lost until a complete print surfaced in México during the eighties. It is not the best print... but at least we have the film. The video version is lousy because it was poorly chained. There is no interest to put a much better version

The only thing missing here is the opening Warner Bros. logo:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SgO_GPeoVCk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SgO_GPeoVCk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

And here is the most famous scene of the film, which is quite spoiled due to the image and the sound (despite I tried in vain to repair it):

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F-hVPhbYK4s&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F-hVPhbYK4s&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

A few of the Laurel and Hardy films exist in foreign languages versions with Stan & Ollie doing their best to speak the language phonetically. The UK 21-disc L&H set features these from CHICKENS COME HOME, BLOTTO, BE BIG, and a couple of others. Also, there is a recently discovered trailer from the German version of PARDON US.

Does anybody know if the foreign language versions of Buster Keaton's MGM features still exist?

Does anybody know if the foreign language versions of Buster Keaton's MGM features still exist?

If I'm not mistaken, Ed Brophy (the actor) actually directed (!) a couple of these, and I think one Spanish language film still exists, but I don't remember which one. Does anyone else know?

Does anybody know if the foreign language versions of Buster Keaton's MGM features still exist?

If I'm not mistaken, Ed Brophy (the actor) actually directed (!) a couple of these, and I think one Spanish language film still exists, but I don't remember which one. Does anyone else know?

ESTRELLADOS

If I'm not mistaken, Ed Brophy (the actor) actually directed (!) a couple of these, and I think one Spanish language film still exists, but I don't remember which one. Does anyone else know?

In a 1927 article, Norma Talmadge identified Ed Brophy as one of her assistant directors, though apparently he was uncredited since IMDB doesn't have any credits for him on her movies aside from his acting appearances in Yes or No and apparently in The Sign on the Door. Of course there are his uncredited appearances in The Cameraman and Free and Easy. So it looks like his original intent was to work behind the camera, but with the talkies he ended up being in demand as an actor instead. His wife was Norma's secretary.

greta

According to Marion Meade, the Brophys, Annie and Eddie, were close friends of the Talmadge family and were godparents to Robert Talmadge Keaton, Buster and Natalie's second child.

There's a 1937 newspaper item stating that Edward Brophy studied law at the University of Virginia but wanted to become an actor, and in 1918 "hung around the Talmadge studios" in New York picking up extra work, which led to a well received comic turn in YES OR NO, and then Hollywood. No explanation given for his career behind the camera in the 20s. According to contemporary publicity Brophy was assistant director on THE DANGEROUS MAID and THE GOLDFISH.

I was just thinking about this subject last night, and even submitted a request on the TCM website for MENSCHEN HINTER GITTERN, the German-language version of THE BIG HOUSE. I found out that the film was screened a few years ago in Vienna, Austria, so it does still exist. Pál Fejös directed it, as well as a French-language version.

Another one (made at Warner Bros.) that I'm interested in is DIE HEILIGE FLAMME, the German version of THE SACRED FLAME (1929). There was also a Spanish version: LA LLAMA SAGRADA. I don't know what the survival status of any of these is (IMDb claims that THE SACRED FLAME is a lost film).

~Roger

I have this other ad... IMDb states that it was released in 1931... but in Argentina it was exhibited during 1930.

I was just thinking about this subject last night, and even submitted a request on the TCM website for MENSCHEN HINTER GITTERN, the German-language version of THE BIG HOUSE. I found out that the film was screened a few years ago in Vienna, Austria, so it does still exist. Pál Fejös directed it, as well as a French-language version.

Another one (made at Warner Bros.) that I'm interested in is DIE HEILIGE FLAMME, the German version of THE SACRED FLAME (1929). There was also a Spanish version: LA LLAMA SAGRADA. I don't know what the survival status of any of these is (IMDb claims that THE SACRED FLAME is a lost film).

~Roger

I never saw MENSCHEN HINTER GITTERN, but I recorded the French-language version, BIG HOUSE, also directed by Paul Fejos, when it was shown on a French satellite channel. I was always fascinated by these movies made in several language versions simultaneously and managed to get as many as I could, among them the French-language TUNNEL with Jean Gabin, the French ROBBER'S SYMPHONIE ("La symphonie des brigands") with Françoise Rosay (I also have the English version). Also: MARIANNE OF MY YOUTH (German & French), MR PEEK-A-BOO (English and French), THE HANDS OF ORLAC (Gréville - English and French), LIEBELEI (Ophüls - German and French), MOHAMMAD, MESSENGER OF GOD (English & Arabic), DRACULA (of course - English & Spanish), NOSFERATU PHANTOM OF THE NIGHT (German, English), AMPHITRYON (German, French), THE THREEPENNIES OPERA (German, French), PARDON US (English, Spanish - and some shorts with the boys), ANNA CHRISTIE (English, German), THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE (Lang - German, French), etc.
Many years ago (1963) I saw the French versions of GOLD and FP1 DOESN'T ANSWER in 9.5mm prints (complete) but never found them again, and the 35mm prints seem "lost" - alas.

Incidentally, the English-language version of "M" (Lang) is not simply "a dubbed and shorter" version. It's shorter and SOME scenes were dubbed, but others were refilmed, some with other actors, some with Peter Lorre himself replaying his scenes in English.
The same schema was apparently planned with the French language version ("M - Le Maudit"), some scenes dubbed, some others re-shot with other actors. They also asked Peter Lorre to re-play some of his scenes in French, and so he did - but unfortunately they later redubbed his voice with the French actor which has begun to dub Lorre's other scenes (NOT reshot), so what you get is Lorre's lips playing in French and you hear another person. Probably one of the most dumbest decision ever taken for a movie - especially as his French was very good, as demonstrated by two of his subsequent films only some months later!
I do have the 3 versions. For the French one it was a matter of luck, as a lot of people simply didn't record it, thinking it was just a French-dubbed version of the original film. It wasn't.

I'm working my way through the German version of THE CONGRESS DANCES (1931), which of course is a German film. I understand that an English language version was made - has anybody seen it?

Someone mentioned a while back that the French version of `His Glorious Night' (`Si l'empereur Savait Ca') is extant, and apparently superior to the US version. German and Spanish versions were also released, but I don't know if they're still around.

I'm working my way through the German version of THE CONGRESS DANCES (1931), which of course is a German film. I understand that an English language version was made - has anybody seen it?

I tried but I was too tired to see it. There were three versions: one in German, the second one in English and the third one in French.

In Argentina, they originally released the French version. But since the film turned out to be too popular, the exhibitors decided to show the German versions just a few weeks later.

Erik Charell made a third version of DER KONGRESS TANZT, called "Le congrès s'amuse", also played (as well as the English-language version) by Lillian Harvey & Lil Dagover. Conrad Veidt was in the German and English editions, not in the French, althought he appeared later in some French movies like "Le joueur d'échecs" with Françoise Rosay!
To date I didn't see any of the three versions, but I have the two versions (English & French) of CARAVAN, by the same director.

I was unaware of the preservation of SI L'EMPEREUR SAVAIT CA - I don't remember it being shown at the Cinémathèque Française or on television (but I can be wrong of course). Recently, Bach Films released on DVD "Buster se marie", and the box was illustrated by a still of Keaton with Françoise Rosay, but in spite of this, it was simply the US version, "Parlor, Bedroom and Bath", and the still was a mistake, as Rosay only appears in the French & German versions.

There is a box of 12 discs released by Universal in Spain. Disc # 12 (unfortunately not sold separately, as were discs # 1 to 10) is a treasure, containing (along with two shorts), both the English and Spanish versions of PARDON US. Both are quite remarkable:
PARDON US doesn't include the fire sequence, 'lifted" from the Spanish version in recent editions of the movie, supposedly in order to have an "uncut" version, but in fact destroying the editing, as, in this so-called restored version, the Tiger (Walter Long), just after being knocked-out in the fire sequence, is on his feet again in the following scenes. This Spanish scene is NOT in this Spanish disc, but in spite of that, it's longer (at 60 mins in Pal = 63 mins) than any other version.

DE BOTE EN BOTE, the Spanish version, has the same running time (just 13 seconds longer) - the famous classroom scene with Jimmy Finlayson doesn't exist in Spanish but is "compensated" by the fire sequence. But the true novelty is that both the English and Spanish versions are from the best sources I ever saw. As you probably know, DE BOTE EN BOTE wasn't included in the UK's 21-discs set. The only source was a poor VHS in America, followed by an equally poor DVD by the same company. So to my knowledge, this Universal Spanish disc has the best version ever seen, the best image definition. Why Universal didn't release it in other countries (in the UK set for instance) remains a mystery.

The poster and ads for EL PRESIDIO are wonderful.

Incidentally, does anybody knows who played Galloway in EL CODIGO PENAL, the Spanish version of THE CRIMINAL CODE? in the original English-language version, it was Boris Karloff (one of his best role before "Frankenstein"); in the French version it was Daniel Mendaille. But in Spanish? Carlos Villarias (Dracula himself) was in this Spanish version. Harry Baur was in the French one ("Criminel") but in spite of this, it seems lost.

Alas, I have checked the original thread (http://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=9425), and if the French `His Glorious Night' survived, somebody's keeping it very well hidden.

Full size image by clicking in the image here:
http://www.cartelespeliculas.com/galeri ... os=-102325



PRESIDIARIOS is the original title for DE BOTE EN BOTE. The film was exhibited first with that title:

Full size image by clicking in the image here:
http://www.cartelespeliculas.com/galeri ... pos=-20298

These movie ads are priceless, Radiotelefonia. Incidentally, congratulations for your frequent posts about Argentinian movies. Althought living in France, I saw a lot of them and have some on video; unfortunately, as you know, the available prints are often in poor condition (they were recorded from Argentinian TV), with multiple logos, cuts, etc. It's too bad as some of these movies, like "Si muero antes de despertar", "El vampiro negro", "Una luz en la ventana", "El extrano caso del hombre y la bestia", "Obras maestras del terror", "La piel de zapa", etc. are among my favorites in the terror/fantasy genre.

These movie ads are priceless, Radiotelefonia. Incidentally, congratulations for your frequent posts about Argentinian movies. Althought living in France, I saw a lot of them and have some on video; unfortunately, as you know, the available prints are often in poor condition (they were recorded from Argentinian TV), with multiple logos, cuts, etc. It's too bad as some of these movies, like "Si muero antes de despertar", "El vampiro negro", "Una luz en la ventana", "El extrano caso del hombre y la bestia", "Obras maestras del terror", "La piel de zapa", etc. are among my favorites in the terror/fantasy genre.

I usually repair their soundtrack and, if possible, the image as well.