"Across the Wide Missouri" (fwd from A. Grant)

[Mike Cleven]

David D. Robertson wrote:
> "Anthony Grant" <Anthony.Grant3 at btinternet.com>
> To: "The Chinook List" <CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Subject: Across the Wide Missouri
> Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 19:01:21 +0100
> Laxauya, tilXams:
>
> I only saw the movie once, but my impression was that tyhe actors had =
> been givcen CJ items wroitten down and had pronounced it as though it =
> was English  - elip as 'ellip', for instance. Not QUITE what I'd expect =
> from my reading of Boas and Jacobs or my conversations with CJ speakers =
> from Siletz..... There aren't many long sentences in the CJ dialogue in =
> the field, and Clark Gable's wife doesn't look very Native (I think she =
> was Hispanic or Brazilian).   It's harmless undemanding fun, and the =
> mangling of CJ on the movie is pretty amusing. =20

Gable's wife in the film was Maria Elena Marques.  The review I found at
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/Search/product.asp?ean=27616236630*
*(where you can also order the video) also includes the comment "Adolphe
Menjou steals the show as an eternally inebriated French trapper, while
Ricardo Montalban and J. Carroll Naish are convincing (and
noncondescending) in their Native American characterizations."

Might be worth hearing Ricardo and J. Carroll before passing judgement
on their CJ, although of course the comment is about their acting, not
their dialect; no doubt Gable's was pretty bad, though....




--
Mike Cleven
http://www.cayoosh.net (Bridge River Lillooet history)
http://www.hiyu.net (Chinook Jargon phrasebook/history)