A multiple-language version film, often abbreviated to MLV, is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of making sound films in only one language, it became common practice for American and European studios to produce foreign-language versions of their films using the same sets, crew, costumes, etc. The first foreign-language versions appeared in 1929 and largely replaced the International Sound Version method for many major releases. The most common languages used for these productions were English, Spanish, French and German.
Musicals in particular proliferated during the early talkie era, partially because between-song, plot-driven narration could often be easily replaced with intertitles or, as in the case with MLVs, be reshot using local actors. Numerous internationally renowned artists worked on MLVs, some repeatedly. Many are still widely known to modern audiences, including Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang and John Wayne. Hal Roach was a great proponent of MLVs and an early adopter of the practice. Within a two-year period between 1929 and 1931 he oversaw the production of many of them for his top acts, including Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase, Harry Langdon and Our Gang.
Although a vast number of MLVs were made, many of the early export versions are thought lost and relatively few are available today. Some notable exceptions are Anna Christie (1930); The Blue Angel (1930); Dracula’s Spanish-language incarnation, Drácula (1931); M (1931); The Threepenny Opera (1931) and various Laurel and Hardy films.
Within a few years the practice had peaked, largely due to the additional production complications and expenses incurred, along with improvements in dubbing and subtitling techniques. Many multiple-language version films were US-European co-productions and the Nazis’ rise to power in the early 1930s effectively sealed their fate. European co-productions continued on a reduced scale through until the end of the 1950s before dying out almost completely. On the Indian subcontinent however, multiple-language versions are still produced on a semi-regular basis, particularly in the case of big budget epics.
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