The Smurfs & the Magic Flute

The Smurfs & the Magic Flute
Original Title	La Flûte à six schtroumpfs
Original Language	French
Dubbing Studio 2	Golden Sync Studios
Voice Director 2	John Rust
Translation & Adaptation	Roger Guertin (UK Dub) John Rust (US Dub)
ADR Production	Sync, Ltd.
Recorded	1979 1983
Dub Country 1	United Kingdom
Dub Country 2	United States
Original Country	Belgium France
Year	1976

The Smurfs & the Magic Flute (La Flûte à six schtroumpfs) is an animated film from 1976, co-produced in France and Belgium, based on the comic strips created by French-Belgian cartoonist Pierre "Peyo" Culliford. It was directed by himself and Eddie Lateste, and released in France on October 7, 1976. It premiered in the United States on November 25, 1983, and was distributed by SEPP and Atlantic Releasing Corporation.

Synopsis A villain named Matthew McCreep steals the Smurfs' magic flute, an instrument that makes people dance wildly, and uses it to rob them. The Smurf King sends out Peewit to track down the thief and retrieve the flute. Now Johan and Pirlouit must get it back at all costs, so they head to the magical kingdom of Smurfs to ask for their help.

Dubbing History

The film was dubbed twice; the original dub was done in the United Kingdom in 1979. Many of the character names are changed (for example, Johan and Peewit's names become John and William, respectively), and several Smurfs are called by the wrong names. While the voice cast was credited, it is unknown who voiced what character. This dub has been included on all American DVD releases barring the 2008 Televista release, for reasons unknown.

It was not until the success of Hanna-Barbera's The Smurfs cartoon that the film began to gain widespread attention. In the early 1980s, Stuart R. Ross, head of First Performance Pictures Corporation, acquired the American rights to the film for $1,000,000. The English dubbing for the movie was not provided by the Hanna-Barbera cast members, but by non-union talent who were contributing at the time to American versions of imported anime. The North American release of Flute grossed US$11 million out of a maximum 432 venues, the highest on record for a non-Disney production until The Care Bears Movie in 1985, and was among Atlantic's all-time top five movies at the box office.

Cast

Image	Character	Original Actor	U.K. Dub	U.S. Dub
	Peewit (William)	Michel Modo	Stuart Lock	Cam Clarke
	Johan (John)	William Coryn	Vernon Morris	Grant Gottschall
	Papa Smurf	Michel Elias	¿Bill Owen?	Bill Capizzi (original)
				Michael Sorich (redub)
	Schemer Smurf	Jacques Ruisseau	¿?	Robert Axelrod
	Southy Smurf	Roger Crouzet	¿?	Michael Sorich
	King	Georges Pradez	¿?	Dudley Knight
	Matthew McCreep (Matthew Oilycreep)	Albert Médina	¿?	Mike Reynolds
	Earl Flatbroke (Mumford)	Jacques Dynam	¿?	Ron Gans
	Homnibus	Henri Crémieux	¿Harry Dickman?	Ted Lehmann
	Oliver	Serge Nadaud	¿?	Patty Foley
	Lord Miller	Georges Atlas	¿?	Zack Star Phifer
	Lady Prattle (Lady Gripe)	Ginette Garcin	¿?	Patty Foley
	Merchant	Angelo Bardi	¿Richard Ashley?	Zack Star Phifer
	Mariner	Henri Labussière	¿?	Robert Axelrod
	Brainy Smurf	¿?	¿?	Zack Star Phifer
	Grouchy Smurf (Grumpy Smurf)	Michel Elias	¿?	John Rust
	Narrator	¿?	¿?

Additional / Unidentified Voices

U.K. Dub Richard Ashley Ed Devereaux Harry Dickman Paul Felber Michael Fields Kalman Glass Stuart Lock Anna MacLeod Vernon Morris Bill Owen Richard Pescud Yael Stern-O'Dwyer

U.S. Dub Robert Axelrod - Old Man Bill Capizzi Patty Foley - Smurf A, Greedy Smurf, Lady Dudley Knight Durga McBroom - Poet Smurf Richard Miller David Page Zack Star Phifer - Reveler Smurf John Rust - Hefty Smurf Michael Sorich - Castle Guards

Notes

• An alternate version of the US dub featuring Michael Sorich as Papa Smurf was released to DVD by Televista in 2008. Since the original Vestron VHS release contains Capizzi as Papa Smurf, and likely the original theatrical release as well, this may have been made for a TV broadcast of the film.
• In both dubs, most of the Smurfs' voices were electronically altered to give them higher voices (deeper in Grumpy Smurf's case in the UK version), although Schemer Smurf, Southy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf and Hefty Smurf's voices were unaltered in the US version.

Video Releases

Distributor	Year	Format	Dub	Region	Country
Intervision Video	1981		U.K.	PAL	United Kingdom
Vestron Video	1984		U.S.	NTSC	United States
Children's Video Library	1987
Video Treasures	1989
Avid Home Entertainment	1991
Morningstar Entertainment	2008		U.K.	1 NTSC
Televista			U.S.	0 NTSC
Fabulous Films	2010		U.K.	2 PAL	United Kingdom
				B DVB-T
Vivendi Entertainment	2011			1 NTSC	Canada
Shout! Factory	2012				United States

See Also

• The Smurfs (2021)

External Links

• The Smurfs & the Magic Flute at the Internet Movie Database