Kung Fu Flick Dubbing: Graham Earnshaw (Article)

[DragonClaws]

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One kung fu epic called Killer Clans, we did in one all-night marathon session in a large studio owned by Shaw Brothers, the biggest movie-making organisation in the Far East. It was well after dawn before we finished, and the experience left me bleary-eyed for days.

Here's an article, that will be of interest to classic Kung Fu/Asian cinema fans. Graham Earnshaw is not a name I'm familar with?, but then agan my knowledge of dubbing is very limited.

Kung Fu Flick Dubbing By Graham Earnshaw

Link- http://www.earnshaw.com/memoir/kung-fu-flick-dubbing

 

Here's a funny quote from the article, which almost made me question if it was just a tongue in cheek write-up??.

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Your stomach is making noises all the time, but you are rarely aware of it because of all the other noises around you. But in a sound-proofed dubbing studio, a trickle of gastric juices gurgling its way through the alimentary canal can ruin a loop.

 

Killer Clans (1976)

[whitesnake]

I know (because I have a copy) that Graham Earnshaw translated Louis Cha's The Book and the Sword into its English language edition, published by Oxford University Press in 2005.  But I didn't know of his connection with the dubbing of HK kung fu movies into English.
He is CEO of "Earnshaw Books, a Hong Kong-based publishing house specializing in English-language books about China".  Among the books Earnshaw wrote that were published by Earnshaw Books are:  Tales of Old Shanghai: The Glorious Past of China's Greatest City (2012, I still remember the thrill of stepping on the Shanghai Bund and all that history on a trip to China decades ago); The Great Walk of China: Travels on Foot from Shanghai to Tibet (2010); Tales of Old San Francisco: The rich past of America's most magical city (2018).  Among the books he contributed a foreword or introduction, published by Earnshaw Books, are:  The Yangtze Valley and Beyond (by Isabella Bird, Earnshaw publication in 2008); Among the Tibetans: With a New Introduction by Graham Earnshaw (by Isabella Bird, publication in 2008); Two Years in the Forbidden City (Tales of Old China series, by Der Ling, publication in 2007), and Musings of a Chinese Gourmet (by F.T. Cheng, publication in 2008).  
Thank you for the post about kung fu dubbing.  I'll probably order some of the Earnshaw company's books dealing with Chinese history. 
 

[DragonClaws]

18 hours ago, whitesnake said:

Thank you for the post about kung fu dubbing.  I'll probably order some of the Earnshaw company's books dealing with Chinese history.

No problemo, and thank you for confirming Earnshaw is the real deal, and not some guy fabricating a story.

[Killer Meteor]

I wonder what he sounds like...

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, Killer Meteor said:

I wonder what he sounds like...

@whitesnake, do you think this is the same guy who made the video below?.

I'm not sure if he talks in this video, as I've not had time to watch it yet.

 

[whitesnake]

It's the same Graham Earnshaw.  It appears to be a promo for his book, The Great Walk of China.  No talking on the video, but a song.  At the end of the video it says 'Walking West' (the song) was written and performed by Graham Earnshaw.  At Earnshaw.com/earthshaw-music, he says "I have been playing music in public for many years.  I also write tunes."  There are more of his songs at https://soundcloud.com/grahamearnshaw   Blacksmith Books uploaded the video but I don't know what Blacksmith Books is.  So Earnshaw is an author, translator, songwriter and performer, and enjoys walking trips in China.  His songs aren't exactly to my taste in music, but he sounds decent enough.  I've heard professionals sing much worse, and wonder how they even got a recording contract.

[DragonClaws]

22 hours ago, whitesnake said:

It's the same Graham Earnshaw.  It appears to be a promo for his book, The Great Walk of China.  No talking on the video, but a song.  At the end of the video it says 'Walking West' (the song) was written and performed by Graham Earnshaw.  At Earnshaw.com/earthshaw-music, he says "I have been playing music in public for many years.  I also write tunes."  There are more of his songs at https://soundcloud.com/grahamearnshaw   Blacksmith Books uploaded the video but I don't know what Blacksmith Books is.  So Earnshaw is an author, translator, songwriter and performer, and enjoys walking trips in China.  His songs aren't exactly to my taste in music, but he sounds decent enough.  I've heard professionals sing much worse, and wonder how they even got a recording contract.

Thanks @whitesnake, the book mentioned in the above video looks interesting. Certainly a man of many talents, judging by you posts.

[shaw golden]

Shaw Brothers films were such a success globally,here are some examples that the audio dubbing and subtitling received:

Dubbed for the Foreign Market into English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Iranian and Subtitled in English, Portugese, Greek,Turkish and Arabic.

Subtitled for the South East Asian Market in Japanese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese and Kampuchean.

Picture below gives an idea how the audio dubbing was performed

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, shaw golden said:

Picture below gives an idea how the audio dubbing was performed

I'm not sure which of the dubbing article this is from?, it might be Grahams peice?. It said the small room with be so full of cigerette and cigar smoke, that some dubbers struggled to see the images on the screen. A bit like how I imagine @OpiumKungFuCracker living room to look like.

[shaw golden]

2 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

I'm not sure which of the dubbing article this is from?, it might be Grahams peice?. It said the small room with be so full of cigerette and cigar smoke, that some dubbers struggled to see the images on the screen. A bit like how I imagine @OpiumKungFuCracker living room to look like.

i am very familiar with the article i think you mention, will try and track down or send a link, if i understand you properly

[DragonClaws]

6 minutes ago, shaw golden said:

i am very familiar with the article i think you mention, will try and track down or send a link, if i understand you properly

It from one of the articles I posted recently, you will find a few in this part of the forum.

[shaw golden]

1 hour ago, DragonClaws said:

It from one of the articles I posted recently, you will find a few in this part of the forum.

oopps

[Omni Dragon]

4 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

I'm not sure which of the dubbing article this is from?, it might be Grahams peice?. It said the small room with be so full of cigerette and cigar smoke, that some dubbers struggled to see the images on the screen. A bit like how I imagine @OpiumKungFuCracker living room to look like.

It was in a couple of Ted Thomas interviews.

3 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

It from one of the articles I posted recently, you will find a few in this part of the forum.

I'm afraid the audio interview you posted about got taken off youtube, there's a version on dailymotion though. The part about smoke is said at about about 18:53:

 

Plus there's an interview in text form here; https://vantagepointinterviews.com/2017/05/17/man-of-a-thousand-voices-hong-kong-voice-actor-ted-thomas-on-his-prolific-dubbing-career/ that says: '...we would sit in a crowded studio, maybe 200 feet square, thick with cigarette smoke, you could hardly see the screen..'  

 

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

17 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

I'm not sure which of the dubbing article this is from?, it might be Grahams peice?. It said the small room with be so full of cigerette and cigar smoke, that some dubbers struggled to see the images on the screen. A bit like how I imagine @OpiumKungFuCracker living room to look like.

Hhahahahaha!  

[shaw golden]

On 16/04/2018 at 1:24 PM, OpiumKungFuCracker said:

Hhahahahaha!  

heard this one ? hope its related to what youre saying, if not ignore !

Television and Radio Presenter Anneka Rice in her own words                                                                                   Quote  I worked for Radio Television Hong Kong – a BBC affiliate – producing a weekly radio motoring programme called Wheelbase. I also edited books for a publisher, and wrote scripts in the newsroom of TVB Pearl – the English language TV station. “Then late at night I’d go on to the famous Run Run Shaw’s Studios to sit in dark, smoky rooms dubbing Kung Fu movies into English”. Then one day the regular newsreader at Pearl fell ill and I recklessly said, ‘I’ll do it!’ I’d never been in front of a camera, but I’m one of those people others assume can do things – I have an air of capability. I had to sit at the news desk and operate the autocue with a foot pedal. I was dreadful, but no one really noticed. That’s the great thing about Hong Kong – everyone’s too busy to care. I improved as a newsreader and they kept me on for 18 months. I realised it was easier being in front of the camera than behind it – I got paid the same but I had shorter hours. I began to make documentaries and films and when I went back to London three years later, aged 22, I had an extraordinary cv……..Unquote                                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[DragonClaws]

15 hours ago, shaw golden said:

heard this one ? hope its related to what youre saying, if not ignore !

Man thats funny, I grew up watching her on T.V as a presenter, she was very popular in the 90's. She still turns up on T.V shows even now. Never knew about her brief stint as a Kung Fu Movie dubber though.

Great post @shaw golden.

[Omni Dragon]

There's a game show where one of the activities was to dub a scene from CITY HUNTER (judged by none other than Jackie Chan) and in the show Anneka Rice briefly mentioned how she'd done English dubs.   
Here's the scene from the game show on youtube:

 

 

[DragonClaws]

On 19/04/2018 at 11:18 PM, Silver and Gold Dragon said:

There's a game show where one of the activities was to dub a scene from CITY HUNTER (judged by none other than Jackie Chan) and in the show Anneka Rice briefly mentioned how she'd done English dubs.   

Thanks for posting this @Silver and Gold Dragon.

 

Can anyone tell me what era she worked in H.K? I'm guessing it must be the 80's?, as she started to appear on U.K T.V in the early 90's, maybe even earlier?.

I found this but there's no years/dates listed.

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Aged 19, after two years of production experience, she bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong where she spent the next three years working for a public relations agency, presenting the evening news on TVB Pearl and dubbing kung-fu movies at Sir Run Run Shaw’s studios each night. She produced a successful book, “A Children’s Guide to Hong Kong” and also a weekly motoring show for RTHK called “Wheelbase”. She also worked as a fittings model for various jeans’ manufacturers and appeared in many commercials. Her work took her all over Asia.

 

[Omni Dragon]

Wikipedia and IMDB states Anneka Rice's year of birth as 1959. So if she went to HK at the age of 19 it would have been 1977 or 1978 and she would have left in 1980 or 1981.

[DragonClaws]

On 24/04/2018 at 8:41 PM, Silver and Gold Dragon said:

Wikipedia and IMDB states Anneka Rice's year of birth as 1959. So if she went to HK at the age of 19 it would have been 1977 or 1978 and she would have left in 1980 or 1981.

Thanks @Silver and Gold Dragon, I'll keep my ears open, when lisntening to any English Shaw Brothers dubs from that era.