Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Apr 30, 2020 18:58:52 GMT
What are the odds of this being any good... Yes, what a crap idea. What is it about these naive fools, whether it be in the film, television or music industry , that take something that is perfect, be it a film, programme or song and think I know, I can improve on that.........or at least do my bit to tarnish its legacy. God help us. Well, you could remake some of Roger Moore's latter Bond films as the originals are pretty rubbish!
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Post by Dirty Epic on May 1, 2020 6:05:38 GMT
I've not watched it and probably won't but have ITV tried to sort of tap into the Kenneth Branagh feel and style he has in the Wallander role with the VDV remake? Just has that feel to me from the trailers I've seen of it.
Suppose it could and there is much worse stuff on the box right now, but why not maybe make something like a crime drama/miniseries where on the run UK criminals in Holland are being hunted by the police... plenty of real life examples of that going on right now.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 1, 2020 22:32:52 GMT
I have a bit of a problem watching Brit actors playing European characters, especially Nazis. I think you need to attempt an accent to make it believable & very few do, either that or they end up sounding like caricatures.
I don't think the original Van Der Valk quite worked as you're asked to believe that Barry Foster & his colleagues are Dutch whilst hearing them speak in perfect English with no accent. It wouldn't work if a Dutch speaker played a British character, so why should it work when a British actor plays a Dutchman?
I'm watching 'Manhunt' at the moment & Robert Hardy, who plays a Nazi, plays him with a Brit accent that sounds close to Brummie.
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Post by Gene Hunt on May 1, 2020 22:36:21 GMT
I have the same issue with Foster playing a septic in Sweeney!
Gene.
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on May 2, 2020 6:39:35 GMT
I have a bit of a problem watching Brit actors playing European characters, especially Nazis. I think you need to attempt an accent to make it believable & very few do, either that or they end up sounding like caricatures.
I don't think the original Van Der Valk quite worked as you're asked to believe that Barry Foster & his colleagues are Dutch whilst hearing them speak in perfect English with no accent. It wouldn't work if a Dutch speaker played a British character, so why should it work when a British actor plays a Dutchman?
I'm watching 'Manhunt' at the moment & Robert Hardy, who plays a Nazi, plays him with a Brit accent that sounds close to Brummie.
Micheal Sheard I thought always played a German Character quite well - and was quite underrated.
Grief. I never did like that!
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on May 2, 2020 9:07:47 GMT
I have a bit of a problem watching Brit actors playing European characters, especially Nazis. I think you need to attempt an accent to make it believable & very few do, either that or they end up sounding like caricatures.
I don't think the original Van Der Valk quite worked as you're asked to believe that Barry Foster & his colleagues are Dutch whilst hearing them speak in perfect English with no accent. It wouldn't work if a Dutch speaker played a British character, so why should it work when a British actor plays a Dutchman?
I'm watching 'Manhunt' at the moment & Robert Hardy, who plays a Nazi, plays him with a Brit accent that sounds close to Brummie.
Seems a very odd approach to take. Must have something to do with the era it was made in, they wouldn't do that now.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 2, 2020 15:19:48 GMT
Yes, I was going to mention Michael Sheard, his German accent is believable & he spoke it believably in AWPet though he went a bit full Nazi at times with the leather coat & when he sneered things like 'Englanders are the problem, they always are' or 'but you are not in England you are in Germany'. Peter Birch's accent as Ulrich was good as well.
In Van Der Valk there seemed to be little attempt to not sound English, even using words & phrases that no one but a Brit would use. I think in those days the audience just accepted it like you'd accept it in a stage play. Sheard was one of those pro's who would immerse himself in the part, Peter Cushing was another who would make an effort to study a character & wasn't afraid of trying accents. To them it would be important to get it right for the role, I think other actors are wary of sounding silly.
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on May 3, 2020 8:04:43 GMT
Yes, I was going to mention Michael Sheard, his German accent is believable & he spoke it believably in AWPet though he went a bit full Nazi at times with the leather coat & when he sneered things like 'Englanders are the problem, they always are' or 'but you are not in England you are in Germany'. Peter Birch's accent as Ulrich was good as well.
In Van Der Valk there seemed to be little attempt to not sound English, even using words & phrases that no one but a Brit would use. I think in those days the audience just accepted it like you'd accept it in a stage play. Sheard was one of those pro's who would immerse himself in the part, Peter Cushing was another who would make an effort to study a character & wasn't afraid of trying accents. To them it would be important to get it right for the role, I think other actors are wary of sounding silly.
Also I think back then, Equity (the actors union) could be a little funny when it comes to casting a foreign character in a British TV made production. I would think they "preferred" producers to use a British/Equity actor. Though not an equity member so not certain.
Did David Wickes run into issues with the "Sweeney!" movie? - Where he wanted Barry Foster to play an american, producer Lloyd Shirley wanted an "American" to play the role.
Obviously Wickes won the argument and still kept his job.
Both Micheal Sheard and Peter Birch played their parts really well in "Auf Pet". Sadly, with Sheard, for many, he became a bit too typecast as "Mr Bronson" in Grange Hill, or that character he played in "Starwars". None the less, he was a great actor. I did have an Autobiography out "My Life as a Bum Actor"
I could have seen him as an alternative "Haskins" had Garfield Morgan not got the role.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 3, 2020 15:03:33 GMT
Interesting point about Equity Sparky, I think people just assume that there were no foreign actors available, not appreciating the union rules may have prevented them from working.
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on May 3, 2020 17:50:56 GMT
The above points make me think of the Euston Special Branch episode "Hostage" where Michael Gambon played a German character (the abducted girls Father). He did some dialogue in German language, with the wife character, which according to a review on another site I once read, German viewers confirmed although it was grammatically correct but the accent sounded odd, and they were either thinking he didn't sound German or that the accent seemed to be all over Germany!
As ove, I've often wondered what German viewers of WW2 films think when the actors playing German characters are talking German, some of which may be British or American actors.
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