Close your eyes and listen to Francis Matthews (Charles). Ever since I first saw this film in the Sixties, I've always thought he sounds so much like Cary Grant, with the same cadence and emphasis on words. Even the timbre of his voice is reminiscent of the other actor.
Does my hearing need some adjustment, or is this true to others?
Also, the actor is quite dapper, adding to the likeness~though he's not as handsome as Cary.
~~MystMoonstruck~~
I know, right??? I could not get over that. Almost distracting how much he sounded like Cary Grant.
Lucky guy.
Thank goodness I'm not the only one! I generally have a pretty good ear for voices. They say Cary created his particular accent, so either that's not quite right or this guy was influenced by him. If so, what a great influence!
Gosh! I really love this movie! It's long been my favorite of all of the Christopher Lee/Dracula movies. Besides, as a young girl, I appreciated having a redheaded role model like Barbara Shelley. I remember being intrigued by her character seeming to have psychic skills, as she seems to pick up on the dangers so clearly. She also has psi talent in "Five Million Years to Earth" aka "Quatermass and the Pit", in which she again co-stars with Andrew Keir (who delivers my favorite portrayal of Quatermass).
BTW: I imagine many people noticed the couple named Charles and Diana~many years before the famous coupling of those names. *giggle*
~~MystMoonstruck~~
Sorry I can't agree that he sounds much like Cary Grant. Though he was an Englishman, by the time Cary Grant became a big star in Hollywood, and obviously the following decades after, a great deal of Americanism had crept into Grant's accent. Cary Grant sounds very Mid Atlantic to me, neither completely English sounding nor completely American sounding but 'somewhere in the middle' though with the balance towards the English side.
Matthews, in contrast, has a very distinct very English and proper sounding BBC/home counties accent (even though he was from Yorkshire)that is a long way from Cary Grant's. Probably being English myself helps me notice this glaring difference.
Funny, I came to this board to start this exact same thread! I have seen this movie from time to time over the years but for some reason I didn't notice this until I was watching a few days ago on TCM. Very strange.
"I told you a million times not to talk to me when I'm doing my lashes"!
I'm thinking the same thing. It's as though he's doing an impression of Cary Grant. It almost distracts from the drama.
shareI came here just to see if anyone noticed this as well! At first I thought something bizarre had happened and Cary was in a Hammer Horror!
shareI'll give you a resemblance (my gf noticed it, as well), but it wasn't close enough to be distracting to me. Now if he had said, "Judy, Judy, Judy..."
shareIt's Matthews' natural accent, the sound-alike is pure coincidence.
His very distinctive voice gave him a ton of radio work, voice-overs for ads on TV and a regular berth in various Century-21 puppet shows (Captain Scarlet for instance).
He was radio's "Paul Temple" (similar to The Saint in concept)
Come on lads, bags of swank!