Multiple-Language Version Film Collectors’ Guide

1930 Films

• Q: What do the following have in common? Laurel and Hardy, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, Dracula and Fritz Lang.
• A: They all made or starred in multiple-language version films.
  “Huh?”

Greta Garbo in Anna Christie (1930), filmed in English and German multiple-language versions

Contents

• Introduction
• Availability
• Anna Christie (1930)
• The Big House (1930)
• The Big Trail (1930)
• The Blue Angel (1930)
• Free and Easy (1930)
• Murder! and Mary (1930/1931)
• Night Birds (1930)
• The Three from the Filling Station (1930)
• Other media
• Related articles

Introduction

Multiple-language version (MLV) films are those shot in several different languages, often simultaneously, and were a short-lived solution to managing the transition from the silent to talkie eras. Following on from Gemma King’s article, The Multiple-Language Version Film: A Curious Moment in Cinema History, here’s a unique guide to the best examples available on home video. The other criterion for inclusion on this list is that an MLV should be accessible, in whole or in part, in at least two different versions. There are literally dozens of others, most often the domestic versions, that are available on disc in one language only – usually English, French or German – but even the survival of their counterparts is frequently far from assured.

As with the sad fate befalling the silents before them, it appears that of the hundreds of MLVs produced in the early sound era, the majority, usually the foreign export versions, have not survived. Those that are extant are scattered around the world in various archives and private collections. MLVs have particular appeal for fans of silent film, as most of them were made by casts and crews that had risen to the top of their respective professions during the silent era. However, unlike with silent films, no one has yet attempted to catalogue all those that are extant, let alone restore them, other than for a few noted exceptions – which are among those detailed in this guide.

Availability

German postcard with the stars of Der Greifer (1930, Czech poster), also shot in English as Night Birds

MLVs were produced in the US between 1929–1933, after which Hollywood studios abandoned the practice altogether. Of course they’re all, by definition, pre-Coders; many are considered perennial classics and have been released on home video by numerous companies worldwide. Though there are far too many to list individually, increasingly a significant number of the rarer ones are emanating from the Warner Archive Collection.

Germany’s UFA studio was by far the most prolific producer of MLVs overall, being involved in around 160 versions of 75 titles between 1929–1939. Many of their domestic versions have been released natively both on VHS and DVD, though seldom with any subtitles at all. In addition, many of UFA’s French productions have been released in that country but usually only on rare, long-deleted, non-subbed VHS videos.

It would obviously be impractical for their producers to release all of these mostly niche films with multiple subtitle options and many have no subtitles at all. I’ve included each one’s subtitle status where known and recommend you also check with DVDCompare. If all else fails and you’re more technically minded, numerous sites offer downloadable subs in different languages for synchronising to your own copies.

Anna Christie (1930)

US lobby card

“Garbo talks!” for the first time, went the marketing and so she did – after becoming an international silent screen superstar – in English and German, as it happens. Greta Garbo certainly wasn’t afraid of tackling grittier roles: here she plays a fallen woman seeking love and redemption in the joint third and fourth of at least eight screen adaptations of Eugene O’Neill’s 1921 play (Gutenberg). The 1923 version starred Blanche Sweet and has been released on US R0 DVD-R (Grapevine, 2011).

Naturally, Garbo somehow accomplishes her gloomy portrayal while ever shimmering like the silver screen goddess she was. The German version was made and released a year later than the English; only Garbo remained, while the rest of the cast were replaced by native speakers. Garbo, clearly more comfortable speaking in German, preferred that version, which was helmed by renowned Belgian filmmaker Jacques Feyder. As was still often the case, a silent version was also prepared for cinemas not yet converted for sound. Anna Christie has the distinction of being the only MLV to have exactly the same title for both of its versions and all international releases.

US 1962 re-release lobby cards (alt), US one sheet poster, 1931 Indian herald/inner, programmes

Fortunately, both MLVs are on DVD but only in the US and Germany, on flipper and dual-layered discs respectively. The US has English, French and Spanish subs on the English MLV and burned-in English subs on the German version, while the German has optional Italian and Spanish dubs for the English MLV, and a whole host of subs in all major European, Scandinavian and other languages. Note the latter disc’s sleeve doesn’t mention the German MLV but instead incorrectly says the (long lost) theatrical trailer is an extra. Most other releases only contain the English version, along with the same broad selection of subs and dubs. Beware the cheap Spanish bootleg (Llamentol, box set); all legit versions bar the Japanese IVC come from Warner Bros.

The B&W English transfer looks perfectly acceptable, but is clearly made from an older video master and could benefit from a full restoration. Not least of which because original release prints were distributed on DuPont pre-tinted lavender stock, as perhaps uncoincidentally reflected in publicity materials produced for the original run and 1962 reissue. In all, the film should look like the beautiful lavender sequence in Howard Hughes’ Hell’s Angels (1930), which is itself receiving a new 4k restoration.

This BD is the best for both versions, bar none. It features the US one sheet poster art, also copied for the Argentinean one sheet. But my faves are the German three sheet and striking Swedish one sheet, inspired by this photo.

Anna Christie’s German MLV is comparatively rough, but there was already a superior copy somewhere out there, as a clip in much better shape is excerpted in the Garbo documentary (2005, 86min). A US DVD, coded for all regions, is the only issue of said doc and is also included in the US Signature Collection. The various other Garbo collections with Anna Christie also include Camille, which features both her 1936 talkie and the 1921 silent version starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino.

December 2023 saw the release of the best option yet: Warner’s region 0 US BD with a new 4K restoration of the English version and a HD transfer of the German, presumably from the same superior source as that in the documentary; both versions have optional English SDH subtitles. Extras are the MGM Parade half-hour episode #30 (1956) on Garbo’s career, Looney Tunes Bosko cartoon The Booze Hangs High (1930) and the Lux Radio Theatre February 7, 1938 broadcast of Anna Christie with Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy. Missing is the Ford Theatre January 21, 1949 broadcast with Ingrid Bergman and Broderick Crawford. Note that as it’s a Warner Archive restoration, the transfer will remain exclusive to the BD and not appear on streaming services or anywhere else.

Both versions

• US: DVD, also in 10-DVD/13-film GG: Signature Collection w/Camille (1921/1936)
  • BD (2023) – plays anywhere
• Germany: DVD, also in 6-DVD/8-film GG Metallbox Collection

English

• Prime Video
• UK: DVD, also in 6-DVD/8-film GG: Signature Collection w/Camille and 5-film/4-DVD GG Collection
• Italy: 6-DVD/8-film GG Scatola di metallo Collection
• France: DVD, also in 8-DVD/10-film La Boîte en métal Collection GG
• Spain: DVD
• Poland: 6-DVD/8-film GG Metalowe pudło Kolekcja
• Japan: IVC DVD (1998, reissued 2002, 2012)
• Australia DVD

The Big House (1930)

US programme (inner)

This gritty, documentary-feel prison drama, one of the first, helped kickstart a whole cycle of such films. The sets were reused for Laurel and Hardy’s MLV spoof on the genre, Pardon Us (1931). The Big House was made in English, French, Spanish and German versions. Unusually, all four survive and the first three are included in a US R0/NTSC 2-DVD set; just avoid the earlier, English version-only, single DVD. There’s a brief clip of the German MLV, Menschen hinter Gittern (Men Behind Bars) in this documentary on the life of its star, Heinrich George.

Cartoon credits/colour

The Big Trail (1930)

US glass slide

This epic Western MLV has its own Collectors Guide.

The Blue Angel (1930)

This pivotal MLV also has its own Collectors Guide.

Free and Easy (1930)

US window card; Swedish poster, sheet music

This is Buster Keaton’s first starring talkie after giving up his independence to work for MGM and, to put it mildly, is not one of his best. Buster’s funny business pretty much plays second fiddle to a fairly standard love story between a young couple. It calls to mind the triangular dynamic of Chaplin’s The Circus (1928) – sadly, minus most of the laughs.

The simultaneously-shot Spanish version, Estrellados (Starry), featuring an awkward, phonetically-speaking Buster with a different cast, is even worse. Buster was contracted to make a total of four of his films as MLVs and reportedly loathed the experience, saying that as if making a damn terrible movie wasn’t bad enough, he now had to do it twice!

Estrellados (badly) reuses much of the footage from Free and Easy, augmented with new Spanish-language scenes. A third version was prepared for the French market, but it was merely the English version with added French intertitles. Estrellados features Carlos Villarías in a minor role, on his way to actually starring in another Spanish MLV the following year: Drácula. Incidentally, Buster also appeared in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which was subsequently re-edited into the now-lost German MLV, Wir Schalten um auf Hollywood (We Switch to Hollywood, 1931).

To date, Free and Easy has only been released in the US. The English and Spanish versions are both included on a single DVD, while the English version only is part of the extras-heavy Buster Keaton Collection, along with The Cameraman (1928) and Spite Marriage (1929), two of his better silents. The Free and Easy disc also includes So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM (2004), a 38 minute documentary co-directed by noted film historian Kevin Brownlow. It charts the artistic and personal decline of Keaton as he struggled to come to terms with working within the studio system. Handily, it also features clips of both the Spanish and French versions.

• US: Warner 2on1 DVD (2014) – both MLVs; NTSC region 0
• Warner 2-DVD Buster Keaton Collection (2004) – English MLV; region 1

Murder! and Mary (1930/1931)

Seated: Norah Baring and Herbert Marshall in Murder!

Murder! and its German-language twin Mary have been covered separately as part of the Alfred Hitchcock Collectors’ Guide. The former is perhaps the most heavily bootlegged MLV of all, but I’ve compiled a round-up of all legit releases. Just prior to these, Hitch directed another MLV, Elstree Calling, but of its whopping nine language variants, it’s only available in its original English version.

Night Birds (1930)

UK herald

This British-made, wisecracking detective thriller moves along at a fair old pace, and is about a gang of thieves who target the wealthy and the law’s efforts to apprehend them, one of the latter is Jameson Thomas, star of The Farmer’s Wife and Piccadilly. Harder-edged than you might expect, it’s set in and around a London theatre; fans of musicals and glamorous Art Deco fashions and interiors should definitely investigate. The film was also produced for German audiences as Der Greifer (1930), starring Hans Albers at the outset of a 15 year tenure as his country’s biggest film star. Rather confusingly, the German MLV was remade in 1958 under the same title, also starring Albers as the same policeman character, but this time on the verge of retirement.

UK herald inner (UK pressbook, page, #2)

Interestingly, Greifer (‘gripper’ or ‘grabber’) is the German equivalent of ‘copper’, the English slang for policeman, while ‘copper’ itself derives from the Latin capere, meaning to grab or apprehend.

UK herald rear

Night Birds has been released on a UK DVD by Network. The original Der Greifer can be had on Alive’s German DVD, which has 13 contemporary film trailers and a 24-page illustrated booklet but sadly no subs. The 1958 remake has also been issued on German DVD (reissue) by Studiocanal with some minor extras and German subs. Avoid Sinister Cinema’s US releases on DVD-R and Prime Video, and anything else: they’re bootlegs.

The Three from the Filling Station (1930)

German poster

The Three from the Filling Station (Die Drei von der Tankstelle) was one of the most commercially successful German films of the 1930s and much like Hitchcock’s seminal The 39 Steps (1935), it kicked off a franchise that includes numerous remakes and stage adaptations. The original film was shot alongside its equally successful French MLV, The Road to Paradise (Le chemin du paradis, 1930), and trilingual German superstar Lilian Harvey led both versions. Both of these hugely enjoyable musicals also spawned several evergreen hit singles.

Uniquely, owing to their enduring popularity, both German and French versions also actually received back-to-back MLV remakes! Both retained the original films’ titles and were released in 1955 and 1956 respectively. Sadly, thus far only the former is available on DVD. There’s even a 2002 German role-reversal remake, The Three Girls from the Petrol Station. In 2005 and 2006, the original screenplay was adapted as a musical then a play, both of which have proved extremely popular and are regularly performed around Germany, ensuring the original films’ legacy lives on.

French poster

The 1930 German MLV was originally released on a plain DVD in 2004, also included in a 4-DVD collection dedicated to one of its leads, Heinz Rühmann. The following year it was also issued in the VHS and later 60-part DVD/magazine series mentioned here.

In 2006 the film made a third appearance on disc as part of das fantastische Deutsche Tonfilmklassiker box set, with German and English subtitles, and a 24min featurette. This is the one to aim for; among the its 10 English-friendly DVDs of some of the most notable German films of the 1930s and 1940s are no fewer than 5 MLVs, all of which I’ve covered in this series (The Blue Angel, The Congress Dances, M and Amphitryon). Each is accompanied by a featurette of 17-33 minutes in length, several of which contain alternate MLV clips. Unfortunately though, the set’s now long deleted and very rare; hearty congratulations if you manage to find a reasonably priced copy.

Finally, a newly restored version, in its original 1: 1.19 aspect ratio, appears in HD via Die große Heinz Rühmann Box, a BD and DVD set (also a single) featuring four films with the star. Though each has its own informative 8-page booklet, there are no other extras, save for the other three titles having one original trailer, or two in the case of Quax, der Bruchpilot (Quax, the Crash Pilot; 1941). Nor even any subtitles, I’m afraid.

The 1930 French MLV, unavailable for many years, was finally released on DVD in 2017.

Related articles

If you liked this, you’ll love:

• The Multiple-Language Version Film: A Curious Moment in Cinema History
• MLV Collectors Guide: 1930 films
  • Part 2: 1931–1932 films
  • Part 3: 1933–1938 films
• MLV Collectors Guide: The Big Trail (1930)
• MLV Collectors Guide: The Blue Angel (1930)
• Alfred Hitchcock Collectors’ Guide: Elstree Calling (1930)
• Alfred Hitchcock Collectors’ Guide: Murder! and Mary (1930/1931)

See DVDCompare for more in-depth disc details and post a comment below if you’ve any questions or suggestions.