I was intrigued to hear on the excellent commentary track of Classic Media's MOTHRA VS GODZILLA that a Terry Vantell was mentioned as being a dubber for the some of the female voices, possibly the miniature twins, "The Peanuts." I know that Titan Productions also dubbed some of the Gamera films for AIP in that era. Does anyone know if this is the same Terry Vantell who directed the English version of NECRONOMICON aka SUCCUBUS? I didn't realize that Terry Vantell was a "she" and also directed the English version of Lucio Fulci's THE BRUTE AND THE BEAST aka MASSACRE TIME.
I can't find a Terry Vantell on the imbd or get any further information via a Google search. Does anyone have any more information or what became of this dubber/director? I always have wanted to speak to the person who created the English language version of NECRONOMICON on editing choices, voice casting, sound effects and what the original version they got in was like.
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
(C) Robert Monell, 2007
This would certainly be the same Terry Vantell -- all of AIP's dubbing and sonic reinvention was recorded at Titra Sound Studios, and they were behind both GODZILLA VS. THE THING and SUCCUBUS (which AIP distributed under the beard of another company, as it was X-rated... same with VENUS IN FURS and EUGENIE... THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION). I interviewed Peter Fernandez, a prominent Titra voice, about his Titra days for my Bava book, and he is an excellent source of information about dubbing and the voice casting of these pictures. He directed some dubbing sessions as well.
ReplyDeleteAnother point I should make. Terry Vantell's direction credit does not necessarily mean that she was responsible for re-editing the picture. In AIP terms, this work was the province of the late Salvatore Billitteri, who may have demurred from receiving screen credit because this was an X picture. Directors of English versions in these cases were the directors of the dubbing sessions, and Terry Vantell -- not a name commonly seen as a director -- may have been given the job because she was dubbing the principal role of Lorna Green (I'm not saying that she did, just that it's a possibility).
ReplyDeleteIn Googling around, I see that Terry Vantell also directed the English dub of Lucio Fulci's MASSACRE TIME (1966).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response and information, Tim. Yeah, I figured she was "Lorna" but who wrote the English language script? I know the German producer did a cut. I thought this was another company. She also was the English language director for a Luigi Scattini film...
ReplyDeleteAnd what is TITAN PRODUCTIONS? The same as TITRA? And what is FILM RITE?
ReplyDeleteRobert Grant adds by email to me:
ReplyDeleteBob, Also note that the director of War, Italian Style is Luigi Scattini who also directed Jayne Maynsfield in PRIMITIVE LOVE (L'Amore Primitivo) (!) You might want to shoot Psychotronic's Michael Weldon an email about Vantell.....he might know more about her. Psychotronic Magazine, the hard copy version has folded, but an online version may reappear...you can go to Michael's website: http://www.psychotronicvideo.com/wow/vestibule.shtml
Robert Grant responds by email:
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on: Terry Vantell credits
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Bob, Vantell is credited with re-recording director on the following, a Buster Keaton comedy: "War, Italian Style" aka "Due marines e un generale", Italy (1966) http://www.hollywood.com/movie/War_Italian_Style/270748 She might have worked for A.I.P. who may have distributed the movie, so that's another lead for lookup. --Robert
Thanks for that information, Robert. Never heard of that one. I'll post it. [RM]
I would bet that Titan was a beard for Titra, which may not have wanted to be seen as involved with adult pictures. Obviously, no film is edited by a company, and as I said before, I would suspect Salvatore Billitteri as being the guy behind the edit. Peter Fernandez told me that everything that came into Titra to be dubbed was accompanied by a general synopsis, and the dubbing director wrote dialogue from scratch, according to the meaning of the scenes, but more importantly to match lip movements.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by Fernandez's comments about how dubbing may actually give one more of a sense of an Italian film rather than subtitling. A craftsman who takes pride in his work. Dubbing is almost always put down by fans of Eurocult, Eurotrash, European art films. He makes a good point in that even Fellini shot MOS and dubbed [in Italian] later. A fascinating individual not really well served by this rather short interview.
ReplyDeleteI just watched Peter Fernandez interviewed on the supposedly unauthorized and illegal ULTRAMAN boxset. He confirms that "above all" synching English dialogue to lip movements was his primary concern. He also states that he sometimes cast the female dubber Corrine Orr, also interviewed in the doc, as the voice for nunerous or sometimes ALL the female roles in certain shows. I assume that Vantell did Lorna but I also wonder if she did the other female voices. If she was the dubbing director she must be responsible for some of those crazy lines, "Wallace is living in South Africa[!]" And who dubbed the men in SUCCUBUS? In any case, I could listen to Peter Fernandez for hours on end about his career.
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