MovieChat Forums > Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) Discussion > Miscasting in MBE...

Miscasting in MBE...

posted 14 years ago by d-letta-1
8 replies | jump to latest

One of the problems with this film is that three characters are woefully miscast. First, Leo Genn is a good actor, but a leading man he is not. His looks and demeanor suggest supporting performer (The Snake Pit). Someone like Richard Hart who was enjoying his brief star status, would have been a far more satisfying sea captain. Next, Katina Paxinou, another good character actress was both too old for the role and quite unattractive to play a "beautiful" wife and paramour. Every time someone called her beautiful was like recess being announced. Third and most important...Rosalind Russell was also too old, too mannered and face it, her strong suit was comedy (Auntie Mame, His Girl Friday)
My suggestions for replacements?...This could have been an excellent vehicle for Garbo's return, as the still beautiful mother. Eleanor Parker was just beginnig to show her great ability at this time...she should have been Lavinnia.
The Genn role should have gone to Hart.
For movie-goers of the day, I think this assemblage would have been much more satisfying, and Garbo might have even won her much deserved Oscar.

[–] Geechee 14 years ago

I completely agree with you about the casting.

"If I don't suit chu, you kin cut mah thoat!"

[–] ashtontylo 14 years ago

Excellent suggestions!*****

[–] tdoa 14 years ago

I totally disagree. Leo Genn is not supposed to be playing a leading man part anyway. Katina Paxinou, although by narrow Hollywood standards not a beautiful woman, is what one calls a handsome woman and her overpowering presence is what makes her attractive. If this were a European film, she would have been considered perfect and the only miscasting in her part, was that it does not make sense to cast a Greek actress as an American matron, but if you can get past that, she's excellent. Not that I can't see Garbo in the part of Christine, but as Lavinia, Eleanor Parker, a very capable actress for sure, cannot do grand and overbearing like Roz Russell. And anyone who can only see RR as only good in comedies, has not studied her entire film oeuvre, which includes a great many dramas and make her a most versatile actress.

[–] d-letta-1 13 years ago

Leo Genn's character is certainly an important one in the play...and I still think he was weak in look as well as demeanor for the part. Paxinou, wherever she was evaluated, was never considered a"handsome" woman...she was a shrew, and most of her roles were as such. As far as RR is concerned, her grand and overbearing reading of the role pretty much killed the movie, Surely Livvy had a few moments of calm, reflection and sympathy! Parker could have done it well...watch her in CAGED and DETECTIVE STORY for proof.

[–] tdoa 13 years ago

then let's agree to disagree d-l, since I had very little problem with the casting and after all it's only a movie !

[–] sdiner82 13 years ago

I first encountered MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA when I read it in college as an American Literature major. It totally blew me away, and I looked forward to seeing it performed, Eventually, I caught the 1947 movie version on television and was horrified by the miscasting, overacting, and clumsy direction. No wonder it was such a poorly reviewed boxoffice disaster that RKO, in desperation, chopped an hour out of it. I read when the Oscars were handed out, La Russell was so convinced she was a shoo-in for Best Actress that when the award was about to be announced, she was already standing up, prepared to march triumphantly to the stage to accept her award. And that when Loretta Young's name was announced, poor Roz sat down, shaking in embarrassment. How could she have been so misguided? Years later, in 1972, the Sunday New York Times had a huge advertisement of a Broadway revival of the play, with a cast headed by Colleen Dewhurst. I and 3 friends immediately sent for tickets, hoping for the best. Undeterred by the unfavorable reviews, we eagerly went to the theater (in the round, absolutely the worst possible way to present this theatrical masterpiece--and our seats were in the front row, the last place you want to be seated when this dysfunctional family unleashes their verbal assaults within a few feet of where you are sitting. Our initial reaction was to duck.) And for over 3 hours, we were subjected to another appallingly misguided interpretation of my favorite O'Neill play. Ms. Dewhurst was sensational, but seemed to be acting in another play since her mediocre co-stars performed as if in a highschool production; mercifully, I've forgotten their names except for one grotesque exception, a truly ghastly young actress (and critics' favorite at the time) named Pamela Payton-Wright (sp.?), who spat out her dialogue at such a high screech that we all left the theater with pounding headaches. I cannot believe that "Mourning Becomes Electra" is unplayable, but with the caliber of American actors today, perhaps we'd best call on the Brits to stage the play the way it should be presented. Anyone with suggestions for the ideal cast? I await your suggestions!

[–] murph24 13 years ago

I read when the Oscars were handed out, La Russell was so convinced she was a shoo-in for Best Actress that when the award was about to be announced, she was already standing up, prepared to march triumphantly to the stage to accept her award. And that when Loretta Young's name was announced, poor Roz sat down, shaking in embarrassment. How could she have been so misguided?

Well, to be fair, practically everyone in Hollywood considered Rosalind Russell a shoo-in for the Best Actress Oscar that year. She had just won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and the Variety poll of Academy voters had determined Russell would win the Oscar as well (the results of the poll had been so reliably on-target that the Academy later asked its members to stop taking part in it). And when the evening finally arrived, every other winner of the poll had also won the Oscar. A cake was already waiting backstage with the words "Congratulations Rosalind" written on it. An early edition of the Los Angeles Times had even hit the newsstands with the following headline: "Roz Russell Wins Oscar." When Fredric March opened the Best Actress envelope and announced the winner, he started to say "Ros..." before he stopped, did a double take, and announced Loretta Young's name. Young was so stunned that when she got to the stage she asked March to show her the name in the envelope; only then did she accept that she'd actually won.

The next day Daily Variety reported -

It was a blustery windy night outside, but the gasp that arose from the audience when Miss Young's name was read by Fredric March just about matched the heaviest gust whipping around the Shrine Auditorium.

Not sure where you read that "poor Roz" was "shaking in embarrassment," but Louella Parsons told a different story -

I was seated directly behind Russell......never as long as I live will I forget that almost involuntary motion she made of leaning forward, almost rising from her seat. Then Roz got to her feet, leading the applause.

Loretta Young was gracious when she talked to reporters the following day, saying her only "regret" about her night of triumph was "Roz Russell." She predicted there would be Oscars in Russell's future (there weren't) and added, "It was cruel for the polls to come out and say she was going to win." For the record, Young had finished fourth that year in the Variety poll for Best Actress.

Russell didn't say much about the experience in her memoirs, noting only that "the one grace note" was a "rare, handwritten note from Eugene O'Neill telling me how much he loved my performance as Lavinia."

(Quotes are taken from the book Inside Oscar by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona.)

Personally, my favorite performance by an actress that year was Deborah Kerr's in Black Narcissus. However, despite winning the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actress, she didn't receive an Oscar nomination.

[–] pantherlit 13 years ago

I agree with you about Katrina Paxinou. I feel she was a good actress but not right to be a New England Matron. The accent was the biggest problem. I disagree with the other two. Leo Genn is handsome and real as an illegitimate son
of a wealthy family who had to make his own way in the world. He's solid and real. Unlike the over the top hystrionics of most of the rest of the family, Katrina Paxinou included. I like Roz Russell in the part of Lavinia but I thought she over played it. Michael Redgrave is a fantastic actor but chewed the scenery quite a bit in the third act. Comparing Genn's and Redgrave's characters, I think they made nice foils.
At the end of the day, any actor essentially does what the director tells him to do. Yes he brings things to the part but the director is the one shaping the final performance. Genn's performances are always understated and solid. He wasn't a lead in this show any way. And after he died, I had little reason to watch it to the end.

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