To my untrained American ear, Danny's accent sounds distinctly Irish. Can someone from the British Isles tell me if this was instead a typical English accent?
shareRobert Montgomery had a difficult time reproducing an accurate sounding Welsh accent for the role of Danny. They allowed him to use the accent that you hear because it was the best he could do.
I don't think it takes away from the performance though.
The role of Danny is meant to be of Welsh descent. I am an American who is very good friends with a family from Wales, and to me the Welsh accent sounds like a mixture of English/Irish/Scottish accents, which would make sense geographically. I think Montgomery did an EXCELLENT job portraying the Welsh accent and didn't overdue it.
Night Must Fall has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl and my first time ever seeing Robert Montgomery in a film. Later on seeing him in American films with his 'American accent' seemed so strange!
It definitely sounds like Montgomery was trying to sound like a Welshman.
Or, at least, Hollywood's idea of how Welsh people sound. If that was his intention then he nailed it because if you watch "How Green Was My Valley" you'll hear the entire cast talking like Montgomery did in this film.
Only briefly does Danny sound Welsh. For most of the time he does sound Irish and his character has the Irish blarney to go with it.
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