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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2018 2:40:26 GMT
As long as we’re just conspiracy-theorizing, Doghouse6, I will say that Mankiewicz seems to have been a mystery fan, at least from his choice of material ( The Honey Pot and Sleuth), and Allingham was considered one of the great female mystery authors (“crime queens,” as they were called later) of the genre’s golden age… And, er, Footprints on the Ceiling was a real-life mystery novel… Actually, I did originally think the quote was from All About Eve, but I just couldn’t find it there! jervistetch, I’ve never heard of an alternative version of Sleuth, and I would have thought Shaffer, who wrote the screenplay, would have mentioned it somewhere. Shaffer’s screenplay follows his original play quite closely, so I don’t really know where extra lines would be added—and I certainly can’t imagine 40 mins.’ worth of extra material. It’s a very concise script. I’m extremely skeptical, but I’ll look into this—many thanks.
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Post by jervistetch on Mar 27, 2018 2:52:05 GMT
Salzmank, It’s probably not 40 extra minutes of dialogue. It may just be 40 minutes of extra features. A ghost of a chance that somewhere in there might be something that aids you in your quest.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2018 2:53:06 GMT
OK, jervistetch, I did a little research, and I’m sorry to say it looks like that Paul F. guy was lying between his teeth. (He’s also the only reviewer to mention an extra 40 minutes, apparently!) The only material changed from the New York premiere does have to do with an intermission, but (1) the intermission was fifteen minutes, not 40, and (2) it eliminated material rather than showing any. After the premiere, Mankiewicz protested, the 15-min. intermission was cut, and the picture has remained unchanged ever since. It is interesting, though, as Mankiewicz apparently cared enough about the “Andrew making dinner” sequence (which wasn’t in the original play), when the songs play, to demand that it be reinstated (well, either that or he just didn’t want the executive producer fiddling with his film).
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2018 2:55:41 GMT
Salzmank, It’s probably not 40 extra minutes of dialogue. It may just be 40 minutes of extra features. A ghost of a chance that somewhere in there might be something that aids you in your quest. Oops, sorry, it seems we’ve cross-posted. I suppose it could be 40 minutes of special features, but Paul F. wrote that he heard extra dialogue that was cut from earlier releases—which I’m fairly sure isn’t true. I can try and look into different releases to see which ones have certain special features.
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Post by jervistetch on Mar 27, 2018 3:45:28 GMT
Fake News! Another Red Herring! Oh well. No stone unturned. The truth is out there!
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2018 3:57:37 GMT
Fake News! Another Red Herring! Oh well. No stone unturned. The truth is out there! Oh, no worries, Jervis. I’m still searching for special-feature possibilities, but no such luck so far. And, yes, the truth is out there— somewhere! I just hope my quest doesn’t take as long as Mulder’s! Thanks as always.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 9, 2018 4:27:32 GMT
So I’m kinda struck by something… I’m probably very off, but so be it. I really, really enjoy the Cole clips that carlcarlson1 recommended, and after listening to them for the umpteenth time (for nothing to do with this search, just because they’re so good), I think two of the singers, Rod McLennan and Kenneth Nelson (the latter of whom was in The Boys in the Band), are somewhat close to the Sleuth singer. At first glance, Nelson would seem a better fit: he (1) was American, (2) had a Transatlantic accent, and (3) settled in England in ’71. Yet I actually think McLennan’s voice is closer! Compare and contrast: McLennan and Nelson sing “Dizzy Baby” together here, starting at 19:26; McLennan has the first verse and Nelson the second, and then they sing it in harmony. (And, if you like Porter’s music as I do, I recommend the whole great album, all available on YouTube.) And here, of course, is ye olde Sleuth singer:
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 9, 2018 4:39:34 GMT
E-mailed Michael E. Hutchins, who runs a Porter reference guide, but he hasn’t updated his site since 2010. Ah, well…
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Apr 9, 2018 5:31:08 GMT
Maybe you can get a voice scan computer to see if it can match the voice to the singer!
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 10, 2018 2:51:21 GMT
Y’know, Primemovermithrax Pejorative, early on in the search I actually tried one of those voice-match apps for the cell phone… The one said “inconclusive,” and the other told me the music was by Cole Porter. Real helpful, those…
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 11, 2018 22:50:40 GMT
E-mailed Michael E. Hutchins, who runs a Porter reference guide, but he hasn’t updated his site since 2010. Ah, well… Well, he responded!
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Post by alfromni on Apr 23, 2018 0:32:31 GMT
I guess we can rule out two guys...Sir Michael Caine and Lord Olivier...or can we?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 23, 2018 0:57:54 GMT
I guess we can rule out two guys...Sir Michael Caine and Lord Olivier...or can we? In ye olde early days, when I first began researching this, I listened to both Caine and Olivier’s singing, and suffice it to say neither man sounded anything like the Sleuth singer. I always did like the idea that one of them was the singer, though… It would fit the puzzles/games aspect of the script. Thanks, Al.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2018 0:08:36 GMT
I mentioned Conal Fowkes, an excellent singer who sang Porter for several Woody Allen flicks (Midnight in Paris most notably), early on, but listening to him sing “You Do Something to Me” reveals a number of startling similarities to the Sleuth singer. The voices aren’t exact, but they’re quite close, and he could have sung the Sleuth songs slightly differently.
The biggest problem may be that he’s too young. He did move to England in ’71, the year before Sleuth was released, but I think from his biography that he was still in school at that point! I can’t find a birth year, for better or worse. What do you think?
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 25, 2018 0:11:18 GMT
I mentioned Conal Fowkes, an excellent singer who sang Porter for several Woody Allen flicks ( Midnight in Paris most notably), early on, but listening to him sing “You Do Something to Me” reveals a number of startling similarities to the Sleuth singer. The voices aren’t exact, but they’re quite close, and he could have sung the Sleuth songs slightly differently. The biggest problem may be that he’s too young. He did move to England in ’71, the year before Sleuth was released, but I think from his biography that he was still in school at that point! I can’t find a birth year, for better or worse. What do you think? Nope, too young. He was born ’68! Ah well…
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Post by Nalkarj on May 2, 2018 2:51:44 GMT
Hey, anyone here have a Twitter account and want to send a message to Michael Caine? I’d do it myself, but I’ve got my old aversion to social media; I know that’s a silly reason. Caine probably wouldn’t respond, but it’s worth a shot at this point… Oh, yippee. I have two insoluble mysteries of my own and a few more from other people! I think I should get out of this ‘movie-quest’ game and go on to something less exhausting, like race-car driving or extreme dirt biking.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on May 2, 2018 2:59:27 GMT
Hey, anyone here have a Twitter account and want to send a message to Michael Caine? I’d do it myself, but I’ve got that old aversion to social media; I know that’s a silly reason. Caine probably wouldn’t respond, but it’s worth a shot at this point…
Oh, yippee. I have two insoluble mysteries of my own and a few more from other people! I think I should get out of this ‘movie-quest’ game and go on to something less exhausting, like race-car driving or extreme dirt biking. IF I had money I'd be WILLING to bet (IF I were a bettor) that both of your so-called "insoluble" mysteries WILL BE SOLVED BEFORE my vocoder mystery IS.
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Post by Nalkarj on May 2, 2018 3:03:14 GMT
IF I had money I'd be WILLING to bet (IF I were a bettor) that both of your so-called "insoluble" mysteries WILL BE SOLVED BEFORE my vocoder mystery IS.] Hey, see, put your money where your mouth is, see? See? I mean, you’ve had your vocoder mystery going around longer than I’ve had any of these. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I have reached out all over the place, to no avail, unfortunately. Y’know, if I were an objective observer here I’d probably agree with you. But all of these people who should know this small detail, the identity of the singer, do not. That’s what puzzles me so.
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Post by RiP, IMDb on May 2, 2018 3:07:19 GMT
IF I had money I'd be WILLING to bet (IF I were a bettor) that both of your so-called "insoluble" mysteries WILL BE SOLVED BEFORE my vocoder mystery IS.] Hey, see, put your money where your mouth is, see? See?
I mean, you’ve had your vocoder mystery going around longer than I’ve had any of these. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I have reached out all over the place, to no avail, unfortunately. Y’know, if I were an objective observer here I’d probably agree with you. But all of these people who should know this small detail, the identity of the singer, do not. That’s what puzzles me so. I wonder IF former IMDb'er Rainybear who was looking for a modern-day Western were someone dropped an ID card EVER found his answer...or NOT?!?1
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Post by Nalkarj on May 2, 2018 3:08:59 GMT
Hey, that’s funny, RiP, IMDb, I was thinking of that one the other day. That was the guy’s username, “Rainybear”? I hope he did find that western… Now that was one of those very long-running ones too…
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