The Story of Tell England (1931) in Turkey: Transcultural Remakes and the Early Sound Era


Özyılmaz Ö. Ö., Neely S.

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, cilt.43, sa.3, ss.668-684, 2023 (AHCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 43 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/01439685.2023.2173381
  • Dergi Adı: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, American History and Life, ComAbstracts, Communication & Mass Media Index, Communication Abstracts, Film & Television Literature Index, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, International Index to Film Periodicals, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Performing Arts Periodicals Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.668-684
  • İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Tell England (1931), Anthony Asquith and Geoffrey Barkas’ film depicting the Battle of Gallipoli, unsurprisingly incited emotional responses from its audiences. In Turkey, at a time when memories of the war were still fresh, the feeling was that Tell England would benefit from the insertion of a few ‘local scenes’. Additional scenes were written by author, Ziya Şakir, who also appeared in the film alongside other Turkish actors. In January 1932, this new version of the film was screened under the new title, Çanakkale/Gallipoli. In order to meet the demand for the indigenous production of the talkies in Turkey at a time when the necessary resources and infrastructure were not readily available, Tell England served as a way of offering a film which could meet these demands, without having to produce an entire film. Although the arrival of the talkies has often been described as having posed a challenge to the transnational exhibition of cinema, in this article, we will consider the ways in which local exhibitors of the period employed a number of tactics in relation to Tell England and its adaptation for Turkish audiences. In addition to subtitling, dubbing and foreign language remakes, creative strategies like those used in the Turkish production of Tell England, demonstrate the ways in which film continued to be productively exchanged internationally, even in cases where ideological reframing was required to suit local and national contexts.