Charles Drazin

Uneven and unsatisfying. I often wonder if the quotes from reviews on book jackets are written by someone who has read the ENTIRE book. I do not think any of the reviews reflected anyone who read this entire book. First, as on pages 73 and 79-80, there were passages written in another language with no translation. On page 74 makes a comment about Hollywood's or Beverly Hills' "endless multi-lane boulevards swathed in exhaust fumes" not realizing that during the time Korda was there in the late 1920's, it has always been described as a land where you smelled the orange blossoms everywhere. The author's ignorance of film stars is shown on page 56 where he had no idea of who Candance Bergen's father was or complete ignorance of Charlie McCarthy or on page 65 must have seen just one Walter Pidgeon film and did not know of his excellent singing voice. On page 36, the author snidely refers to Michael Curtiz' films of Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and The Adventures of Robin Hood as concoctions. Quite frankly, these three films are more viewable and appealing than Korda's. Yes Laughton is excellent as Henry VIII but last time I viewed it, it took me almost 4 hours as I kept falling asleep. I have never fallen asleep during the three Curtiz films mentioned. Finally, as so many biographers do, they end the book with the death of their subject without letting the reader know what happened to the major people in their subject's life. So we don't know what happened to brothers Vincent and Zoltan, his three wives, and just an inkling that his son had passed away before the book was published but nothing on what his son did throughout his life. And while the book had a list of illustrations, there were none in this paperback edition. One of the most unsatisfactory biographies I have read in months.… (plus d'informations)

I knew of Alexander Korda as the Hungarian film maker who first brought The Scarlet Pimpernel to life on the silver screen, in 1934. I wasn't aware that he started and ran the company - London Films - which still owns the film rights to Orczy's story (there have been remakes in 1950 - the disastrous Powell and Pressburger Technicolor version mentioned in this biography - 1982 and 1999). Korda also married leading lady Merle Oberon, who cheated on him regularly while living in Hollywood, and his brother Zoltan married supporting actress Joan Gardner, also on Alexander's books.

Charles Drazin has written an accessible, humorous account of Alexander Korda's life, loves and career. Born in Hungary, Korda and his brothers came to England via Austria, Germany and Hollywood, eventually settling in London - a lot like Baroness Orczy, who wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel. He founded London Films in 1932, recruiting actors like Charles Laughton, Robert Donat and Merle Oberon, and working with fellow Hungarian writer Lajos Biro. His first film production, The Private Life of Henry VIII, was a success, closely matched by The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1934 - but there were many flops and to follow.

During the Second World War, Korda flitted back and forth between the UK and US, producing films like That Hamilton Woman with Vivien Leigh, and - like the Pimpernel - working as a secret agent, providing cover for British spies sent into Europe. He was knighted in 1942, and came back to London as a production chief for MGM, promoting English films.

Despite Korda's professional and personal ups and downs (three failed marriages and a mistress who ran off with one of his assistants), his story is both sympathetic and inspiring. I didn't really get a sense of the man himself, although perhaps that is fitting for the Hungarian boy turned English lord who was both a talented writer and a shrewd businessman. And, needless to say, I would have liked to have learned a little more about the production of The Scarlet Pimpernel! (I did get a laugh from reading Margaret Leighton, who played Marguerite in the 1950 remake, described as a 'cross-eyed horse', though!)… (plus d'informations)

The Third Man remains one of the supreme achievements in filmmaking, an almost Renaissance-like collaboration and struggle among different talents from different corners of the world. The Americans Orson Welles and David O. Selznick, the British Carol Reed and Graham Greene, the (mostly Jewish) Central European refugees and the local zither idiot savant, Anton Karas, as well as the unique scenery of a broken but dignified magnificient city, Vienna. Drazin offers a pleasing and entertaining account how this film came into being and how the different contributors interacted.

Thus, it is a major regret that Drazin somehow was unable to get his Austrian history and facts straight. The mistakes pile up faster than Harry Lime's victims. The author calls the Austrian currency Schillers instead of Schilling, a truly puzzling mistake as any educated Brit must have heard about shillings. The Austrian Civil War of 1934, for instance, was a battle between the Socialists/Labour and the Conservatives/Catholics, the two having been at each others' throats for multiple decades. The Communists, much highlighted by the author, played only a minor role. It is a safe assumption that any element about Vienna and Austria the author mentions might be incomplete, inaccurate or even totally misleading if not invented by the author. Perhaps this is an unintended tribute to Orson Welles famous line in the film about "Swiss" cuckoo clocks which is totally erroneous in every element. Recommended (with caution) for film buffs.… (plus d'informations)