Was Vanessa dubbed?
Somebody on Youtube was saying Vanessa Redgrave was dubbed in this movie, but to me it doesn't sound like it (on the clips I've seen). Anybody know?
shareShe sang for herself. Franco Nero is the only leading actor here who was dubbed.
I've been married to one Marxist and one Fascist, and neither one would take the garbage out.
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The original lyric
Shall I not be on a pedestal,was changed to
Worshiped and competed for?
Not be carried off or, better still,
Cause a little war?
Shall I never be disputed for,
Or on any minstrel's lips?
Never have my face recruited for
Launching countless ships?
I've been married to one Marxist and one Fascist, and neither one would take the garbage out. share
Thank you, very much, Dry Toast, for your information about the lyrics of The Simple Joys of Maidenhood.
For Vanessa Redgrave to have injected her anti-war views into the movie was ridiculous and unprofessional and should not have been allowed. The first rule of acting is that you do what your character would do, not what you would do. Lerner and Loewe should have sued Redgrave or Warner Brothers, or both.
When Guenevere is singing The Simple Joys of Maidenhood, she is going to meet Arthur, whom she has never seen, so they can be married. She is a silly, empty-headed girl who has probably never been away from home before then and who has most likely led a fairly sheltered life. She doesn't know what to expect as she enters this new phase of her being. There are still adolescent fantasies in her mind of herself being fought over by knights in shining armor.
The lyrics "pedestal" and "worshipped and competed for" and "cause a little war" are essential to showing the contrast between the immature, carefree Guenevere we see early in the film and the tragic woman near the end of the story. Then she realizes too late how the actions of her and Lancelot have led to the bloodshed that is about to begin.
Excuse me, but Vanessa Redgrave didn't re write anything. Alan Lerner wrote the screenplay and additional lyrics. It's absurd to suggest she wrote it herself, or had any power to do so. Also Guenevere was a queen of another country, not a stupid innocent.
share"....Vanessa Redgrave didn't re write anything."
I didn't mean that she wrote the changed lyrics. But she wouldn't sing the original words because, to her, they trivialized war. Before the revision, the lyrics were more in keeping with Guenevere's character. She is leaving behind her home and has memories of a carefree life, "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood".
She doesn't know what to expect in her role as Arthur's wife.
The unchanged line"or better yet, cause a little war" had a dark comedy to it as well as being more faithful to the image of Guenevere at that point in the story. At the end, we can look back on this scene and see how her personality has evolved.
Alan Jay Lerner must have been very reluctant to change the words that had worked so well on Broadway. But he had no choice in the matter. Julie Andrews, who first acted as Guenevere in Camelot, was too busy to take on the role in the film. She would have left well enough alone. If Lerner had refused to do the re-writing, it would have been done by someone else. That person might have lost even more of the initial meaning. Or, maybe the song would have been dropped.
Nor was I implying that Guenevere was a "stupid innocent". The musical is largely a fantasy. But Guenevere would probably have been only in her teens.
As a ruler, her decisions would have been made by others. She probably wouldn't
have known much of the outside world and is little prepared for her new life.
Arthur, being busy with running his kingdom, wasn't the ideal husband.
"Launching countless ships" is a reference to the Trojan War... so, despite Redgrvae's anti-war views, Guenevere is still hoping to start a war like good ole Helen of Troy did!
shareVanessa dubbed? With her Julie Andrews-like voice???
shareI'm not saying that Vanessa Redgrave's voice was dubbed. But wasn't Camelot the only musical in which she appeared? We don't know enough about the range of her voice to say that it was similar to that of Julie Andrews.
shareI thought my sarcasm was obvious. Apparently I was mistaken.
shareNo. Redgrave also appeared in "Oh, What a Lovely War!" but she didn't sing in that one.
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