MovieChat Forums > South Pacific (1958) Discussion > Are Frenchmen Unable To Sing?

Are Frenchmen Unable To Sing?

posted 11 years ago by joeparkson
3 replies | jump to latest

How come they couldn't come up with a real Frenchman with a commanding baritone voice for Emile? I notice that in both the stage and film version, the part was done by an Italian.

Same thing happened with the movie 'Camelot'. Lancelot, a Frenchman, is played by an Italian.

Maybe the only singing a real Frenchman can do is the kind done by Charles Aznavour or Yves Montand, which isn't quite right for 'Some Enchanted Evening '.

Absurdity: A Statement or belief inconsistent with my opinion.

[–] rorysa 11 years ago

Itch tom Ah see a leetle gull of five aw six aw seven,
Ah con't reseest zeh joyous ooge to smol and zay:
Zank heaven...

[–] mylesag 10 years ago

Indeed. I had made that observation, too, altho Yves Montand appears in ON A CLEAR DAY. The thing is, #1 - the French aren't crazy about American-style musicals, so #2 - there is NOT a great training ground in French schools for men to sing Broadway-style theater songs. As you said, they indeed sing more in the cabaret style of Aznavour and Montand. There was Gilbert Becaud and Sacha Distel in the 60s and 70s, but neither was really a big heart-throb in the Hollywood box office-sense.

BTW, Yves Montand is actually Italian. His real name if Ivo Livi. THey migrated from Tuscany to France when he was 7 or 8; thus even his French is a little strange.

[–] dmnemaine 8 years ago

The conventional wisdom at the time was any "ethnic" European could play any ethnicity. Those "foreigners" were all the same.