Everyone talk about how Ali McGraw was too old for the rols of Natalie.
And Seymour was perfect for the role.
There was 5 years between winds and War. Seymour is 13 years younger then Ali Mcgraw...
When War and Rememberence was made Seymour was 37 at the time---9 years older then Natalie in the book.Ali was 45 when winds wa shot--not that big of an age difference. The age is not the issue--acting styles are
Sometimes I think I am the only McGraw/Vincent fan (in these roles) on the planet. Theirs is my all-time favorite screen romance. I think they had great chemistry. McGraw was the feisty, headstrong, stubborn, yet vulnerable, Natalie. Vincent was the alienated, angry, yet talented Byron. Vincent also did a great job portraying Byron's complicated relationship with Pug.
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MacGraw and Vincent were both good in their roles, but I also think they wouldn't have been right for the parts in War and Remembrance. A 43 year old MacGraw playing 27 year old Natalie works barely, a 47 year old MacGraw playing 29 year old Natalie would not. MacGraw can play flirtatious young Jewess, but it's hard to see her as a hardened Holocaust survivor. Vincent's chip-on-the-shoulder anger would not have worked once the war started. Bochner, despite being younger, brought some much-needed maturity to the role.
Bochner would have played Byron in WOW if he had been a bit older. Talk about irony.
I liked Vincent, though. I first saw the series when it originally aired. He was the one that made me want to keep watching the series, even though I was only 10 at the time.
Having seen Winds of War many years prior to War and Remembrance, I suppose Vincent and McGraw established those roles in my mind. At the time, I had no idea how old Ali McGraw actually was, so I didn't really think in those terms.
Still, Winds of War focused so much on the relationship between Byron and Natalie, but in War and Remembrance, they were separated throughout most of the series, so there were very few scenes with Natalie and Byron actually together. There just wasn't the same spark between Bochner and Seymour that was established between Vincent and McGraw in the first miniseries.
They had two or three scenes together in War and Remembrance, and none of them are written to have them acting as flirtatiously as they do in Winds of War. They are both hardened by their experiences. Vincent and MacGraw may not have been able to pull off the same spark.
But as they are separated, maybe the real question is how they interact with the other characters they're usually with. Byron matures into a capable sub commander, something it's hard for me to imagine Vincent doing, and his unprofessionalism may have caused other problems as well. Natalie spends most of her time with Aaron, and it's hard for me to picture MacGraw and Houseman pulling of their scenes together as well as Seymour and Gielgud.
Just out of curiosity, is there anyone here who prefers Houseman to Gielgud?
I think Gielgud matched Wouk's Jastrow better that Houseman. Wouk wrote him as small and frail..... two adjectives not usually used for Houseman.
shareWow! I preferred Gielgud myself, but for much the opposite reason: I though Houseman portrayed him as old and frail, and that Gielgud actually brought a tremendous amount of energy and conviction to the role.
shareYou make some good points, tfilm78. I guess I have somewhat mixed feelings about it, seeing that there are different actors for Natalie, Byron, and Aaron.
Now that it's already done and I've seen both miniseries multiple times, it's hard to picture it being any different.
I tend to agree about Gielgud, though. I'm a big fan of Houseman's role as Professor Kingsfield in the Paper Chase, and he seemed to fit in well with the role of Professor Aaron Jastrow quite well. But it's hard for me to picture Houseman in the same kinds of extreme situations that Aaron went through in Gielgud's portrayal in War and Remembrance.