MovieChat Forums > Objective, Burma! (1945) Discussion > Gud'day

Gud'day

posted 16 years ago by eamon_holley
7 replies | jump to latest

Being an Aussie I can tell you that all Aussies are still dead chuffed that we (well OK, Tasmania) managed to produce Errol Flynn, such an icon of the golden age of Hollywood...

That aside, is there any explanation of why the hero, a senior ranking officer of the US army, has an Aussie accent in this film?? Was it just not necessary that he pretend to be a seppo (for Aussies only)? I'll continue to suspend disbelief just because it's a great film. At the least it's refreshing to hear an Aussie accent in a Hollywood film this old, unlike nowadays when any Aussie must have his/her mid-west accent perfected before they'll even get a casting call.

Also didn't know that Kookaburras migrate to Burmese jungles... :)

[–] macliggett1 16 years ago

Well, he did imigrate to the US. Why couldn't the character that Flynn play have done the same? We would have allowed him to enlist and would have made him an officer too. He would have still retained a certain amount of his accent. Why would THAT be such a problem for you? We have lots of ferriners over here, hell, there was an Italian at Custer's last stand who could barely speak english.

[–] madden-2 16 years ago

Hell, we even have posters who can barely write English!

[–] rac701 15 years ago

Many times in American films, English-accented (yes, I know - Flynn was Tasmanian, but his voice sounded "English" to the American ear) actors, if they were playing Americans, were explained as coming from the New England, or northeastern, part of the U.S., thus the different-sounding accent. I think Errol Flynn's "Captain Nelson" character was probably supposed to be a New Englander.

There were many English-accented actors and actresses in Hollywood films from the 1920's through the 1960's. It was always a stretch, of course, to believe them as "American," but then films are a "willing suspension of disbelief" anyway.

[–] zackiedog 14 years ago

Thanks for the insight. Flynn's character of Captain Nelson is, indeed, a fishing-obsessed architect hailing from Maine.

[–] herc_takes_five 12 years ago

re: the italian with custer: fugetaboutit!

[–] libertarian45 12 years ago

I've heard my fair share of Oz accents and I lived in Australia for a while and I have to say that Flynn's accent does not sound like a typical Aussie accent.

[–] The_Other_Snowman 9 years ago

Audiences of the 1930's and 1940's also had no problem accepting Alan Hale Sr. as English in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" or "The Sea Hawk". Many actors, like Tyrone Power and Ronald Reagan, played characters of every nationality without bothering with an accent.

Flynn usually got away with explaining that he was Irish, like in "Dodge City" or "Virginia City", but in "They Died With Their Boots On" and "Santa Fe Trail", no such explanation was offered, which was how we got George Armstrong Custer and Jeb Stuart with Australian accents. As far as I know, the only movie in which Flynn was actually Australian was "Desperate Journey".

"If stupidity got us in this mess, why can't it get us out?" - Will Rogers