British Invasion

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23719, 27 July 1940, Page 10 (Supplement)

British Invasion

f I"OLLYWOOD may not symI —l pathise -vrith Hitler, but its .L J. generals know what it feels like 'to be worried by the British, writes W. H. Mooring, in the Picturegoer. For at last it becomes abundantly clear that American picturegoers prefer to "buy British" and there is nothing the big American combines can do but give them what they demand.

"Yankee" audiences do not care -whether a picture is made in Britain or in Hollywood as long as it "has that something." What the "something" is, few if any can tell. But they like it. Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca." after smashing all records at the 1" our Star in Hollywood and taking over £20,000 ill the first four weeks at New York's Music Hall, runs on at least three times longer than originally planned and beats even Eddie Cantor's "Forty Little Mothers" into a cocked hat.

When the New York Broadway crowd, which is predominantly moronic, rejects the buoyant and perhaps blatant, for serious drama, new history is being written. hen it goes overboard iii its approval of an English story, told by characters which formerly were considered fit subjects only for derisive music hall jokes, some of the -most powerful men in Hollywood begin to wonder.- , . - . .'

Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle make personal appearances in Portland. Oregon, with their new film, "Irene," and the theatre record of £450 tor an opening'niglit'is beaten by a "gate" ol £530.-, •

It all takes me back a few years. Irving Thalberg then was the only producer in Hollywood wlio foresaw a great chance lor British films in America. And. lie meant films, made about Britain and with British feeling, rather than those made "in" Britain. "There is great charm about the British style of presentation," he said. "If only British people would stop worrving about what Americans call 'speed' and if, instead of trying to imitate Hollywood, they would tell stories on the screen in their own sincere fashion, - you would see what would happen to British films in U.S.A."

Well now, although Thalberg is not here to say "I told you so." we are beginning' 'to see. The charm of sincerity is at work.

American crowds . gorged with the sweet superficialities dished up for years by Hollywood are enjoying a change of

Strong VAmerican Preference Shown

diet in which the entertainment equivalents of c n od old roast hoof and "Yorkshire" call forth demands for fresh helpings.

Whether hy mere paradox or though political connivance, the .''British - ' films most successful «in U.S.A. so. far, are either produced h t v Americans m Britain, or by the British in America My mail from home suggests that many British audiences aro at a loss to know why. "Cannot British stars, now in Hollywood, return to England and make their films?" is a general question. The answer, obviously, is that they can. But if they did so, unless they were financed hy the big American combines, their films generally would not be given wide release —if any—in American cinemas.

Encouraged by American reactions to such pictures as ''Good-bye, Mr. Chips," "Pygmalion" and "The Citadel," M-G-M now plan to produce at least five or six more large-scale films in England—war or no war. They are taking "The Stars Look Down"—and signing up ii.s producer—for U.S.A. release as an .M-G-M picture, but such n deal is an exception to the general rule.

Hollywood producers, their preeminence in the world of films clearly threatened by British competition such as they have never before had to face, are not likely to give up their plush upholstered thrones to unheard-of genius from a "foreign country" and so it happens that the British films Americans are invited to applaud will be sponsored by the bier men in Hollywood who can then take the bows, whether or not they deserve them. And the profits. Although he is not advertising the fact, Alex Korda has that his American associates in United Artists are all for his making his bigscale films over in England.

If he comes back to produce at Donham, he will probably make one or two films costing about £15,000 to £20,000 each. Million-dollar films, based on British stories, starring British artistes and directed by British directors, will either be made in Hollywood so that Hollywood can enjoy the credit as well as the profits, or financiers in England will have to put up all the cash and run a terrific risk of failing to get. any worth while returns from the U.S.A. Stars like Anna Xeagle, Charles Laughton, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh won Id prefer to make British films in Britain, but as long as the big "bosses'' of Hollywood are to put up the monev and make way for the films on American screens, they are going to see to it that they have a controlling influence.