MovieChat Forums > Lili (1953) Discussion > the puppets

the puppets

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

so did mel ferrer really voice the puppets or were there others who did it?

thanks in advance

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[–] ethereal_tb 16 years ago

I remember he was listed on the soundtrack for "Hi, Lili, Hi Lo" so he at the very least did Carrot-top.

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[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ethereal_tb 16 years ago

Are you sure? I know they did the puppet manuevering, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading Mel Ferrer did the voices of Carrotop and Reynaldo and that pros did the rest of the puppets.

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[–] gbennett5 14 years ago

I think a professional did "Carrottop" - it's a true "voiceover voice" and
sounds nothing like Ferrer's voice. It does look/sound like he did
the fox.

[–] ScopeWatcher 9 years ago

I think a professional did "Carrottop" - it's a true "voiceover voice" and
sounds nothing like Ferrer's voice.

A professional did do the voices. Mel Ferrer WAS a professional actor!

Frankly, I had held an aversion to Ferrer, even as a child in the 1960s. Maybe there was one particular role or performance that started it, but he projected a certain arrogance to me that just put me off for nearly my whole life. However, I've put that behind me since I finally watched LILI in 2009.

I absolutely love that film and the story; and having done some voiceover work myself, I did appreciate those glimpses in LILI of Ferrer's facial and muscular contortions "behind the curtain" as he transitioned among the different puppet character voices. I felt the actor looked persuasive in those shots, even if the voices were actually provided by others.

But the same day as I saw the movie, I read an account of Ferrer having voiced all the puppet characters in LILI himself. The combination of my decisively enjoying his work in one film, plus realizing that the performance displayed even more talent than I had realized, was enough to make me drop my lifelong distaste for him. (Besides, maybe part of my resentment as a kid had been feeling that he didn't deserve to be married to Audrey Hepburn as much as I did!)

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[–] d120421 14 years ago

Just watched this the other night. I don't know whether Ferrer voiced all the puppets, but I do recall him stating in an interview that he was pleased that he continued to receive royalties for the recording of "Hi Lili, Hi Lo," which suggests that he did voice at least some of them.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 7 years ago

I hope he did voice all of them so I can admire his impressive voice acting abilities.

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