MovieChat Forums > The Paradine Case (1948) Discussion > Garbo Talks!---Gossip Column Item

Garbo Talks!---Gossip Column Item

posted 15 years ago by hisgrandmogulhighness
4 replies | jump to latest

. . . okay, guys while I was doing research on another topic I came across this interesting tidbit, which I thought I'd share with you all . . .

Chicago Tribune, Friday, March 9, 1956, pt. 2, p. 6, c. 1 (item):

Looking at Hollywood

by Hedda Hopper

". . . Those glamor girls who refuse to play mother roles on screen must remember that old line of Garbo's when David Selznick wanted her to star in "The Paradine Case." She muttered, "no murderers, no mammas." Perhaps that's why we're all so anxious to see her again . . . ."
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I must dissent . . . I believe Garbo by the mid-40s was too old for the role, and any relationship between her and Anthony Keane would've been too unbelievable . . .

[–] rexshard93 15 years ago

Original Hitchcock Script was very different from the final script. Sir Laurence Olivier was Hitchcock and Selznick's choice for Anthony Keane. In the Original Script, Mrs. Paradine resembled Keane's wife Gay Keane. This was one of the reasons why Keane was obsessed about Mrs. Paradine.

But due to casting changes, Selznick ended up writing another script. According to Adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie, Anthony Keane is an Irishman. So Hitchcock decided to cast Peck, because he was of Irish descent.

[–] hisgrandmogulhighness 15 years ago

. . . thank you sony . . . I still think Garbo was too old for the part . . . it would've distracted from the main story . . . and I don't think Peck would've been believable falling in love with so older a woman---I think the audience wouldn't buy it, they'd wonder what's wrong with him . . .

[–] fordraff 15 years ago

I'm with you grandmogul, etc. Garbo was too old for the part. Alida Valli is perfect, perfect look, correct air of mystery, a certain sensuality, and also able to be cold and hard when necessary. It's Gregory Peck who is the problem. But he was under contract to Selznick at the time, and Peck became very popular for a while in the 40s right after he entered film. So we have Peck here. I always thought Peck was a blah actor, certainly never sexy; he's a failure as a stud in "Duel in the Sun." I liked him only in "To Kill a Mockingbird," where I thought he was perfectly cast.

[–] hisgrandmogulhighness 15 years ago

. . . agree, Garbo maybe 10 years before . . . Valli is superb . . . remember, Peck was hot---and he is the only star in the film, he has to carry the production, he was a major draw in the '40s---and he did carry the production . . . I think he was excellently cast as the lawyer, he looks like one . . .