Monday, October 27, 2014

By the Gods!

Claudius (Barry Jones) has a heated discussion with wife Messalina (Susan Hayward) in DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS

I always thought that having Barry Jones as Messalina's husband was miscasting. Not because he's bad in it. In fact, he's probably the best actor in the film but I just can't imagine Messalina marrying someone like him, power or no power. It doesn't help that he's the only British actor in the film and his accent sorta clashes with the rest of the US actors. But he was excellent in his role nonetheless.

2 comments:

Scott Ochiltree said...

Mixing American and British actors is always a mistake, due to the differing accents.

A good example of this is "Androcles and the Lion."

gpm said...

Except for I, Claudius, where the Brits were used for the aristos and the Americans for the plebs.

And Messalina did marry Claudius, who was, by all accounts, no prize in terms of physical attraction.

--gpm