Was there any explanation for Tyrone Power's American accent? The whole plot turned on his conflict over his perception that he was fighting in the British Army to maintain a class system which he hated and yet he sounded like he was brought up in California. It diminished my enjoyment of the movie.
shareI guess his english accent was rubbish and the film's producers reckoned that his fans would come watch his films no matter what accent he used.
sharePerhaps Dick Van Dyke's Cockney accent in Mary Poppins was just a way of evening the score.
shareI got the impression (although it was never explained) that he was supposed to be Irish? Hence his friendship with his Irish buddy "Monty" played by Thomas Mitchell, (who had a strong Irish accent throughout). The theory of Tyrone's/Clive Briggs' Irish descent in the movie would also go to explain why he was pissed off at having to fight in a very "English" war. Just my opinion though.
shareI suspect the studio was at play... maybe they didn't think he'd be convincing with an English accent, or maybe they thought it would be a distraction, or that American audiences would find it off-putting??
Tyrone Power was certainly capable of an English accent - he (briefly) used one in Rose of Washington Square, and it sounded convincing to me (I'm English btw). his father was from London, so that's not terribly surprising. And he managed a perfectly acceptable (if a bit diddly-diddly) Irish accent in The Long Grey Line.
His accent is actually slightly toned down if anything, though yes, still definitely American.
I picked up on the Irish lilt occasionally too (the scene when he's in the train with Prue, and again when he's with the vicar).
The character should have had a fairly neutral English accent - in the book, Clive is from a slum in Yorkshire, (Eric Knight, the author grew up in Leeds, and went to school in Hunslet, which was full of back to back terraced slums back then, so possibly that's where Clive was meant to be from).
Prue comments (in the book) that he doesn't sound like he's from Yorkshire - he replies that 'you lose it, kicking around' (or words to that effect).
Though in a radio version with Power and Barbara Stanwyck as Prue, he's described as being from London (his accent is still definitely Yank though!).
Thank you for that wonderful background. I had for gotten that he was Marty Maher in Long Gray line. I haven't seen the film in many years but I recall his brogue as being fairly authentic having had a number of relatives who emigrated from Ireland. (Maureen O'Hara's brogue wasn't bad either).
Your supposition that the studio was at play sounds like the answer.