ENGLISH PLAYERS IN DEMAND

Southland Times, Issue 23946, 12 October 1939, Page 14

ENGLISH PLAYERS IN DEMAND

Conquest Of American Studios

The British have captured Hollywood without firing a shot —and, oddly enough, American audiences seem to love it. In the past few months pictures with English backgrounds and stories have swept the American market, and British players have soared to the top of American popularity. Every real acting plum recently has dropped into the laps of British actors, and studios in Hollywood are battling with one another fiercely for the services of these players and rushing into production typically British stories. Just a few short months ago, writes an American correspondent, Americans protested against the casting of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, and' many newspapers attacked David Selznick’s selection. But today the howls have changed to cheers, and the same people

now are lauding to the skies the performances of British players. | The pro-British movement first started with Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” in which Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller have such fine performances. Then Robert Donat’s great effort in “The Citadel” helped tremendously, and now his latest epic, “Good-bye, Mr Chips,” has taken the United States by storm. M.G.M. was fearful at first that this essentially British story of public school life would be too British for America. FAMOUS STORIES “Wuthering Heights” has sent Laurence Olivier soaring to stardom in Hollywood, and Selznick has just bought him out of the leading stage role opposite the famous Katherine Cornell to star in “Rebecca.” He is the same actor who came to Hollywood a few years ago and found every studio door closed to him because producers said, he was too much like Ronald Colman. Now Olivier names his own price.

The swing towards British players and British stories in Hollywood is little short of amazing. Nearly every studio seems to be lining up’ some British film. Warners are making “The Lady and the Knight,” with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. Bette is American, but no one will question this fine actress’s ability to portray faithfully Queen Bess. Fox is making “The Rains Come,” Louis Bromfield’s story of the British in India. Irishman George Brent is co-starring with Myrna Loy in this. Frank Lloyd is producing an epic of Britain’s mercantile marine, i “Ruler of the Seas,” with an almost 100 per cent. British cast, including Will Fyffe, Scottish comedian, and Margaret Lockwood, English actress who was with Fyffe in “Owd Bob.” M.G.M. has produced its best money-makers in England, and now it is sending Mickey Rooney to the Old Country to start in “A Yank at Eton,” and another cast is being sent over to

make Shaw’s controversial story of the medical profession, “The Doctor’s Dilemma.” Of course, Hollywood sends its own directors to make these pictures in England. Whatever Hollywood's faults may be, it has the finest technical brains and directors in the world.

What is the reason for this sudden and almost complete capitulation to the British? There are several very good reasons, and the best is the most important—box-office receipts. Hollywood has lost most of the huge European market because of the unrest and restrictions in dictator countries, and has suddenly realized that the British market is far more valuable than the European one ever was. So Hollywood is wooing the British in earnest, slanting pictures in their direction and using British players as much as possible because of accent. Then, too, it is not as costly making pictures for the British market. There is no need to dub foreign languages into the film to sell it. What suits the American market invariably suits the British. IMPORTANT MARKET Hollywood derives nearly 30 per cent, of its income from the British market, and Australia is third on the list as the biggest buyer of Hollywood movies. Once upon a time Hollywood combed Europe for its new stars, spent huge sums grooming them and teaching them English, and then, with but few exceptions, saw them fail. And the movie brains here have just discovered that the American public did not like the broken accents of these stars. They preferred British accents to their own. Now the tide has turned and Hollywood is fighting for the services of British players, who need no grooming or English lessons, and who, many of them, have years of the best stage training behind them. In the last few weeks Charles Laughton has checked in to play the title role in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Edna Best will play in “Intermezzo,” which will star Leslie Howard; Flora Robson will have a big part with Paul Muni in “We Are Not Alone,” and now Paramount has put John Loder under contract, and he arrives in a few weeks to co-star with Isa Miranda.

British players such as David Niven, Basil Rathbone, Cary Grant, Donald Crisp, Nigel Bruce, Ronald Colman, Herbert Marshall, Leslie Howard and a few others, can almost name their own salaries, so eager is Hollywood to have them in pictures. There are a couple of other angles to this pro-British movement. First, the American people, more discerning in their movie tastes than ever before, have discovered that the majority of British players are good actors— • much better than the average American, Second, Americans today are closer to Britain than ever before. They feel there is a definite bond between the two great English-speaking nations; that should be strengthened. Americans always have been friendly

to the British, but /t is more pronounced today. The recent visit of King George and Queen Elizabeth not only made history, but made friends of the whole American people,-who took the Royal couple to their hearts because of their simplicity and charm. And so the feeling has spread to the movie industry, where an English accent almost assures one of a job. " Many stars and players—Americans • —are taking special elocution and diction lessons to master a near-English accent. So that it will not sound too obvious this accent is called “dramatic English.” The British of 1776 lost America after many bitter and bloody battles, but the British actors and actresses of 1939 has recaptured America without firing a shot.