MovieChat Forums > Guilty Hands (1931) Discussion > Racist over-dubbing...

Racist over-dubbing...

posted 16 years ago by bettiegia
5 replies | jump to latest

My sister and I were watching this movie last night, and I spotted a shocking over-dub. It happens during the scene where Alan Mowbray's character (Rich) sends 2 of his servant/employees to watch Barrymore's bungalow to make sure that Barrymore doesn't leave. The two men are african-american actors, and are made to act really ignorant and childlike, as was so common in the racist 1930's. There's a line where one of the men says something like "If you go in there, he'll think you're a fool, boy!" but if you watch closely you can easily see that the actor actually says the N-word. It must have been thought of as shocking enough in the 1930's for them to have the actor overdub the word "boy" in it's place. Wow, it's weird to see. I absolutely also hate the way africian-american actors were almost always relegated to roles as butlers, maids, chauffers, mammys, field-hands and kitchen help. What a waste of talent.

[–] Alix1929 16 years ago

Oh my gosh, I saw this too! When it came up, I thought, "Whhhaaatt," and rewound the DVR. I was amazed by how casually the actor dropped the "n-bomb" and just went on with the dialogue. The quote from the movie is actually more like this:

Actor #1: I'm going to go up there, and see if he's okay, or if he has a pain or something.
Actor #2: You know what he's going to say to you...? He's gonna look you right in your big black eye, and say (dialogue deleted), get out!
Actor #1: And you know what I'm gonna do?
Actor #2: Nope
Actor #1: Get out!

Oh yeah, I know it was dubbed over, but as the previous poster mentioned, it is very easy to see what it is the actor says. Even the "big black eye" part is racist sounding. The "n-bomb" is replaced with "boy," which isn't much better, in my opinion. Certainly shows you how commonplace this much have been in the early 30s, to have shown up in a movie.

What I wonder is when this dubbing occurred? Do you suppose it was made when TV bought the rights to so many movies? This certainly wouldn't be stuff that TV stations would have wanted to broadcast, I imagine. Or do you think TCM did it, so they could show this particular Kay Francis, Lionel Barrymore film?

Any ideas, anyone?

[–] gribfritz2 12 years ago

I can buy plenty of DVDs with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, etc... and hear the word loud and clear. I can buy DVD releases of Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons and hear it as well. TCM does not cut the films they show. Sometimes, the version they have is already in a cut form though. I've watched enough TCM to hear every swear possible and seen all kinds of T and A. I assume it was edited some time long ago (possibly when networks were buying up rights to syndicate movies as you suggested) and that version is all there is now.

Although the odd part is, the dub sounds completely fluid. Like the entire line was overdubbed. And the word sounds like the same guy talking. So maybe they even filmed it one way then changed their minds before release and had the same guy re-dub it.

It certainly wasn't what I thought the one topic of debate would be about when I decided to watch a 1932 Lionel Barrymore movie. It could be worse. It could be like some of the dubs we see today. You mother-stomping filthy no-good turd comes to mind. Glad I don't watch movies on network TV like we had to back in the day.

[–] shanehaynes 8 years ago

by Alix1929
» Sun Oct 5 2008 19:33:42
IMDb member since February 2002
Oh my gosh, I saw this too! When it came up, I thought, "Whhhaaatt," and rewound the DVR. I was amazed by how casually the actor dropped the "n-bomb" and just went on with the dialogue. The quote from the movie is actually more like this:

Actor #1: I'm going to go up there, and see if he's okay, or if he has a pain or something.
Actor #2: You know what he's going to say to you...? He's gonna look you right in your big black eye, and say (dialogue deleted), get out!
Actor #1: And you know what I'm gonna do?
Actor #2: Nope
Actor #1: Get out!

Oh yeah, I know it was dubbed over, but as the previous poster mentioned, it is very easy to see what it is the actor says. Even the "big black eye" part is racist sounding. The "n-bomb" is replaced with "boy," which isn't much better, in my opinion. Certainly shows you how commonplace this much have been in the early 30s, to have shown up in a movie.

What I wonder is when this dubbing occurred? Do you suppose it was made when TV bought the rights to so many movies? This certainly wouldn't be stuff that TV stations would have wanted to broadcast, I imagine. Or do you think TCM did it, so they could show this particular Kay Francis, Lionel Barrymore film?

Any ideas, anyone?

Not sure what race you are OP but a few things:

Of course people of color being called the "N word" was prevalent in the 1930s AmeriKKKa and far beyond. Hell, truth be told it's not completely obliterated today. I'm not offended as that is just how things were back then. As an African American, I actually wish it had been left in as in my opinion deleting it out plays into the current trend of revisionist history which America likes to indulge in to clean up its ugly past regarding race relations in this country.

As far as the word being used on TV shows, if you ever watched reruns of African American classic shows from the 70s such as "The Jeffersons", "Sanford & Son" and "Good Times" it is used several times quite freely.....of course it is used BY Africans Americans TO African Americans which is quite different.

[–] ilahilda 7 years ago

I saw the movie two days ago, like everyone stated, that was the way things were back then sadly. Overall, the movie was pretty decent.

[–] mikeoak840 12 years ago

It was no-doubt in the original film as released and overdubbed at some later point. It was a pretty common term used by black and white at the time. It was 80 years ago, and times were different, attitudes were different.

The film was released in 1931. That's a good 20 years before it became commonly and more widely-spread considered a racist remark with a negative connotation and the various equal rights movements got their starts. As another poster has mentioned, it's still in pretty common usage today, arguably more by blacks among each other than by whites.

There are those who say that the groups being slurred against "taking back" and using a slur takes away it's power. I personally disagree, because if it's wrong for one, it's wrong for all if we're all equal. I think, over time, the "power" most slurs once had at some point in time has diminished markedly.

Today, all but about three of the "Seven Deadly Words" are on cable nightly. The "f-bomb" and two gender-related that start with "c" are still pretty hands-off. They still haven't made it broadcast TV (the three networks and local stations) because those are pseudo-public airwaves controled by the FCC. Cable's different because it's not public in the same way - you have to pay for those stations and different rules apply.

As Hattie McDaniel (the first African-American Oscar winner) said on many occasions, she would much rather playing a maid or housekeeper in movies, than be one in real life. To some degree, while you mention hating to see Americans of African descent playing maids, butlers and field-hands, the reality was that, at the that time in American history, those were positions actually were held by the majority of their peers in everyday life. The same educational opportunities that exist today weren't made available to the vast majority of them at that time.