SHOW BUSINESS: Artist at Work

An ad in the “agony column” of the London Times asked for anybody who had seen the premiere of Oscar Wilde’s play, An Ideal Husband, in 1895. A few dozen oldsters who responded got tickets to another premiere of An Ideal Husband, this time a movie starring Paulette Goddard and Hugh Williams. With this hoary pressagent’s trick, Sir Alexander Korda helped beat the drums for his return to moviemaking—and the showing this week of the first movie in three years bearing his name. Tall, silver-haired, and at 54 none the worse for 29 hectic years in the international movie business, Korda was making a comeback from his second eclipse as a major cinemaker.

The new entrance by Korda, the Hungarian-born producer who first proved to Britain that it could compete with Hollywood, was well planned. He had tested the market a month ago with the first postwar production of his new company, an unpretentious thriller called A Man About the House, launched without benefit of the Korda name. It was grossing as much as first-run U.S. pictures, Korda said.

This success gave Korda’s voice a confident ring as he announced that his new company, London. Film Productions, Ltd., would turn out 13 pictures next year and spend $20 million in the process. (With the announcement of J. Arthur Rank that he would make 43 pictures worth $40 million next year, Britain could expect 80 new pictures, its largest production ever.)

To those who cried that the British movie industry was not doing its job of making up for U.S. films kept out by the new tax (TIME, Aug. 18), Sir Alexander said: “There exists no crisis in the British film-producing industry. . . . Twenty-four so-called A pictures are in active production in Hollywood … 20 in British studios. … So long as the British moviemaker retains his creative independence … he will win through.”

Out of the Shed. Few U.S. moviemen would take such a sanguine view. Britain needs 300 pictures a year, including many B productions, to supply all its theaters. But few had worked as hard as Korda to keep their creative independence.

A Budapest journalist who started making pictures in an abandoned shed shortly after World War I, Korda reached the top in Europe, went to Hollywood, and returned after five years—a failure. Three years later, in London, with actors he promised to pay later, he turned out The Private Life of Henry VIII and won the support of Britain’s powerful Prudential Assurance Co., Ltd. Prudential staked his London Film Productions, Ltd. with cash to turn out topflight pictures (Catherine the Great, Rembrandt, Scarlet Pimpernel).

Out of the Red. Despite its critical successes, London Films went broke for lack of U.S. outlets, leaving Korda’s company owing £700,000 to Prudential. He recouped in Hollywood, went back to England, hocked his life insurance policy to make the British propaganda film The Lion Has Wings. It earned him a handsome profit and helped win him a knighthood. Korda, whose finances puzzle even his friends, then bailed out London Films, bought a controlling interest in British Lion, a top-rung distributing company, and issued £1,000,000 in stock.

The new Korda organization has all the old Korda assets, plus a strong U.S. distributor—20th Century-Fox. But the organization also has the old Korda foibles. If the first 13 pictures are successful, quips Korda, he will “increase production to eight” so he can improve his product.