The Translation of Films, 1900-1950

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
International History ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
International Distribution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Audiovisual Translation ◽  
Transition To Sound

This rich collection of essays by film historians, translation scholars, archivists, and curators presents film translation history as an exciting and timely area of research. It builds on the last 20 years of research into the history of dubbing and subtitling, but goes further, by showing how subtitling, dubbing, and other forms of audiovisual translation developed over the first 50 years of the 20th century. This is the first book-length study, in any language, of the international history of audiovisual translation to include silent cinema. Its scope covers national contexts both within Europe and beyond. It shows how audiovisual translation practices were closely tied to their commercial, technological, and industrial contexts. The Translation of Films, 1900–1950 draws extensively on archival sources and expertise, and revisits and challenges some of the established narratives around film languages and the coming of sound. For instance, the volume shows how silent films, far from being straightforward to translate, went through a complex process of editing for international distribution. It also closely tracks the ferment of experiments in film translation during the transition to sound from 1927 to 1934 and later, as markets adjusted to the demands of synchronised film. The Translation of Films, 1900–1950 argues for a broader understanding of film translation: far from being limited to language transfer, it encompasses editing, localisation, censorship, paratextual framing, and other factors. It advocates for film translation to be considered as a crucial contribution not only to the worldwide circulation of films, but also to the art of cinema.

‘Dead as the wooden battleship’: The Fate of Silent British Features in the Transition to Sound

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-171
Author(s):  
Geoff Brown
Keyword(s):  
Half Life ◽  
Film Industry ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Transition To Sound ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Magic Lantern ◽  
Sound Technology

Dead as the wooden battleship, dead as the magic lantern: such were the similes used in 1929 by some in the British film industry to describe the fate of silent cinema in the new talkie era. Other voices predicted a lingering half-life. Either way, most film companies faced a common problem: what to do in 1929 with their stock of silent films which were completed but unreleased. Foregrounding the activities of British International Pictures, Gainsborough Pictures and the distributors Equity British, this article explores the aesthetic, practical and technical problems in exhibiting and sonically titivating silent product as the industry adjusted to sound technology. Topics include the problems generated by the Cinematograph Films Act 1927; the damage caused by awkwardly dubbed voices; the perils of management divisions; the re-release of older silent films; audience and critical dissatisfaction; and the output of young film-makers such as John F. Argyle, who made his last silent feature, The Final Reckoning, in September 1931. British silent cinema's death, it turns out, was neither quick nor painless.

Women Musicians in British Silent Cinema Prior to 1930

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laraine Porter
Keyword(s):  
Women Musicians ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
World War ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Art Form ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World

Referencing a range of sources from personal testimonies, diaries, trade union reports and local cinema studies, this chapter unearths the history of women musicians who played to silent film. It traces the pre-history of their entry into the cinema business through the cultures of Edwardian female musicianship that had created a sizeable number of women piano and violin teachers who were able to fill the rapid demand created by newly built cinemas around 1910. This demand was further increased during the First World War as male musicians were called to the Front and the chapter documents the backlash from within the industry against women who stepped in to fill vacant roles. The chapter argues that women were central to creating the emerging art-form of cinema musicianship and shaping the repertoire of cinema music during the first three decades of the twentieth century. With the coming of sound, those women who had learned the cinema organ, in the face of considerable snobbery, were also well placed to continue musical careers in Cine-Variety during the 1930s and beyond. This article looks particularly at the careers of Ena Baga and Florence de Jong who went on to play for silent films until the 1980s.

A highly creative endeavour: Interview with musicologist and silent film pianist Martin Marks

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Tieber ◽  
Anna K. Windisch
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Film Music ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Practical Work ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Silent Cinema ◽  
Silent Films ◽  
Musical Intelligence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Silent Film Music

Martin Marks holds an almost unique position to talk about silent film music: he is a scholarly musician and musical scholar. Besides his canonical book on the history of silent film music (1997), he has been playing piano accompaniments for silent films regularly for nearly four decades. In this interview we asked Martin about the challenges and complexities of choosing and creating music to accompany musical numbers in silent cinema. Martin relates how he detects musical numbers and he expounds his decision-making process on how to treat them. His explanations are interspersed with engaging examples from his practical work and based on both his scholarly knowledge and on his musical intelligence. He talks about the use of pre-existing music as well as about anachronisms in choosing music written many decades after a film was first released. In sum, this interview delivers detailed and informed insights into the difficulties and pleasures of accompanying musical numbers or other types of diegetic music in silent cinema.

Economic Views of L. Trotsky

2004 ◽  
pp. 142-157
Author(s):  
M. Voeikov ◽  
S. Dzarasov
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Russian History ◽  
History Of

The paper written in the light of 125th birth anniversary of L. Trotsky analyzes the life and ideas of one of the most prominent figures in the Russian history of the 20th century. He was one of the leaders of the Russian revolution in its Bolshevik period, worked with V. Lenin and played a significant role in the Civil War. Rejected by the party bureaucracy L. Trotsky led uncompromising struggle against Stalinism, defending his own understanding of the revolutionary ideals. The authors try to explain these events in historical perspective, avoiding biases of both Stalinism and anticommunism.

History of thyroid surgery

2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (11) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Surgical Technique ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Thyroid Surgery ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times

The authors present an outline of the development of thyroid surgery from the ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century, when the definitive surgical technique have been developed and the physiologic and pathopfysiologic consequences of thyroid resections have been described. The key representatives, as well as the contribution of the most influential czech surgeons are mentioned.

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