BeverlyBuzzby Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I saw this for the first time last night. I enjoyed the movie, but I wondered why Miss Kristiandotter's character (played by Marjorie Main) sounded like she was from Chicago when she was supposed to have been housekeeper for a Swedish household for 32 years. And why did the grandson Lars-Eric have a Southern accent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I assume the reason was poor casting on the part of the producer and director; i.e. these actors were under contract and they used the actors that were available. They weren't going to spend the money to find actual Swedish or even Euro centric actors. Anyhow A Women's Face is a first rate Crawford picture especially the first half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Pretty much all the Hollywood movies from that era that were staged in European settings have the same charming quality of wildly mismatched accents and ethnic groups. But it's like the old song says, "If Lubitsch doesn't have the accents he fancies, he fancies the accents he has." Or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeverlyBuzzby Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 I think you're right about that, it just bugged me a bit, it took a little from what could have been a better movie had they just pushed it that little bit. I mean yes they were studio players, but couldn't they have at least TRIED a bit? Scandanavian accents aren't all that hard to do! Anyhoo... Agreed, it was a first-rate performance by Joan Crawford. I think she should have been nominated at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeverlyBuzzby Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 I'll have to pay more attention. That one was the first one that jumped out at me, I know you are right, though. Even in The Searchers, the father has a Swedish accent but none of the other immediate family does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 >But it's like the old song says, "If Lubitsch doesn't have the accents he fancies, he fancies the accents he has." Or something like that. Yep, Andy. Great use of a quote here to express the thought of this thread, and maybe the best example of which might be the characters and their accents in his (Lubitsch's) "The Shop Around the Corner", supposedly set in the beautiful city of Budapest. (...'cause for the life o' me I could NEVER quite understand why that tall lanky young Gift Shop manager Alfred Kralik sounded like he was born and bred in Indiana, Pennsylvania, AND that delivery boy Pepi sounded as if he was just plucked from the streets of Brooklyn, NY?!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I always found it strange that Walter Pidgeon often seemed to be a British resident (with nothing in the plot to suggest that he was from somewhere else) without a trace of a British accent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 And why did the grandson Lars-Eric have a Southern accent? The boy who played Lars-Erik in A WOMAN"S FACE also played Wyn's son near the end of KITTY FOYLE. I always find it amusing that this child has a Southern accent especially the part where comes back to retrieve the teddy bear he left behind and says "I forgot my bay-er." Apparently the child actor had a Southern accent in "real life." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I've never seen a child actor who could do multiple accents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I've never seen a child actor who could do multiple accents. It was strange that a child with such a pronounced Southern accent was cast in roles where the characters could not possibly be from the South. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 >I always found it strange that Walter Pidgeon often seemed to be a British resident (with nothing in the plot to suggest that he was from somewhere else) without a trace of a British accent. (...watch now as I rile-up our friends to the North here, finance... ) Yeah, and isn't it ALSO "aboat" the funniest thing ever that that host of "Jeopardy" doesn't have one of those funny Canadian accents either, "EH"?!!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Yeah, and isn't it ALSO "aboat" the funniest thing ever that that host of "Jeopardy" doesn't have one of those funny Canadian accents either, "EH"?!!! At least, Dargo, your spelling of "aboat" more accurately captures the pronunciation unlike the "aboot" that's often seen and heard when others try to imitate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Thanks, Holden! (...yep, I've corrected many of person myself around here who somehow THINKS they hear "aboot" when in fact many a Canadian(though not ALL, mind you) ACTUALLY sound as if they're sayin' "aboat") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 BTW, this whole "correcting" thing I just mentioned has reminded me of one of Letterman's segments he had on his show the other night. One of the "Charts and Graphs" he had was titled "People who deserve a good beating", and when he revealed the pie chart it showed that 97% of those polled said, "People who correct the grammar of others"...and the other 3% polled said "Shouldn't that be 'People WHOM deserve a good beating?' " LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Well, 'People WHOM deserve a good beating" is actually incorrect. The use of "who" is the correct form of the pronoun in that phrase. I'm just sayin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Very true. In most cases, a preposition must be placed before the word "whom" for it to be grammatically correct. (...though I STILL thought that Letterman joke was very funny...AND for "some" reason was immediately reminded of a particular TCM member around here whom..err..WHO goes by the name of a certain bicycle part which a chain is attached to...hmmmm, or should that be "a certain bicycle part to WHICH a chain is attached"???) LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrroberts Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Dargo, don't you just hate those "dangling participles" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Well, I admit I USED to. (...but once that there durma...errr..dirma...errr...that there SKIN doctor burned 'em all off with that there kawter...errr...catter...that there hot poker o' his, they're not a real big concern o' mine anymore, Mr.R!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrroberts Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I was thinking of the Dean Martin/Johnny Carson exchange. Dean correcting Johnny's grammar misspeak. Dean, "You were dangling a participle", Johnny, "I'll wear a long coat so no one will notice" . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I can't believe I don't know that one! Funny lines to be sure, but for some reason I'm envisioning the lines would have been a little more appropriate if reversed. (...so, when Johnny said that, did he say it as Groucho?...and which he often would whenever goin' a little risque) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I don't like other things dangling either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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