February 2023 Schedule Posted, Rita Moreno is SOTM

[jamesjazzguitar]

Well American actors are used for the supporting parts which are American roles. It was probably out of necessity that the main roles all went to French actors. Bill Kearns is the only actual American in a major role and it is immediately apparent he is phonetically speaking all of his lines. Even with my subpar French skills I could hear a mile away he was struggling to pronounce everything. An entire movie of Americans speaking like that would be grating to native French speakers.

The first time I saw PLEIN SOLEIL I didn't know the actor playing Freddie Miles was American. I thought he was a French actor speaking French in an American accent to emphasize that the character was American.

The movie was definitely made with Europeans as the intended audience. As an American, I suspend disbelief to accept that Philippe Greenleaf (Dickie in the source novel) and Tom Ripley (as well as Freddie and Tom) don't speak English when they are alone. I also suspend disbelief when Tom writes Philippe's "suicide" note sent to Mr. Greenleaf in San Francisco in French.

It would have been more impressive if the director had the French actors including Delon all speaking English with believable accents like Adolfo Celi did as the Scottish general in King of Hearts.




After first watching it was impressive to me that not only was this character played by a non-Scot but by an ESL since all his dialogue is in English with a heavy Scottish accent.

At first I asked myself: Is that William Bendix?

[LawrenceA]

It would have been more impressive if the director had the French actors including Delon all speaking English with believable accents like Adolfo Celi did as the Scottish general in King of Hearts.

After first watching it was impressive to me that not only was this character played by a non-Scot but by an ESL since all his dialogue is in English with a heavy Scottish accent.

He was dubbed. Apparently he was almost always dubbed, even in Italian films, due to his thick Sicilian accent.

It was common to dub actors in the 60's, even English speakers, if the director didn't think the actor's voice was "right".

[HoldenIsHere]

Well American actors are used for the supporting parts which are American roles. It was probably out of necessity that the main roles all went to French actors. Bill Kearns is the only actual American in a major role and it is immediately apparent he is phonetically speaking all of his lines. Even with my subpar French skills I could hear a mile away he was struggling to pronounce everything. An entire movie of Americans speaking like that would be grating to native French speakers.

The first time I saw PLEIN SOLEIL I didn't know the actor playing Freddie Miles was American. I thought he was a French actor speaking French in an American accent to emphasize that the character was American.

The movie was definitely made with Europeans as the intended audience. As an American, I suspend disbelief to accept that Philippe Greenleaf (Dickie in the source novel) and Tom Ripley (as well as Freddie and Tom) don't speak English when they are alone. I also suspend disbelief when Tom writes Philippe's "suicide" note sent to Mr. Greenleaf in San Francisco in French.

It would have been more impressive if the director had the French actors including Delon all speaking English with believable accents like Adolfo Celi did as the Scottish general in King of Hearts.


After first watching it was impressive to me that not only was this character played by a non-Scot but by an ESL since all his dialogue is in English with a heavy Scottish accent.

Right, if Tom, Phillipe (Dickie) and Freddie had all spoken English (with authentic "American" accents) in the scenes where they were alone, I would not be forced to suspend disbelief as I now do when watching PLEIN SOLEIL. But I am willing to do so because the movie is so engaging. In the source novel the character of Marge is also supposed to be American (if I'm remembering correctly), but I don't think that's the case in PLEIN SOLEIL.

On the subject of Americans in French movies: Jean Seberg's character in BREATHLESS (À BOUT DE SOUFFLE) is an American living in Paris. In her scene with the American newspaper editor, she speaks English. Robert Osborne in one of his TCM commentaries on the movie said that she purposely spoke French with a "flat" American accent in the scenes where she speaks French. Her character not being a native French speaker (specifically her needing clarification on the meaning of dégueulasse) is important in the final scene of BREATHLESS.