últimas corrientes teóricas en los estudios de traducción - Gredos ...

RAINER MARIA KOEPPL–ALFRED HITCHCOCK AND JOHN WAYNE
As the dialogue is transferred from a precise historical, geographical and political
context to an unclear and absurd “general humanitarian” context, the term “patriotism”
has to be eliminated.
In the German synchronization of Notorious Alicia asks: “Why should I?” (cooperate
with the FBI against drug trafficking). Devlin answers: “For the love of mankind!” Alicia
replies: “I don’t care about mankind. And I don’t love you either.”
German dialogue:
Alicia: “Warum sollte ich das?”
Devlin: “Aus Menschenliebe! […]”
Alicia: “Ich kümmere mich nicht um andere Menschen. Und Sie liebe ich auch nicht […].”
(Weisses Gift / White Poison, West Germany 1951 / German synchronization of Notorious).
JOHN WAYNE – INTERLUDE: “ARE YOU – OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A
DRUG USER?”
The betrayal of Notorious is not the only case of its kind. The classic cult movie
Casablanca was also similarly manipulated during its German synchronization. A new
apolitical story was invented for German-speaking moviegoers. As a result, the scenes
had to be cut wherever a Nazi uniform was to be seen. The movie was cut by more than
twenty minutes. The story became totally confusing. It was not until 1968 that the
German-speaking audience could see a correctly dubbed version of Casablanca.
However, not only the Nazis were eradicated from the movies that were synchronized
into German in the 1950s. The Communists were also eliminated from the Germandubbed
versions.
The famous cowboy actor John Wayne put his private money into the production
of an explicitly political movie. The topic of his movie was the so-called “un-American
activities.” This meant the activities of the American communists who were fanatically
persecuted in the United States of the 1950s (the McCarthy era).
The original title of John Wayne’s cinematic appeal to hunt down the communists is Big
Jim McLain. John Wayne personally plays the title role of the communist-hater Big Jim.
(for full cast and credits see:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0044418
In the Austrian and German cinemas the movie Big Jim McLain was shown under
the title of Marihuana. I have not yet been able to locate a German synchronized version
of this film. However, I did find an old movie program for Marihuana in an Austrian
archive. It states: “For years the United States has been fighting a fierce war against illegal
drugs. Particularly the highly dangerous marihuana cigarettes.”
I have never seen the German synchronized version, but I have seen John Wayne’s
political metamorphosis in the Italian synchronized version. The translators of the Italian
version are traitors, too. In the Italian version the communists have also been
miraculously transformed into drug dealers. The American version of Big Jim McLain
shows the infamous interrogations which begin with the famous question: “Are you – or
have you ever been – a member of the communist party?”
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