MovieChat Forums > Lust for Life (1956) Discussion > Does anything account for the mismatched...

Does anything account for the mismatched accents?


Vincent and Theo were both Dutch. They spent time in France and England.

In LfL, "Vincent" sounds like a son of Nebraska. "Theo" has the pure upperclass tones of a monied Englishman in the voiceovers, with a slightly toned-down version in the flesh.

It's terribly distracting. And it's compounded by accents used by other actors throughout the movie, usually having nothing to do with the character's origin.

I could live with the latter. Old Hollywood was usually inconsistent with accents, and I can see not bothering with the speech patterns of an extra with two lines.

But having two brothers - close throughout their lives, with the same geographical footprint - sound absolutely nothing alike was a horrible choice.


_______________

Nothing to see here, move along.

reply

Mr. Douglas didn't even try to alter his accent. You are correct, it was a babel of assorted accents, disconcerting.

reply

Kirk Douglas was not from Nebraska, he was a son of Russian Jewish immigrants from upstate New York. He was a very big star at the time this movie was made, and also had the advantage of looking considerably like Van Gogh, so it's easy to see why he was cast. His presence was what made a movie about a painter commercially viable as a big studio production. I think his performance here is easily one of the best of his long career.

Most of the rest of the actors, with the obvious exception of Anthony Quinn as Gauguin, are British character actors. This was also pretty standard practice in Hollywood period pictures, especially those set in Europe. James Donald stands out here, as he often did, in the role of Theo Van Gogh.

Since, in real life, all of these people would have been speaking Dutch or French to one another, I'm not sure why one would be bothered by the inconsistencies in their accents in English. The only thing I found a bit glaring was having James Donald, in his British accent, narrate Vincent's letters to Theo. As I understand it, Kirk Douglas was unavailable at the time the narration was done.

reply

Clarification: I didn't say Douglas was from Nebraska. I said the character of Vincent sounded like he was from Nebraska. I was specifically referring to the broad nasal vowels.

Regardless of Hollywood practices (and I'll put my years of watching classic movies up against anyone's), having two ostensible brothers sound absolutely nothing alike was a very poor choice.

_______________

Nothing to see here, move along.

reply

No one attempted an accent in the film. Everyone, British or American, used their own voices. In addition to the Brits, there are plenty of American actors in the film, including William Phipps, Marion Ross, Paul Bryar, Jay Adler and Julie Robinson (Harry Belafonte's future wife). They all speak with their natural accents.

I noticed the discrepancies, too, but I didn't let it bother me because I think it would have been much more distracting if they'd attempted French or Dutch accents. They acted more naturally by speaking in their own voices and the performances benefited.

reply

"Hollywood movie" accounts for it. Just don't worry about it and enjoy the story. The capacity to do so will enhance your experience of life in general.

reply