# British as the catch-all "foreign" accent **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-as-the-catch-all-foreign-accent/651257 "2013-02-24T16:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-as-the-catch-all-foreign-accent/651257/41 "2013-02-26T22:18:30Z")
> [@Flying\_Saucer](#): > > Has there been a film or TV show that takes place in a foreign land but the American actors just used their own accents? _The Black Shield of Falworth_, in which Tony Curtis plays an English aristocrat. “Dese are da lands of my fadda, and yondah lies his castle!” And then there is _The Vikings_, in which Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas play Hollywood’s finest examples of Jewish Vikings. In the Kirk Douglas version of _Spartacus_, the slaves spoke in US accents, and the aristocratic Romans spoke in RP accents. In films from the 1930s to the 1950s, they often just used the actors’ normal accents. Quite a few “B” movies have European characters speaking in American accents. And even some “A” pictures. In the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton version of _Cleopatra_, a lot of the Roman characters use UK accents,and a lot of the Egyptian characters use US accents, but they are not consistent. It was more a matter of which actor was cast in which role. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It’s probably worth it for any Shakespeare fan to once in their life hear a Shakespeare play done in reconstructed original accents. It doesn’t sound like any modern accent. I once heard a guy do a speech from _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ twice, once in RP, then again in what he claimed was Shakespeare’s actual accent. (I think he said it was a Warwickshire dialect. It sounded sort of like a Scottish or Irish brogue.) In the brogue, it “flowed” better, and actually much easier to understand. > [@msmith537](#): > > Related question. Did the ancient Romans not have pronouns or something? In the HBO show Spartacus, they always talk like “gratitude” instead of “I would like to thank you” or “deal inserts cock into ass!” instead of “I am getting fucked up the ass by this deal!” As I understand it, Latin does not have articles (“a”, “an”, “the”). Since the story is shown from the point of view of the slaves, it gives an impression of being a stranger in an alien land, surrounded by people who talk strangely. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-as-the-catch-all-foreign-accent/651257/42 "2013-02-26T22:42:14Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > And then there is _The Vikings_, in which Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas play Hollywood’s finest examples of Jewish Vikings. \They called him…Irvsven.\ ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-as-the-catch-all-foreign-accent/651257/43 "2013-02-27T01:02:04Z")
Oddly, the Russian sailors in _The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!_ didn’t have British accents… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-as-the-catch-all-foreign-accent/651257.md?page=2)