|
|
Post by marshamae on Aug 15, 2021 1:16:48 GMT
Richard burton did a little narration on Zulu. I think he did a little before and after in MY COUSIN RACHEL too.
|
|
|
|
Post by petrolino on Aug 15, 2021 1:34:52 GMT
It's a bit more modern but I think Morgan Freeman's narration during 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994) is essential to conveying its ideas.
|
|
|
|
Post by bravomailer on Aug 15, 2021 2:38:55 GMT
Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, especially at the end.
|
|
|
|
Post by jervistetch on Aug 15, 2021 3:03:07 GMT
I always love this opening scene of THE PRINCE OF TIDES narrated by star Nick Nolte.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dirty Santa PaulsLaugh on Aug 15, 2021 3:37:45 GMT
Scorsese uses the over-narrator device a lot. Below is a comparison.
Joanne Woodward in The Age of Innocence and the literary meta-narrator.
The over-narrator in his "wiseguys" films like Casino and Goodfellas.
Mean Streets and Taxi Driver use internal narration.
|
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 15, 2021 4:58:48 GMT
Black Friday (1940) - On his way to the electric chair, Boris Karloff hands to reporter James Craig the notebook on his experiments with transplanting brain tissue and, as we see the pages one by one, we hear the words in Karloff's voice, detailing how he saved the life of his friend, college professor George Kingsley, by transplanting tissue from the brain of mortally-wounded gangster Red Cannon. Alas, Karloff becomes obsessed with the possibility that "the Cannon brain" may retain knowledge of a hidden half-million bucks with which he could finance his own research lab, and in coldly mercenary fashion, uses his friend to access that knowledge, setting off a series of Jekyll/Hyde transformations and murders. As both the dithery professor and the brutal gangster, endlessly versatile but largely unsung character actor Stanley Ridges steals the entire picture right out from under Karloff and costar Bela Lugosi.  If you can buy into the farfetched premise and overlook the unexplained physical transformations, it's a brisk, neat little amalgam of "mad scientist" and "underworld" genres. Hold Back the Dawn (1941) - This Mitchell Leisen-directed film begins with a wonderfully bold conceit, as Romanian conman Charles Boyer, visiting the Paramount studio, relates in narrated flashback to none other than Mitch Leisen his story of trying to secure U.S. citizenship through marriage to naive Olivia deHavilland with the intention of then skipping off with partner Paulette Goddard, who's attained citizenship through similar means, before true love intervened. It's the sort of wildly romantic and colorful fable that was right up Boyer's and deHavilland's alley.  A Letter To Three Wives (1949) - Celeste Holm provides the voice of the unseen Addy Ross, who informs her three "closest friends" that she's run off with one of their husbands. The titular wives, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern and Jeanne Crain below:  Invasion Of the Body Snatchers (1956) - A hospital scene prologue opens with Kevin McCarthy desperately trying to convince doctors that "I'm NOT crazy" as he relates in narrated flashback the takeover of his home town Santa Mira by replicants - hatched from pods of unknown origin - of its residents.  The way I understand it, the film was originally completed as a standalone narrative, without the hospital prologue, epilogue or narration. But Allied Artists execs were uncomfortable with the pessimistic implications as it stood, so the wraparound scenes were shot to give it a more hopeful denouement. In 1979, there was a limited rerelease that restored it to its original form, lopping off the prologue and epilogue, and eliminating the voiceover narration from the dialogue track. I was fortunate enough to have seen it at the time, and I wanna tell ya: it was a better film, ending with the truly chilling freeze-frame image of the hysterical McCarthy glaring directly into the lens at the conclusion of his "You're next...YOU'RE NEXT" warning. I wish it were available on home video in that form.
|
|
|
|
Post by lune7000 on Aug 15, 2021 6:40:13 GMT
A subtle variation on this question involves actors who narrate FACE TO THE SCREEN in classic movies. I can think only of Michael Caine in Alfie but this is in the 1960's and pushing the envelope of classic movies.
|
|
|
|
Post by manfromplanetx on Aug 15, 2021 7:28:10 GMT
La Seine a rencontré Paris , The Seine Meets Paris (1957) Narrated by the popular Italian-French multi-talented actor, Serge Reggiani (pic) from the perspective of a boat trip through the city, featuring throughout beautiful scenes of bridges and architecture, of lovers, of the ebb and flow of daily life along the river. Directed by Joris Ivens and Scripted by French poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert the standout winner of the short film Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.  
|
|
|
|
Post by marshamae on Aug 15, 2021 12:37:59 GMT
A subtle variation on this question involves actors who narrate FACE TO THE SCREEN in classic movies. I can think only of Michael Caine in Alfie but this is in the 1960's and pushing the envelope of classic movies. Great example. I am sure there are others , of a character narrating from within the story looking at the audience. Shirley Booth does it a little in the Matchmaker.
|
|
|
|
Post by jervistetch on Aug 15, 2021 14:17:54 GMT
Sam Waterston in THE GRAT GATSBY (1974) and Richard Dreyfuss in STAND BY ME are two more memorable narrations for me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Isapop on Aug 15, 2021 15:36:42 GMT
A subtle variation on this question involves actors who narrate FACE TO THE SCREEN in classic movies. I can think only of Michael Caine in Alfie but this is in the 1960's and pushing the envelope of classic movies. Great example. I am sure there are others , of a character narrating from within the story looking at the audience. Shirley Booth does it a little in the Matchmaker. And that brings to mind Woody Allen in Annie Hall. Being a memory piece, he is narrating sometimes off camera, sometimes on camera, and sometimes breaking the forth wall
|
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 15, 2021 15:46:57 GMT
All About Eve (1950) - George Sanders, Celeste Holm and Bette Davis provide intermittent narrative commentary.  "To those of you who do not read, attend the Theater, listen to unsponsoredradio programs or know anything of the world in which you live, it is perhaps necessary to introduce myself." "When was it? How long? It seems a lifetime ago. Lloyd always said that in the Theater a lifetime was a season, and a season a lifetime." "Even before the party started, I could smell disaster in the air. I knew it, I sensed it even as I finished dressing for that blasted party..."The Barefoot Contessa (1954) - Opening on a rain-dampened funeral...  ...flashback sequences filling viewers in on the brief, meteoric stardom of actress Maria Vargas are narrated by Humphrey Bogart...  ...Edmond O'Brien...  ...and Rossano Brazzi.  Like A Letter To Three Wives and All About Eve, The Barefoot Contessa was written and directed by Joe Mankiewicz. If you're gonna have narration, it might as well be by a master wordsmith of his caliber.
|
|
|
|
Post by kijii on Aug 15, 2021 16:27:42 GMT
When I think of actors narrating, two stand our in my memory: Orson Welles and John Huston.
With Orson Welles:
Duel in the Sun
King of Kings
Start the Revolution Without Me
The Double McGuffin
The Magnificent Ambersons (very important part of why I love that movie so much)
The Trial
..to name a few....
|
|
|
|
Post by manfromplanetx on Aug 15, 2021 22:34:13 GMT
Winner of the Academy Award (1988) for "Best Animated Short Film" was the Canadian film The Man Who Planted Trees Directed by Frédéric Back. Two versions were produced both narrated by actors, Philippe Noiret in French , Christopher Plummer in English...  |
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 16, 2021 4:58:33 GMT
Designing Woman (1957) - Down-to-earth sports writer Gregory Peck recounts the story of his whirlwind romance with, and hasty marriage to, high-society fashion maven Lauren Bacall, and the subsequent discord their incompatibility brings. A loose retread of Woman Of the Year, it's quite enjoyable.  Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation (1962) - Each year, businessman James Stewart takes the family away for summer vacation and, upon his return, dictates a letter to his wife explaining why he'll never do it again. And then, having exorcised his frustrations, instructs his secretary to tear it up. That dictation provides the film's narration.  What A Way To Go (1964) - Having buried four husbands, Shirley MacLaine, believing she's jinxed, consults psychiatrist Robert Cummings, narrating the story of how she brought Dick Van Dyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum and Gene Kelly to their doom. 
|
|
|
|
Post by bess1971s on Aug 16, 2021 16:22:30 GMT
Joanne Woodward's voice was soft but firm and certain for The Age Of Innocence.
|
|
|
|
Post by marshamae on Aug 16, 2021 17:07:11 GMT
And I loved her southern lilt . It spoke to a time when America was much much more regional.
|
|
|
|
Post by jervistetch on Aug 16, 2021 18:52:09 GMT
Glenn Close gives an effectively spooky narration as comatose Sunny von Bulow in REVERSAL OF FORTUNE.
|
|
|
|
Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 17, 2021 7:12:23 GMT
The Reivers (1969) - Before there was Ferris Bueller, there was Boon Hoggenbeck. Steve McQueen is uncharacteristically exuberant as the irrepressible, mischief-making rascal Boon, who convinces young Lucius (Mitch Vogel) to "borrow" grandad Will Geer's expensive, shiny and new 1905 Winton Flyer for a road trip to Memphis. It's a sweet and lovely film but not a bit saccharine, as Lucius's introduction to existence outside his insular rural community exposes him to some of the uglier aspects of life. As the now-aged Lucius, the voice of Burgess Meredith provides first-hand recollections of the adventure. 
|
|
|
|
Post by mattgarth on Aug 17, 2021 8:24:02 GMT
Spencer Tracy looks right at the audience to begin his narration of surviving the pitfalls of marrying off beloved daughter Liz Taylor in FATHER OF THE BRIDE.
|
|
