Third of four parts
Re “ ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ Helped to Make 1941 the Best Ever Year”
[Editor’s Note: Although 1939 is frequently considered the single strongest year for films in Hollywood history, our historian, Mr. Hawkins, counters that 1941 may have been superior. Today he resumes his countdown after asserting that “Citizen Kane” was No. 1 in 1941, “The Maltese Falcon” No. 2, “Sullivan’s Travels”No.3, “How Green Was My Valley” No. 4 and “Hold Back the Dawn” No. 5.]
6. “The Little Foxes.” Produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by William Wyler, the stars were Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright and Richard Carlson. Lillian Hellman wrote the screenplay, based on her 1939 play that starred Tallulah Bankhead. This was the second time that Bette Davis replaced Ms. Bankhead. (The first was “Dark Victory.”)
Davis played ruthless Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Gibbons who struggles for wealth and freedom in the early 20th century, days when a father considered only sons as legal heirs.
This was the third film in which Wyler directed Davis. The others were “Jezebel” in 1938, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and “The Letter” in 1940.
Nominated for nine Academy Awards, they included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Cinematography. The camera work was by Greg Tolland, the cinematographer on “Citizen Kane.”
Lillian Hellman, the author of “The Little Foxes,” was romantically involved for 30 years with mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, who wrote “The Thin Man” and “The Maltese Falcon.”
Ms. Hellman was linked to left-wing causes her whole life, and she was blacklisted in the 1950s. She was accused of glossing over Joseph Stalin's ruthless control of the Soviet Union.
Ms. Hellman was also a longtime friend of Dorothy Parker. They were so close she was Ms. Parker’s literary executor.
7. “The Devil and Daniel Webster.” Walter Huston plays Mr. Scratch, the devil, who matches wits with Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold). Daniel Webster tries to save farmer James Craig who has sold his soul for financial success. Mr. Scratch agrees to let a jury decide Craig's fate, a jury of the damned.
The film was directed by William Dieterle and also starred Anne Shirley, Jane Darwell and Simon Simon.
Dieterlie was a German Jew who came to the United States in 1929 and became one of Hollywood's top directors. Notable films directed by Dieterlie include “The Life of Emil Zola,” starring Paul Muni, “Juarez,” with Paul Muni and Bette Davis, and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo.
The Devil and Daniel Webster was nominated for two Academy Awards, Walter Huston for Best Actor and Bernard Hermann who won for Best Score of a Dramatic Picture. Hermann also was nominated for the score of “Citizen Kane.”
There is some controversy over Hermann's credit for scoring “Citizen Kane.”
Efrem and Roxie Violin claimed that their father, Mischa Violin, a composer and musician who conducted live musical programs at Radio City Music Hall, and worked at RKO in the 1940s, worked on the music on “Citizen Kane.”
They said this assignment came at the request of Orson Welles after Hermann refused to come back to Hollywood from New York to make some changes.
Roxie and Efrem both remembered their father bringing home the script for “Citizen Kane.” When Roxie told this story to a newspaper reporter (after Hermann died), Hermann's family threatened him with a lawsuit.
Hermann wrote the score for Orson Welles's 1942 classic “The Magnificent Ambersons.” But demanded that his name be removed from the credits.
8. “That Hamilton Woman” was directed by Alexander Korda and starred Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh as the ill-fated lovers, Lord Admiral Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton.
This British film was made in Culver City at the RKO Selznick Studios. Lord Admiral Nelson was later fictionalized as “Captain Horatio Hornblower,” with Gregory Peck as Hornblower.
During the production, Korda and David O. Selznick toyed with the idea of taking over United Artists. But they could not agree on whose name would appear first on the masthead.
After her success in “Gone With The Wind,” Ms. Leigh tried to persuade David O. Selznick to cast her opposite Laurence Olivier in “Rebecca.” Selznick thought she was wrong for the role.
Edward Ashley, who knew Olivier and Ms. Leigh, told me that he had intended to write a book about Olivier but never got around to it.
Ashley recalled that in 1937 he was having breakfast with Olivier in his London home when Olivier's wife, Jill Esmond, announced that she was pregnant.
“Two weeks later,” Ashley recalled, “Olivier began filming ‘Fire Over England’ with Vivian Leigh and left his pregnant wife for her.”
Ashley didn't see much of Olivier after that until they worked together in “Pride and Prejudice” at MGM in 1940.
The next year, when Olivier was making “That Hamilton Woman,” Ashley was invited to lunch at the Culver Studios where Olivier introduced him to Ms. Leigh, whom he found to be charming.
That same year, 1941, Ashley was featured in “Come Live With Me” starring James Stewart and Hedy Lamarr. Stewart plays a down-and- out newspaper reporter who marries Lamarr, a foreigner, to save her from being deported.
Come Live With Me was directed by Clarence Brown who also directed such classics as “Camille,” “The Yearling” and “Intruder in the Dust.”
Ashley told me that Brown was the best director he'd ever worked for.
At Ms. Leigh's request, Ashley was cast as a plantation owner in Paramount Pictures' “Elephant Walk,” also starring Peter Finch and Dana Andrews. Ashley said Ms. Leigh was giving a great performance in the film until she suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be replaced by Elizebeth Taylor.
His role was reduced to practically nothing when Ms. Taylor replaced Ms. Leigh.
That Hamilton Woman was made to spur pro-British feelings and to encourage patriotism on the home front where England was under attack. It was Winston Churchill's favorite movie.
(To be concluded Wednesday)
Mr. Hawkins may be contacted at rjhculvercity@aol.com
