I finally saw this picture last weekend. I was sort of thrown for the first few minutes because characters who were supposed to be French sounded British for the most part. Raymond Massey didn't attempt an accent either, but his Canadian accent didn't grate on me like the (French) Brits. Was anyone else distracted by French citizen-soldiers sounding like Cockneys?
shareThe dialogue and acting are so good that I would only be distracted by fake french accents. No need for it in this great film.
"Always choose the lesser of two weevils!"
This is typical of Hollywood of the period. No matter WHAT race is being portrayed the lackeys or soldiers or peasants had cockney accents, while their "betters" had perfect upper-class British accents. You get used to it.
It's when they throw in a phony French accent among other British sounding Frenchmen that it gets nuts.
Merle had a slight tinge of French on top of her English accent, and she sounded as erotic as she looked, I could listen to Merle Oberon talk all day long, I love an English accent and her's is really hot, plus I have to mention this here is Merle Oberon at her absolute most gorgeous self of all time in her life, had she looked this great in all of her movies she would be a legend today, absolute perfection.
shareI think you're supposed to just ASSUME that the French are speaking French, just like you would if you were watching a American or English production of, say, "The Three Musketeers".