Snow White's first French version

Early this February, I've lived a very moving experience : the projection of a very rare copy of the first 1938 dub of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs entitled Blanche Neige et les Sept Nains. You may not know this, but instead of restoring foreign soundtracks of Disney classics, the company records a new version every 20 years or so with new actors and new translations. In the case of Snow White, the first version was supervised by the Disney studio itself and recorded in California. In 1962, a new version was recorded in Paris starring Lucie Dolène. That version is available in VHS and LD. A new version was commissioned (mostly for legal reasons) in 2000 starring Valérie Siclay (speaking voice of SW) and Rachel Pignot (singing voice) for the DVD release. However, since it was last released in 1951, the original 1938 version had never surfaced again.

This version is not only different in its soundtrack : specific French main titles were created for it, different from the other 1962 French version. Just like the two American versions (to remove the RKO logo), the first main title begins with the mention : "Un film à Grand métrage de Walt Disney" (meaning A Walt Disney feature film), a novelty then which will be replaced 24 years later by a simple "Walt Disney présente".

The RKO Radio Pictures credit and logo were later replaced in France by RKO Radio Films S.A., then erased in 1962.

The French book of the opening sequence is the same save for a small detail: the text was slightly rewritten from "Il y avait une fois" to "Il était une fois" (both meaning "Once upon a time" but the latter is more modern). Just like in the American version, Snow White has the birds write the word "Grumpy" on her pie, which was replaced on the DVD by a whirl of paste that could be used internationally. Also the written transition after the death of the princess is now superimposed over the same animation as in English (the DVD replaces that with fixed backgrounds).

As for the soundtrack itself, it's a true revelation. If the new 2000 dub tried hard to emulate the successful 1962 version, we discover here a completely different translation, probably less sophisticated although it sometimes sticks closer to the American version. Dialogs are in accordance with what is seen onscreen. In fact, it was rather unsettling in the 1962 version to hear the Queen read aloud "Poussière de momie" (mummy dust), rather than "Poudre magique" (Magic dust), as the French book actually reads.

The dwarfs do sing Heigh-Ho instead of Hé-Ho (pronounced "hey ho") as in the two subsequent versions.

And there is one funny detail : during the forest sequence, Snow White's screams are, as expected, those of the American version, but... she screams once more (by the end) that in all other versions of the film I've seen !

Finally, actors have unexpected accents and there is an obvious will to create a version with its own identity.

The actors have spent most (if not all for some) of their careers in the United States, and it is rather frequent to find two or more of them together in the same film, sometimes in the same scenes and it is likely that the casting for Snow White was partly determined through friendships and past collaborations.
Their roles were typically those of train conductors, porters, valets, clerks, etc. with sometimes a few lines in French or in English with a French accent in American productions which were supposed to take place in France. During the early days of the talkies, some of them were seen in alternate language versions of Hollywood films. This was considered easier than dubbing the film, a technique not yet completely mastered. Publicist could then write "film 100% français" on the posters. La Veuve Joyeuse, Ernst Lubitsch's French version of The Merry Widow is an example.

Here are the French actors and some information about each of them. When I could not find written evidence about which character they played, I added a question mark that I will remove if I find something that confirms what I guess when listening to the film. I wish to thank François Justamand and Rémi C. who have been very helpful in this research.

Blanche Neige (Snow White's speaking voice) :

Christiane Tourneur. born Marguerite Christian Virideau, as she is shooting the film The Ship of Lost Men in 1929 with Marlene Dietrich, directed by Maurice Tourneur, she meets his son, Jacques Tourneur, and marries him in 1934. They collaborate a few years on Maurice Tourneur films, Jacques as an assistant and editor, she as an actress. In 1935, Jacques takes his film "Toto" to the USA with 40 dollars in his pocket to pursue a directing career. His past American experience with his father in the twenties makes him get a contract at MGM, then RKO, afterwhich he works freelance. Christiane gets several secondary parts without ever being credited. She then becomes the speaking voice of Snow White. A French article in the 505 issue of Pour Vous magazine from July 20, 1938 says she "hopes that after Snow White (...) she will make it big in the American movies." Obviously, it was not to be.

Jacques and Christiane Tourneur with Walt Disney at the private screening of the French version of Snow White in 1938

Walt Disney's desired secrecy around the casting of Snow White apparently extended itself to foreign versions. Even Adriana Caselotti and Harry Stockwell at the premiere were only introduced as "Snow White and the Prince".
In 1947, Jacques's mother, who Maurice Tourneur had left along with his American career in 1926, and who had spent the war in Normandy, was invited to stay with them in Hollywood.
The couple never had children : they tried adopting but the waiting list for an American child already had 2800 names and adopting in France meant they had to stay there for eleven years at least.

When Jacques retired in 1971, the couple settled in Bergerac, France, at Christiane's sister's until Jacques' death in 1977. Christiane is last heard of in July 31, 1992 where she is interviewed by Philippe Roger with her nephew Jacques Miermont about her late husband.

Chris Fujiwara, in his Jacques Tourneur biography "The cinema of Nightfall" writes that she sometimes went under the name Christiane Gebb, which would mean she was sometimes credited, but I haven't found that name anywhere else.
She is described by producer Bert Granet and his wife Charlotte as "effervescent, probably an American's idea of what a French woman should be like if they had never visited France.". It seems she eclipsed somewhat her rather shy husband, because "she was so dynamic... she did all the talking." Incidentally, they both spoke French, even in presence of guests, which probably contributed to their relative isolation in the Hollywood community.

Christiane brings a definite cuteness to the role and her voice is rather close to Adriana Caselotti's.

 

Blanche Neige (Snow White's singing voice) :

Beatrice Hagen.

born circa 1918. She was 20 years old when she sang the songs for the Princess. She was a Hollywood girl and, unlike what you may think, she was not chosen because she could speak French (I'm not even sure she could). She was selected by Marcel Ventura because she was a lyric soprano and because she had had some success on the radio at the time. In 1936, she was even voted by Southern California radio editors as the "first Hollywood radio baby star" for her outstanding work on the air the previous year.
Soon after that, on May 10, 1936 she appeared as Paul Whiteman's guest star in the Woodbury Musical Varieties at 9.45 pm EST over NBC, with a rebroadcast at 11.30 pm.
At this point in her career, she met Mary Pickford and Bing Crosby.
She also performed as part of the Grenadiers singing ensemble along with pianist George Malloy.
When listening to her voice, one understands why director David Hand was dissatisfied by the singing in the French version. Beatrice's talent is probably not to blame, but the quality of the recordings is. Spoken voices are quite clear for a 1938 recording, yet as soon as Snow White vocalizes, it seems she is singing with her hand in front of her mouth.
From her accent, I rather doubt that Miss Hagen is a French native speaker. Anyway, and unlike previous rumors, this is not the voice of Elyane Célis, Lucienne Dugard, or Irène Hilda.

The Queen/Hag :

Adrienne D'Ambricourt, born Adrienne Dunontier in Paris, June 2, 1878 and died of a heart attack after a car accident on December 6, 1957 in Culver City. She was almost 60 years old at the time of the dub.
She moved to the USA after WWI and her movie career started in 1924 where she worked with Gloria Swanson twice. When the talkies came, she still kept occasionally good roles but was limited to playing French characters.

She is the tenant pursuing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (where she sings La Marseillaise with them). She also gets more substantial parts in less prestigious productions like Bulldog Drummond's Wife, Pack Up Your Trouble or Seventh Heaven, where she is sometimes credited.
There is an interruption of her Hollywood career between 1947 and 1950 where she does a single French film, Bel Amour. She then returns to Hollywood.

Her last appearance is in the musical Les Girls.

Just like Lucille LaVerne, she does both the parts of the Queen and the hag, which makes the Queen slightly older and less noble than in 1962, but certainly more menacing.

The Prince :

Marcel Ventura, born, March 14, 1901 in Valparaiso, Chili and dead January 2, 1984 in New York. He was 37 at the time of the dub, which he also directed.

His only known appearances on-screen are in Ernst Lubitsch's French version of The Merry Widow starring Maurice Chevalier and in the Mae West vehicle Klondike Annie..

Alfred A(lbert?). Fatio, assistant of Marcel Ventura for the adaptation. He is credited on the main title, on the Snow White in French and English record, and on the French sheet music although the published lyrics are different from those in the film. It is not unlikely that, like Marcel Ventura, he also voiced a character. If you're wondering who Stuart Buchanan is, although he appears only in the French main title as the supervisor of the French version, he is actually the actor who voiced the hunter in English : he was also in charge of the supervision of all foreign versions of Snow White with Roy Disney.

The hunter (?) and Grumpy (?) :

André Chéron, born August 24, 1880 in St Germain-en-Laye and dead January 26, 1952 in San Francisco. He was 57 ans at the time of the dub.

Active since 1925 until 1941 in Hollywood.
He began in the silent era with rather solid parts, then as an extra opposite Maurice Chevalier, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Greta Garbo, etc.
Just before he worked for Disney, he was one the main characters (Henri Becquerel) of the short Romance of Radium, directed by Snow White's husband, Jacques Tourneur.
He also plays a scene with the American voice of the Queen, Lucile LaVerne in John Ford's Pilgrimage.
His career stops soon after that.
His voice resembles that of the hunter. By forcing it, he could very well be Grumpy too.

Bashful (?) :
Louis Mercier, born March 7, 1901 in Algiers and dead March 25, 1993 in Pasadena California. He was 37 ans at the time of the dub.

He starting shooting in 1926.
He also appeared in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle as a singer but his voice was dubbed by Jean Sablon who thought the part was too short for him. (Snow White's model Marge Belcher Champion also makes an appearance in the film).

He worked until 1977 and even crossed path with Alfred Hitchcock twice in The Man Who Knew Too Much and To Catch A Thief. He had bigger parts in Sahara or Bulldog Drummond's Bride (where he played with Adrienne D'Ambricourt).

He probably shifted his very low natural pitch, but I think I recognize his voice when Bashful speaks.

The magic mirror (?) :

Jean de Briac, born August 15, 1891 in Paris and dead October 18, 1970 in Los Angeles. He was 46 at the time of the dub.

He came to the USA after WWI and appears in films from 1920 until 1962.
He also has important parts in silent films (opposite Clara Bow for instance) but is then limited to French characters. He becomes a regular in Laurel and Hardy movies, whom he also coaches in French versions of their films.

I suspect he was the magic mirror with a slightly changed voice because his accent comes through in several lines.

Doc (?)  :
Eugene Borden, born March 21, 1897 in Paris, dead July 21, 1971 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. He was 41 at the time of the dub.

Active from 1917 until 1966, always in the USA.
With a certain air of respectability, he often plays doctors, men of the law or simply bartenders.
He works in prestigious films like All About Eve, The Mark of Zorro, To Catch A Thief, and shares the screen with Betty Hutton, Humphrey Bogart, Betty Grable and other stars.

His voice sounds distinctively like Doc's.

Sneezy (?) et Sleepy (?) :
Roger Valmy

may be born October 26, 1912 in Palm Springs and dead August 25, 2004 according to this site. He appeared in films from 1944 to 1955.

He would have been 24 at the time of the dub.
He is often chosen to play French latin lovers or army men and shares the screen with Anne Baxter, Gene Tierney, Tyrone Power, Lauren Bacall...

Sneezy seems to be the only dwarf with a somewhat younger voice. Just like Pinto Colvig in English who did both Grumpy and Sleepy, the little part of Sleepy is most likely played by an actor who does an other dwarf. The dwarfs' voices being very forced, it is difficult to recognize the actors, but this actor may have done both Sneezy and Sleepy.

Happy:

Charles de Ravenne, born April 6, 1911 in Nice, dead April 5, 1977 in Los Angeles. He was 27 at the time of the dub.
He seems to be at ease as a hotel porter.

Active from 1924 to 1953, in the USA alone,

with Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford

he shares the screen with Christian Rub (Gepetto) and Billy Gilbert (Sneezy in English) in Love on the Run (1936)

His full name is Charles Accursius de Ravenne, and he is the youngest of all his brothers and sisters, all actors : his brothers are Ray(mond) de Ravenne and Arthur Dulac (who did a few films in France as a child), and his sister is Nina Borget. He sometimes plays with them. The family moves in the USA in 1916 and Charles spends his entire career there in films with Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Marilyn Monroe, etc.
His claim to fame was not really his movie career, although he did start as a child with rather important parts in silent movies, but he also happened to be a painter, and one of his paintings called "Hollywood comes to Napoleon's Aid" from 1929 hung in the Blossom room of the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, where the first Academy Awards were held. The specificity of this painting was that the characters were all famous Hollywood faces: Marion Davies, Charles Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Douglas Fairbanks, even the horses were famous screen stars.
Charles has a more or less thick southern accent depending on the films he appears in, and it is quite becoming for Happy.

Now, for you, and for the first time in over 60 years, here is a glimpse at the first 1938 French version of Snow White, restored by myself:

The version currently available on home video is the third version and it has been remastered in a wonderful high definition restoration. I strongly recommend the Blu-ray !

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That's all for today folks!