| Subject: Where have I seen that character before ... ? |
Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 03:24:59 04/10/06 Mon
In reply to:
Susan
's message, ""Ham" by any other name" on 02:16:59 02/13/06 Mon
I think I've finally found a clue as to why Dennis's character was changed so drastically from the book to the movie: I recently saw Emlyn in a 1940 film based on another A. J. Cronin novel, "The Stars Look Down," this one directed by Carol Reed (foreshadowing all that striking camera work in "Odd Man Out"). In it, Emlyn plays another sociopathic, manipulative, two-faced, social-climbing cad who sets a major catastrophe in motion, then disappears from the story. And I know where he went after that: Levenford, where he changed his name to Dennis. (Notice the character has no surname? Seems pretty suspicious to me.) It's as if Emlyn played the character so well in "The Stars Look Down," the screenwriters for "Hatter's Castle" wanted an encore and decided to replace the novel's Dennis with Joe Gowlan from the previous movie. (Now I wonder how closely the screen version of "The Stars Look Down" stuck to *that* novel!)
And please no comments about its being due to Emlyn's limited range! (Not that he didn't relish playing dastardly villains.) Anybody who doesn't think he has range should see his brilliant but brief performance in "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" or especially his Emile Zola in "I Accuse!" It's another small role, but his reading of the letter that made the titular headline just blows me away every time I hear it. And how about the amiable veterinarian/amateur sleuth, Dr. Henderson, in "Another Man's Poison"? He also gave a staid and touchingly tragic performance in "Eye of the Devil"--in which, BTW, he played opposite Deborah Kerr for the third time. The other time being, of course, in Major Barbara. They do have scenes together, but the only time you see them onscreen at the same time is at a distance, during the scene where Bob hits her in the face. But in the interior Salvation Army scene, there are a couple of long close-ups of Emlyn giving her an oh-so-dreamy-eyed look from across the room. Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure, because I've barely seen half his movies. Yet!
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