| Author | Topic: Bernadette's speaking voice |
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/7/2006 at 6:46:50 PM ET
I caught a TV showing of an old 50s b/w film called "Bad Seed" last week. I wasn't particularly paying attention to the TV screen because my aunt phoned me just as the film started, but I gradually became aware of a familiar voice that made me turn round and look at the television screen. For one crazy moment I thought it sounded like Bernadette.
It turned out to be an actress called Nancy Kelly. I have no idea who she is but her speaking voice sounds so much like Bernadette's. I only mention this because I have always thought Bernadette had such a singular quality to her voice.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/7/2006 at 10:58:50 PM ET
Now I have to watch that film to see what I think. It's so famous but I've never seen it.
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/8/2006 at 5:53:21 AM ET
I would be interested to know what you think if you manage to see it. One of my sisters caught a later screening of the film and agreed about the vocal similarity between Nancy Kelly and BP. - but there the similarity ends as Kelly's acting style comes across as rather histrionic and old fashioned. But it is a terrific story and I am surprised that it hasn't been re-made.
Maybe it's just me, but in a strange way the film also has overtones of Marvin Laird's Ruthless.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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 Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/8/2006 at 7:08:36 AM ET
wikipedia on "The Bad Seed"
Looks like it was remade, in 1985, with a planned remake next year. I haven't seen this movie in years--I'll have to see if Blockbuster has it.
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/8/2006 at 7:33:41 AM ET
Thanks, Jean. I didn't think to check it out. Looks like it is a well-known little film. I'm surprised it hasn't attained "cult" level status - it has all the ingredients, evil child, sinister handy man (brilliantly played by Henry Jones)and a rather OTT performance by the central character, Nancy Kelly - plus a very camp ending. The 80's re-make was a TV movie which explains why I didn't see it - good cast though.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/8/2006 at 8:56:08 AM ET
Scottie, it was definitely and admittedly one of the inspirations for Ruthless! along with Gypsy, All About Eve, etc. I think it does have a campy, cult following in the U.S. In fact, I've often heard the term "bad seed" jokingly used to describe bratty children.
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Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/8/2006 at 9:20:07 AM ET
Hey Karen --
"The Bad Seed" will be on TCM on Dec. 19 @ 8:00pm (my time)...
oh, anyone else in the US can watch it with us, too!
There is a list of the 50 top cult films, put out by Entertainment Weekly in 2003--I have to go to the mall now, will try to find the link when I get back.
( Have to go to the mall--did I say that??)
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/8/2006 at 10:54:47 AM ET
Great, you'll get to see it soon. Even if you don't all agree about the Bernadette likeness I am sure you will like the movie anyway. My favourite scene is when Henry Jones assures the nasty evil child that they do send children who commit murder to the Chair ... "they have a liitle blue chair for the little boys and a little pink chair for the little girls". Totally sick but very funny. 
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/8/2006 at 11:03:42 AM ET
Thanks, Jean. I'll make sure to watch.
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 Colleen
Registered User
Registered:
9/20/2006
From:
Michigan | posted: 12/8/2006 at 3:17:30 PM ET
I have seen this movie many times, but it's been a very long time, so I don't really remember Kelly's voice...I'll have to watch it again and pay closer attention. But it is a favorite of mine...Eileen Heckart as the alcoholic mother is superb as well. And little Patty McCormack as the bad seed herself, Rhoda, is cold and frightening.
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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/10/2006 at 12:45:50 PM ET
I found a DVD so I'm watching it now. Totally hilarious! I can't believe I've missed this until now. "Well, I'll be a middle-aged Mongoloid from Memphis!" Unbelievable dialogue.
But I have to admit I completely miss any resemblance between Nancy Kelly's speaking voice and Bernadette's. I'm concentrating really hard and I just don't hear the slightest similarity. Kelly has a husky quality, like she's a chain smoker, and she uses one of those old-fashioned, overly enunciated "stage" accents that were popular in the fifties and earlier. Would love to know if anyone else can detect what Scottie mentioned. It's completely lost on me.
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/10/2006 at 1:50:15 PM ET
Karen, I just knew you would find it as funny as I did. 
The very OTT scene where Kelly asks her adoptive father to explain her origins is where I found the BP vocal likeness to be most apparent.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/14/2006 at 6:50:41 AM ET
Intrigued by what Karen said about Ruthless and The Bad Seed - this morning I found a Marvin Laird interview on the subject - he has such lovely things to say about BP as well. Most of you will probably have seen it already but for those who haven't ...
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/rialto/past/2003/6_24_03.html
...tried to get this link to work but it doesn't seem to want to - perhaps if you cut and paste it?
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/14/2006 at 7:32:27 AM ET
Off the topic, but:
article about Marvin Laird
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