Capítulo 4 de 18 · 1'57"
At dinner the family quizzes the visiting actress about her profession, and Myrna Dalgleish answers without a shred of glamour. She is blunt about talent scouts, talkies and the men around her, and the Crawleys' polite curiosity meets a very modern frankness: "I don't do nothing unless I feel like it."
Myrna Dalgleish Talks About the Movies
During dinner at Downton, the Crawleys question the film actress Myrna Dalgleish about her career. She explains how a talent scout found her, insists she only works when she feels like it, and shrugs off the coming of talking pictures. A remark about the servants' hard work shows how little she cares for the household.
The dinner sets up a clash of worlds, and the film people are the ones with the upper hand. Myrna Dalgleish treats her own career as a joke, "I don't do nothing unless I feel like it," and describes a business where every man in the room wants the same thing. Yet this casual power is exactly what unsettles the family, who cannot work out whether they are hosting artists or riff-raff. A request to remind her that the servants work hard, and are not used to rudeness, is answered with a shrug for her side: "she's not used to criticism." The scene's real subject is the talkies. When someone wonders whether films are starting to talk, the reply, "Couple of words here or there. Nothing to frighten the horses," says that the old order is changing faster than anyone at the table can admit.
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
“Couple of words here or there. Nothing to frighten the horses.”
Understatement squared: a revolution reduced to a couple of words and no harm done.
Neutral
“Oh, I don't do nothing unless I feel like it.”
A double negative that breaks the rules and builds a character in one breath.
Informal
“Is there such a thing as good publicity?”
A rhetorical question aimed at the idea itself, not the example: does the thing even exist?
Formal
“In fact, I'm not even sure it's proper acting.”
A quiet demolition of an art form, delivered as modesty from someone who knows it.
Neutral
Siguiente · 05eye someone upLa escena: Dinner at the Villa of the DovesShe treats acting as a job she does when she feels like it, mocks the idea that it is glamorous, and refuses to pretend otherwise.
She is playing down talking pictures. A few spoken words here and there will not shock anyone, so she treats the new sound films as no big deal.
She is rude to the servants who are working hard at dinner, and someone asks that she be reminded they are not used to rudeness.
They say the destruction on the hotel roof was good publicity. A family member doubts that there is any such thing as good publicity.
The film crew is working at Downton just as sound arrives, so the dinner turns into a debate about whether films with dialogue will change the business.
