Does anybody know if he was dubbed? I only ask because I was watching a 1955 film called Lost (nothing to do with the TV series...I just can't get on with that. It's like a frigid whore...tease, tease, tease.) the other day and Shirley Anne Field had been dubbed and the voice was very similar to the one Stephens has in Village.
shareThe DVD commentary says his voice was "overdubbed"- enhanced somehow I guess.
shareI think he was. The voice doesn't sound quite right for a young boy, and sounds more like a female to me, which ties in with your comment about the dubbing of Shirley Anne Field.
I've just watched a film called 'Murder She Said' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055205/ and the voice of the character Alexander, a 13-15 year old posh boy played by Ronnie Raymond, was identical to David Zellaby (Martin Stephens).
I've always wondered who dubbed Ingrid Pitt in Countess Dracula.
shareYes, it sounds to me like a woman dubbed him, which seems a ridiculous thing to do, when he already has (had) such a wonderful and destinctive - commanding even - voice! Bad idea in an otherwise excellent film, well, at least they heard him on the set, only that doesn't help us much now. :)
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It's not such a dumb question, as the author of the FAQ thinks there is some doubt.
See this thread on Murder She Said - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055205/board/nest/70538554, where the author of the FAQ and other people have also noticed the striking similarity between the voice of 'Alexander' on that film and 'David Zellaby' on VotD. Maybe Martin Stephens dubbed them both.
I just watched Room at the Top (1959) last night, and Heather Sears (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0780765/) [apart from being an Emily Watson look-alike] has a voice that is EXACTLY like Martin Stephens in Village of the Damned and The Innocents. There's no question that they're the same.
You won't, of course, fail to notice that both Room at the Top and The Innocents were directed by Jack Clayton. I say that the mystery is solved!
EDIT: Unless Heather Shears was also dubbed.
Last Film Seen:
* The Seventh Victim (1943, Mark Robson) – (6/10)
Thanks for that.
According to the commentary on the dvd, Stephens was overdubbed with his own voice to add a touch of alien quality to it.
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What I'm about to add is an anal retentive, nit-picking correction. The verb "dub" is short for: "doubling". That is, using a DIFFERENT actor's voice re-recorded over the original actor's voice. It actually started when sound films came into existance in 1927. An actress, in an early Hollywood, silent film, refused to record her own voice to her charcter when the producers decided to add sound to the finished film, so a "voice DOUBLE" was used in her stead. ADR (automated or automatic dialog replacement) or "looping" (because the actor listens to and watches a loop of film over and over to be re-recorded) is when the actor records THEIR OWN voice. Some actors love doing this because they can alter their original reading and add emotion to their performance. As regards to Martin Stephens ADR, I've seen both "Village..." and "The Innocents" and yes, the same voice is used BUT 17 years later, I swear the same voice is used to "dub" the young actor who played the boy Jesus in Franco Zefferelli's "Jesus Of Nazareth". I don't know....(?)
shareNew Information.
I just looked at the IMDB cast list for Village of the Damned on May 25, 2022, and there have been some changes made sinc the last time I looked at it.
Both the alien children and the human children are listed together as "Village Child". Cleve Powell of "The Children of the Damned" is listead as "David Zellaby as a Toddler". Denis Gilmore (b. 1949) is listed as "Keith older brother", one of the human children.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054443/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
And Oliva Gregg (1925-2003) is listed as "Voice of David Zellaby".
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054443/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
I don't know who made those changes, or how accurate they may be.