Dialects in the movies

[Jonathan Lighter]

To some extent this is all nitpicking. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times mocked "Paths of Glory," about  the French army in World War I,  because none of the actors used French accents !

I kid you not.

JL

FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: FRITZ JUENGLING
Subject: Re: Dialects in the movies
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How about these:
The Freshman w/ Brando revisiting "duh Mob Boss" part.

Kidnapped both the 1960 and 1995 versions. The '60 version has James MacArthur (book 'em Danno) trying to pull off David Balfour's Scottish accent. Silly. The '95 version has Armand Assante (a New Yorker) doing a much better job as Alan Breck Stuart. Might be interesting to watch clips of both movies and compare them. (There is also a 1972-ish version with Michael Caine, but it's difficult to find and not very interesting)

Mary Tyler Moore (from the TV show) trying to make us believe she's a Minneapolitan--rotten tomatoes!

Bob Crane on Hogan's Heroes: Hogan from Indiana? No way.

My Fair Lady and the earlier Pygmalion with Leslie Howard (oh Ashley!). Again, it might be interesting to compare the two.

What about the TV show that was out about 1970 with Bobby Sherman--Here Come the Brides? Does that speech bare any resemblance to present-day or early-PNW speech? Haven't seen that show in about 35 years.

Finally, there is a movie that is so bad that probably very few have seen it--Revolution with Al Pacino. He tries to play an American of Irish or Scottish descent, maybe he's even supposed to be from the Mother country--don't remember. Reviews have made much of his accent. One reviewer even suggested that his accent was some sort of Proto North American. Well, his mumbling sounds little better than Brando in the Godfather or the Freshman. I don't think too many Italians helped shape Revolutionary American speech. (Besides the fact that Pacino's accent is so hideous, the movie is beyond terrible. So, if you decide to watch it, you've been warned.) Donald Sutherland plays a British officer and sounds like he has a mouth full of rocks, so it's impossible to tell whether he can fake a Brit accent.

Gary Cooper ended up playing a Canadian in Lives of a Bengal Lancer. Nifty little trick.
Fritz Juengling

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