I grew up going to lots of revival theaters in Manhattan and seeing foreign
films (Fellini, Bergman and the like). I feel sorry I "wasted" hundreds of
hours on endless trips to Manhattan when now all are available on DVD, but
there IS a big difference in going to a theater (which then had BIG screens,
unlike the large screen TV-like screens of many multi-plexes today) and
watching at home.
I hated dubbing in movies then, but one thing not commented on is that the
sub-title technology back then was VERY primitive. Most of the classic foreign
movies were black and white, and they would use black subtitles, and they would
regularly blend in to the solid black areas and you would miss key words or
phrases.
Of course there was also the previously mentioned problem where people would
speak for a minute, and the sub-title would read "I love you" and it was clear
they had said much more!
One thing not discussed here is that most U.S. movies were released in dubbed
versions in the rest of the world from the 1930s on, and the major stars
(Gable, Cooper, Harlow, etc) would each have a specific person who would dub
their voice in each country, so that fans would not be confused or bothered by
the voices of the stars changing from movie to movie!
Bruce
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