Did Film Office ever produce both English and French versions of releases?

[Adrian Winchester]

I ask because I don't know a great deal about Film Office. I doubt whether they produced English AND French versions of any release, but I'm puzzled by one I have, which is the Popeye short 'Mess Production' (1945). It has English sound and the English title on the box, so I find it surprising that the film itself has French titles. As they used a French master, wouldn't it have had a dubbed French track? If there was no French track, having French titles seems of little benefit to French-speaking viewers.

Perhaps this also applies to other Film Office animated releases, but I haven't seen others. An explanation would be appreciated!

[Panayotis A. Carayannis]

All their non French releases were in french, with the exception of the cartoons. Since the sixties all their Disney cartoons and later Popeye, Pink Panther, Inspector, Barney Bear and Tom & Jerry were in their original English with only the original titles changed. Asterix and Lucky Luke were of course in french

[Adrian Winchester]

Panayotis - thanks, that's useful to know. But is it known why that was the case? Were English language cartoons generally not seen in France in dubbed versions, causing Film Office to have no option other than to use English tracks?

[Maurice Leakey]

It's a pity Film Office changed the titles from their original English to a French title which was not a translation of the English.
They could have copied the Italian Techno Film who usually had the original English and Italian titles, although the boxes only had the title in English.

[Adrian Winchester]

I don't get why Film Office bothered to produce French titles, if they were responsible for these. I would have thought French titles implied that a French language version would follow, which must have disappointed some people (particularly children) who didn't speak English!

[Brian Fretwell]

It's a pity Film Office changed the titles from their original English to a French title which was not a translation of the English.
They could have copied the Italian Techno Film who usually had the original English and Italian titles, although the boxes only had the title in English.

I have some silent or B&W Techno ones with all sorts of foreign titles. i.e. The Last Hungry Cat in French with the name "Tu M'assinez Gros Minet".

[Dominique De Bast]

Brian, I'm surprised because "The Last Hungry Cat" is "La fin du félin" in French. "Tu m'assinez" doesn't mean anything ("Gros Minet" is Sylvester).

[Brian Fretwell]

Techno's non-English titles were always very strange. (Mind you I'd hate to have to translate some Warner titles - "Sock a doodle do" for example. And my memory was at fault on spelling that should have been "M'assassines". I though it might mean "You're killing me big xxxx" that does sort of fit in with the story.

[Joseph Banfield]

You can also add the sound titles of Tom & Jerry from Film-office to your list too. The titles are in French but the sound is English, like the Popeye releases. The pink panther cartoons are mostly without dialogue but the titles are French with the occasional small subtitle running at the bottom of the image translating the English message written on a sign or package or box of some product.

BTW, "Tu m'assassinè gros minet" (you have killed me pussy cat) is the working title used by Techno films for "the last hungry cat". I have that title too and one of the great Tweety & Sylvester titles, which btw, is banned from TV broadcasts in the U.S.. It would seem that cats who smoke and pop pills is a bit much for American TV. That Techno film release is very hard to find and I have redubbed my copy into English since the French dub was not particulary worthy of a classic like this. Not sure if this title was released by any other company.

[Dominique De Bast]

Thanks. I couldn't find this title. So, from your messages, it could be "Tu m'assassines, Gros Minet" (You're Killing Me, Gros Minet" ; a "minet" is a cat and "gros" means fat) or "Tu m'as assassiné" (You killed me). Interesting to hear it's a rare titles. By the way, if that can help someone : in French, unlike the rule in English, only the first word has a capital letter in a title (and, of course, words that always have a capital letter like names).

[Adrian Winchester]

This made me check a Techno print of a Tweety & Sylvester cartoon I have, which is 'A Pizza Tweety Pie'. It has the added title 'Sfida Veneziana' (Venetian Challenge) which is appropriate in view of the setting. The most surprising thing about it is that it's probably my only Techno print with very nice, non-faded colour!

[Brian Fretwell]

I have seen some Techno prints on Agfa stock "Banty Raids" is one I have. I bought that from Perry's when they were in Wimbledon!