Enough Goncharov. I want to see more discussion of revolutionary 1928 film The Dancing Cavalier starring Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont (and the uncredited voice of Katherine Selden)
I want more discussion of S. Morgenstern’s original unabridged version of The Princess Bride. It’s so irritating that it’s now literally impossible to find anything other than Goldman’s abridgement. And this is presented as a good thing! Some of us like complicated social satire, William! Yet all that brilliance has been thrown out so we’re left with only the parts that are comprehensible to a ten-year-old boy! Absolutely maddening!
Wait wait wait Katherine Selden was in that movie?! How did I not recognize her voice, I tracked down so much grainy footage of her role as Wilma in A Night of Music when I was a kid just to hear her high notes in the bridge of Winter Song! *sigh* I guess I need to go watch The Dancing Cavalier again, it’s been ages since I’ve seen it. I just remember that green dress Lina Lamont wears in the second half, I want it so bad.
No yeah the crediting situation around The Dancing Cavalier is SO weird.
Apparently at the time it came out you could barely AVOID knowing she was in it? It was a massive scandal on opening night because apparently everyone was REALLY invested in Lina Lamont (who I’ll admit I’m not really a fan of in other things, but then I don’t watch a lot of silent film and that was her niche), and the revelation that she wasn’t the one talking OR singing absolutely torpedoed her career. Wild that lipsync controversies are as old as film with sound.
BUT, on the other hand, Katherine Selden wasn’t formally credited anywhere in the film itself. I have a vague impression there were contract complications with her or Lina Lamont or both? But the upshot was, even though it literally launched her career, she’s not “officially” in it. And so, nowadays, it’s really easy even for people who love Katherine’s voice and old films to assume it’s actually Lina Lamont singing!
Look, I’m not going to defend Lina Lamont’s actions, because she really did try to screw Selden out of getting any recognition for her work. However, she was trying to survive in a rapidly changing film landscape that seemingly had no use for actresses with unconventional voices. If you’re only familiar with her from The Dancing Cavalier and the few comedies she did in the 30s, it’s worth going back and watching a few of her silent movies to see what she was like as a leading lady. Most of them are lost media now but The Royal Rascal is really good and actually has a very sweet love story. Plus Don Lockwood got to swordfight and we all like that lol
Okay but who would win in a swordfight? Don Lockwood or Manny Patinkin?
I don’t know how much of a swordfight that would be seeing as Don Lockwood would LITERALLY dance around Mr. Patinkin. Manny definitely knows his footwork and timing though, I’d love to see him in a musical- Hell, why not adapt all the nonsense behind The Dancing Cavalier as a sort of Musical Mockumentary?
Hold up, can we go back to the person who mentioned Lina Lamont’s green dress? Is there a colorized version of Dancing Cavalier I don’t know about??
