European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse By Peter Kuhrt staff writer the screen in the dimly lit studios putters to life. A count Achung. 123" signals the Start of another take showing the Headquarters of a new York police precinct. The phone jangles and the Gruff look ing desk sergeant reaches Over and answers it sgt. Briggs. What s the matter. Yeah i la be Down in a minute As the cop on the screen opens his Mouth so does his German counterpart who barks into the Mike before him sgt. Briggs. Was is los. Jaich Werde Gleich Unten Sein from the Cutter s desk comes the admonishment a Little the mustachioed speaker shrugs and repeats his Spiel As the 10-second take reels off Briggs dubber Rolls up his eyes in mock despair Waits anxiously for the count and starts Over again. This time there s a gentle objection from behind the Glass partition in the rear of the studio where the director shares a soundproof Cabin with the sound it s "123. And Only after the sixth time comes the director s Okay the speaker mimics a deep breath of Relief consults the script on the lectern before him and Waits for the next take at the end of the Day at studio Hamburg s atelier 4, another episode of the popular american television serial felony squad has been synchronized ready to Delight millions of German to viewers. J. He dubbing of imported motion pictures and television features great Deal of them from the United states is a major Industry in West Germany with the most important synchronization centers located at Ham Burg Munich and Berlin. Loaning their voice to foreign col leagues May be a relatively Anonymous business for German actors they rarely get screen credit but it s also a profitable sideline that attracts even big stars. Lis Verhoeven for instance has Bee much in demand As the seductive voice of such movie sirens As Carroll Baker Brigitte Bardot and Sweden s Harriet Are German movie buffs have never heard the original Marlo Brando because the squeaky voiced Star s voice usually is dubbed by Werne Bruhns a stage actor who also doubles As a top synchronization Riggs the karate chopping Emma Peel of the British to series the avengers a smash on both German and . Home screens borrows he German voice from blonde Margot Leonard. The Berlin actress also has convincingly dubbed the parts of Bardot the late Marilyn Monroe and Juli Christie. A he germans have honed the Art of dubbing to near perfection largely be cause they depend on imports to fill the needs of their own to networks an movie Heaters said Hans Joachim Braun head of synchronization at studio Hamburg. Our audiences expect a ready mad package he said. They have become too pampered to accept subtitles Al though there might be a few people who d rather watch the original explaining some aspects of the syn Chro process Braun said the German studios frown on having dubbing actor read their lines superimposed on the running method was patented in Ger \ the dubbing of imported motion pictures. Is a major Industry in West Germany. Page 12 Kew Many in the 1920s, and is still used inthe United states Britain France and other we have gotten away from that. We find the dialogue is More natural when the actors get a script ahead of time study the characters they Are to portray and then speak directly from the next to the speakers the principal sin the dubbing process Are the author who prepares the Book from the translated dialogue the director who casts the films and has Over All control the Cutter who makes sure sound and action Are actually synchronized plus the sound master and the recording Engineer. With a never ceasing flood of imported material converging on them major studios like the one in Hamburg operate on tight schedules. Every lost minute Means lost Money. Utilizing Sev eral Ateliers the company grinds out up to 250 dubbed movies and to film annually. A one hour television feature take about a Day to be converted to German. A motion picture requires up to six Days and its synchro costs average from $5,000 to $7,500. However Holly Wood spectaculars like Cleopatra run up to $20,000, and the most ambitious dubbing venture so far my fair lady easily topped that figure. Even the most minor parts in a to feature Are spoken by professional a stars among these voices in the dark can draw about $125 a Day Al though the average dubber makes about half too Long ago West Germany s association of ghost voices in which most synchro speakers Are organized threatened a strike to Force their de mands for per diem pay plus a stand Ard fee for every take As is customary in the United states. The revolt fizzled though and the studios continue to Deal with even y actor individually. Good or bad synchronization can make or break a film with critics and audiences and therefore at the Box offices or in the to ratings. A much praised example of the first was the German version of who s afraid of Virginia Woolf which the experts claim featured dialogues More sizzling than the Oscar winning original. I g. G. Hoffman and Margot Leonard dub voices of Patrick Macnee Weed and Diana Riggs Emma Peel for German to episode of the avengers is Damon German actors reflect emotions As they dub dialogue into american series. On the other hand German dubber found their Waterloo in another Taylor Burton production the taming of in that movie lip synchronization was nearly impossible because the shakespearean prose could not be tamp ered with. An ingenious Job was done with what s new pussycat where Peter Sellers portrays a mad psychiatrist witha German accent. So How did he come out in German movie houses a head Shrinker called or. Popov and obviously a russian. The native entertainment Indus try can t begin to satisfy the insatiable appetite of networks and movie distributors West Germany ranks As the most significant Export Market for ., Brit ish and other foreign filmmakers and television Are in an enviable position we Don t have to go shopping around said mrs. Edeltraut pipping of Frankfurt s Degaeto film co. The foreign producers come directly to us to sell their the Degaeto co. Serves As the Pur chasing Agency for the nine state radio and television networks associated inthe German first program. Which of the . Television offer Ings stand a Good Chance to eventually make their appearance in German living anything of solid entertainment value said mrs. Pipping Reci ung a i Long list of american Kyrimis that have successfully passed her critical Eye. Among them were the Fuget be known in Germany As auf Der Fludra in which the nimble footed or. Kunj David Janssen stays just a heal the pursuing Law through scores of suspenseful episodes. The whole German a son breathed Relief last August when in the final two segments the my running doktor could prove he Njg Cence and bring the killer of Nis a to Justice. Or the stars and stripes Mission impossible t f a what about such Plo be s g Haj combat the series ext of Ica world War ii triumphs of the and fighting Man in Europe no mrs. Pipping smiles Vve for obvious reasons. Tuesday Earp of Werner Bruhns. M is Damon r9 studio Engineer tapes voices on felony squad a big hit with germans 968 mention television s Wyatt Earp to Werner Bruhns and watch him squirm. I did 80 episodes of it. Dubbin the part of Hugh o Brian. Nothing per Sonal against the Guy but 80 episodes i just could t stand the sight of him any Earp May still Hurt but the night Marish experience was t quite enough to kill Bruhns taste for the synchronization of other american movies and to features. Not Only did he lend his Well modulated vocal chords to such . Stars As Marlon Brando and James Garner but he also has made a name for himself As one of his country s to synchronization directors. And just to show that he can also speak for him self the Young Man with the Horn rim glasses makes frequent stage appear ances in Germany and Austria. Bruhns talked about the Joys and pit Falls of his avocation Between takes of Savage it was the title Ozone of 13 sequences from the american cops and robbers serial felony squad which was being dubbed in a Hamburg studio under his direction. We Start off with 13 and if the Fol sat Home like it the network May buy some More he said. What goes into the making of Good synchro regisseur director ? you have to be Alert you must Beable to see what s going on on the screen Bruhns explained. You have to have a feel for the rhythm of speech for the Way people actually from his soundproof Booth assisted by sound Engineer Karl Tramburg Bruhns handled his felony team wit the Light but sure touch that comes Only with the experience of hundreds of dub Bing jobs. Eyes fixed on the screen and communicating with the outside with the Aid of a Mike he led his speaker through the lines that cast them As police most frequent order after an unsatisfactory take Hochmal or try for a slight pause there or remember he s a Tough cop talk like sometimes a take had to be repeated eight or 10 time before Bruhns Tramburg and the Cutter were was optimistic about viewer acceptance of the new series. This sort of thing goes Over Well Here he said. It s Only when the films Are too Tough then the people balk. A Good example was Tightrope a tremendous succession the states but it was killed Here after Only three Bruhns Veteran of such convoluted classics As the fugitive and Bonanza said despite his relative anonymity synchronization director and his Abil the stars and stripes Ity can spell life or death for a dubbed film. I actually can make a bad film bet Ter he said. I can take a weak comedy and make it wittier funnier. I Cantone Down a real tear Jerker. I can even change the whole mean ing of a scene turn it completely around. For instance i remember do ing a scene in which Arthur Kennedy put on a uniform and for some reason bemoaned the fact that he would never Wear it my version the situation was re versed Kennedy was loathing the uni form. Sometimes you be got to cheat a Little. Some evidence of the synchro director s License to cheat a Little Casein one scene in felony squad in which three suspects Are led into police head quarters to be booked and the lieutenant allows them one Call each to Contact lawyer. Since this procedure is unknown i Germany Bruhns had to put some other words into the cop s Mouth. Result on German screens the lieutenant will bark Eins Perren Hab Ich Gesag lock pm up i Tell a. On the other hand German dubber Sare sticklers for details sometimes go ing far beyond the original English language version. Let s say we have somebody shutdown in the Street and a group of passersby gathers around the victim Bruhns said. The . Version uses merely appropriate background mumblings but we give a voice to each of these bystanders using a different actor for each of them even if they speak Only two final and most difficult part of the synchronization process is the mixing in which Tramburg combines four or five tapes to achieve the ultimate sound. The dialogues require at least two tapes another one adds assorted noises like gun fire or running water a fourth provides the music track and a fifth carries some of the special of the sounds Are lifted from the original film others have to be re created in the studio and still others Are taken from voluminous insisted it makes no differ ence to him whether he has to work from English French or Zulu the main thing is the situation and How to approach it in but he admitted to a few stumbling blocks when it comes to dealing with the eccentricities of the american ton gue and its regional variations. New York Slang gives us terrific trouble he said. The people there speak very broadly and they really Ope their Mouths. That s bad for Lio synchronization. The southerners make it much easier for us they slur it so . Page 13
