Musical Dubbing Through the Decades, Part 2

After weeks of work, I've finally finished my second dubbing compilation. It's a lot of fun to watch. Would love to read your reactions - lots of surprises in here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg_Ke_jjRMs

Mark

Updated On: 9/1/16 at 11:57 PM

What fun! Great clips, and the fact that a few well-known musical performers occasionally were dubbed (Ray Walston, Tony Martin, Dennis Morgan, Rita Moreno, Angela Lansbury) or did the dubbing (Mary Martin, Muriel Smith, Allan Jones) never fails to surprise.

You probably know this, but Marni Nixon is never actually heard in the film of Carousel. For some reason, that one line was dubbed over by her strictly for release on the soundtrack album. Marni said as much in her autobiography, or in interviews she gave at the time of its release. (I think the same is true regarding Rita Moreno in The King and I. More of Tuptim's songs appear on the album than in the film and that might be where the "vocal assist" comes in.)

Updated On: 9/1/16 at 06:56 AM

Thanks for the compliment.

Karine, who did research for this compilation, interviewed Marni and played this clip for her - Marni confirmed that it is her voice for that one line. The Fox recording logs also confirm this.

As to Rita, the film's music director stated that she was dubbed for a few notes in "Shadows" on the soundtrack of the film. I can't hear it, though.

Updated On: 9/1/16 at 11:12 AM

That bit about Nixon dubbing wood's speaking voice is bizarre. And why would it be more difficult to dub her in close-ups? Aren't all the music tracks fully dubbed over whatever was recorded on set?? The way its written is very confusing.

If you watch the clip when she says "Don't touch him!" it actually does sounds like two people are saying it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGtD5QAaAGY

Regarding the spoken line (and it does sound like two people saying it), there was probably a sound issue. The film had wrapped production in March of 1961. According to Suzanne Finstad's biography of her, Natalie had a tonsillectomy that spring and it is likely that the line was touched up during this time period. Since Marni was dubbing her songs anyway, they just had her dub the line over as well.

As for dubbing being harder during close-ups, in most films the songs are pre-recorded and the actor then sings along to a never-changing track. It helps for continuity, because the song is going to be filmed from several angles and then edited. In the case of West Side Story, Natalie had recorded her own versions of the songs and sang along to their playback. Apparently her lip-syncing was not great, which gave Marni a hard time when she dubbed over the songs. It was more obvious in close-ups, so she had to time herself very carefully.

Updated On: 9/2/16 at 06:08 AM

Oh I understand too!

In most cases the actors on set would be singing along to the tracks that would be dubbed over in post, but because Wood was deceived she sang to entirely different tracks.