English vs. Italian dubbing: IMPORTANT difference!
I have recently watched this in its original Italian dubbed audio and I'd like to point out something that might interest its fans or anyone who's into trivia of any sort.
There is no doubt that English is the language most suited for hearing the actors' voices here as even the majority of Italian actors were definitely delivering their lines in English on close inspection; however there's a couple of things that are being missed out: first, right at the beginning, while the credits are rolling, the narrator's voice we hear in the background is Argento himself and second, but most importantly, there is a big difference right at the very end....
********************* WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD! ***********************
In the famous last scene when Suzy finds herself in the presence of the head witch (and accidentally wakes her up) in the English version we hear her talking as soon as she stands up on her bed and, while the voice is suitably creepy, there are way too many lines spoken and the cheese factor is high IMO ("you wanted to kill Elena Markos!" and all that), interestingly in the Italian version instead (and no doubt the one that Argento delivered from his mind) we hear the ambient noises, the clashes of the balls and the background music but the witch does not mutter a single world until after Suzy has moved away the courtains to see an empty bed and, more importantly, what we hear at first is a confused stir of laughter echoing across the room, which is what causes Suzy to turn around first towards the exploding leopard statue (while in the English version this action of hers doesn't quite make sense since all we can hear is Elena's voice and the dubbing makes it clear as it coming from the bed) and then, when we finally distinctivly hear her voice, we hear it as if it comes from behind the opening door: she's actually speaking through Sara's ghost!
I find this particular scene to be way more atmospheric and creepy, as well as having more logic (well, for once we can't blame HIM for the lack of logic this time!), as Argento intended it and now quite frankly I can no longer watch it in English without finding it almost comical and feeling a hint of revulsion: what they've done there is a clear example of dumbed-down, over-explanatory Hollywood-style rubbish, I have my doubts it was the director's decision to make this key change, however small it might have looked to the American distributors, and in my opinion it's not small on any account.
The full film with the Italian dubbing has been uploaded on YouTube by more than one user, I urge you to watch that part too and tell me what you think, agree or disagree?