People Will Talk (1951 d-Mankiewicz)

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ChiO
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Re: People Will Talk (1951 d-Mankiewicz)

Post by ChiO »

Moira wrote:
I grew up with Walter Slezak narrating Peter and the Wolf on a record
It was Victor Jory on a 45 for me. Still have the record and picture sleeve to pass on to the gran'chilluns.
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RedRiver
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Re: People Will Talk (1951 d-Mankiewicz)

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I believe he went into it thinking it was going to be a light romantic comedy, then it turned into a sort of jealousy prodded scandalization

That's exactly what I like about it. Surprise!
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moira finnie
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Re: People Will Talk (1951 d-Mankiewicz)

Post by moira finnie »

ChiO wrote:t was Victor Jory on a 45 for me. Still have the record and picture sleeve to pass on to the gran'chilluns.
Victor Jory would have been great as the narrator--if maybe a tad scary. He had a fine speaking voice full of different colors depending on the type of role.

I think that People Will Talk can be enjoyed on a couple of levels too. It's romantic, funny, and rather sad as it touches on so many things that haven't changed--how men and women really feel, the ambivalence most adults feel about life and their destiny. In interviews, Mankiewicz said that it was an attempt to deal with HUAC and the whole wolf pack mentality behind it. I like Hume Cronyn, though his character is just a bit too overwrought for me. Finlay Currie, whose gentle air of mystery was so compelling, reportedly liked to lighten the mood on the set by performing the kind of buck and wing he used to do with his wife for several decades on the music hall stages of the UK. For such a large man, he was surprisingly nimble and game for anything.

This is one of those commercial failures that almost drove Cary Grant into retirement. He actually believed audiences just didn't want his unique blend of suave jauntiness anymore! How fortunate he changed his mind.
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JackFavell
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Re: People Will Talk (1951 d-Mankiewicz)

Post by JackFavell »

Boris Karloff was on my Peter and the Wolf album, which was my sister's before me.
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