Originally posted by Turnbull:
Cristina, we do hear a harmonica (although we don't see Deanna playing it), and yes, the item in her hand looks like it could be a harmonica. But it wasn't in her hand when she was dancing with Merle, and when she flopped on the floor.
Yes, I noticed that too, so I watched the scene again. When Deanna falls down drunkenly, it looked like the harmonica-like object was already lying on the floor
behind her (but then again, my eyes could be deceiving me). My first thought was that she probably picked it up, and that's how we see it in her hand when Fredo grabs her.
I was wondering if that harmonica was left on the set (during a previous scene? by one of the "First Communion" children?) and if the actress portraying Deanna decided to improvise with it: Show what a drunken clown Deanna is by having her blow on a harmonica she picks up off the ground. What a classy broad
. Too bad they forgot to take a shot of her actually playing it.
I'd still like to know if that little gaffe was caught in the theatrical version and edited it out. I don't have the
Godfather Part II DVD (or VHS tape). I'll have to rent it from Blockbuster one of these days to see whether it's "harmonica-less."
Another guess: In a deleted scene, we see Fredo and Deanna show up for the party... They're in the midst of a big fight, and Deanna throws something at Fredo, that he catches. I think it was her clutch bag pocketbook.
I thought it was her shoe. If I recall correctly, Fredo then chases her down and forces it onto her foot.
But, if it was a [clutch] bag... Fredo holding it for her ever since they'd arrived [is] a neat symbol of Fredo's hen-pecked relationship with Deanna
Originally posted by dontomasso:
Maybe it was one of Deanna's "toys." After all at that moment she makes some kind of snide coment that Fredo isn't a "real" man.
Along those lines Turnbull and dontomasso, I suppose one could surmise that the harmonica is a phallic symbol -- an indication that Deanna, to put it crudely, has Fredo by the balls.
Originally posted by AppleOnYa:
... sounds like a classic instance of several takes/cuts of a scene edited together without attention to some of the extremely minor details.
Ah, but Apple, for a Godfather devotee, no detail is too minor.
