Trudy Gold
A Very British Mogul: Alexander Korda and Churchill

Trudy Gold | A Very British Mogul: Alexander Korda and Churchill | 07.22.21

- [Wendy] We have opened up.

• I love our logo. It’s really smart.

• Yes, it is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.

• Really. The first day. So when you ready, over to you.

Visuals displayed throughout the presentation.

• [Trudy] Okay, my darling. Well, good evening everyone, and welcome. Today I decided to give a special lecture on Sir Alexander Korda, because in many ways, it follows on from the presentations I’ll be giving on Churchill, because Korda and Churchill were very close friends. And actually Churchill worked for Korda as a screenwriter in his wilderness years in the ‘30s, when he was always short of money. And he turned out to be a very interesting screenwriter. And if you think about Churchill and his speeches, he understood the nature of PR, he understood publicity, he understood also the great word, the great moment, he was what one would call filmic. And the other point I wanted to stress before we get into his biography is that Korda, along with some of his colleagues, I’ve called him a very British mogul.

But of course, in fact, Alexander Korda was a Hungarian Jew, and he is going to be, really the most important mogul in the British film industry. And what is interesting about the British film industry is that many of the characters who created the British film industry were Jewish. And also those who owned the cinemas, the cinema chains, and most of the important figures in commercial television, like the Bernstein Brothers, were also Jewish. And then you have the famous family, the Winogradsky family, Lew Grade, you will remember that Michael Grade, his nephew, was on our “Lockdown University,” and I hope you like the logo, and a few months ago.

Bernard Delfonte’s brother was the most important agent, was, beg your pardon, was really Mr. Showbiz, and his other brother, Leslie, was a very important agent. So basically, although I called him a very British mogul, and we’re going to see he very much emulated a British way of life, Alexander Korda was actually of Hungarian Jewish roots. So let’s start with his biography. His dates are 1895 to 1956. He was born Shandor Laslo Kelmer and he’s born in a small town on the northern plains of Hungary within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, which encompassed over 16 different national groups at the centre of Europe, of course is not dissolved until the end of the First World War. He was the son of Henrik Kelmer, an ernestina vice. He had two younger brothers, Zalton and Vincent, all, they’re all going to come to England and they’re all going to go into the film industry. His father was a farm manager in a very, very rural part of Hungary. And I often speculate on this, when I meet these incredible characters or the children of these incredible characters, the roots they came from were so different to the world they came to, and yet they’re going to change the world they come to. It’s like that they could see the niche in the market as outsiders.

They could take it on, conquer it, but in the main, they fell madly in love with it. And Korda certainly is going to fall madly in love with England. After, just as the American moguls, and Phil was talking about that a little in his last presentation, and we’re going to be talking much more about that over the next few months. But what is certainly true is that with Korda, he wanted to be an English gentleman. Well, this is way ahead of, I’m going way ahead of myself because after the death of his father, somebody, he was a farm manager, remember, he becomes the breadwinner. His father dies quite young, and he’s one of these wonder kids.

He’s got many talents and he’s a very good writer. And he begins writing film reviews to start support the family. Even in rural Hungary, the cinema is becoming really the, it’s the entertainment for the working classes. You’ve got to remember that prior to the 20th century, how much leisure time did anyone have? The middle class, just think what their entertainment would’ve been. They would’ve listened to the piano, they would’ve read aloud to each other, but now you have the development of the movie industry, which everyone can enjoy and Hungary has a film industry.

So he begins to be approached by film man. Why? Because he’s writing reviews. He now, this incredibly ambitious young man. He then has two film magazines that he writes for. And this led to offers of screenplays. And also he begins to direct, this is when he’s still a teen teenager. And he is then approached by a company called Corvin. It’s the, it was the, it was the largest company, film company in Europe. It had been created in Eastern Europe. It’d been created by a man called Dr. Yano Yanovic, who was an immediate entrepreneur, and he was director of the Hungarian National Theatre in Klausenberg, Kleuch.

We’ve talked about Kleuch many times in relation to Kasner. And he worked with characters such as Michael Curtis. Michael Curtis, of course, is also going to make his way to Hollywood where he becomes a very important film director directing what is probably everybody, most people’s favourite film, Casablanca. In fact, this company is, as I mentioned before, it’s called, it’s called by Americans, Hollywood in Transylvania. So he begins to work for Corvin by 1916 through all sorts of business deals with friends. He’s a wheeler dealer.

He’s brought him to their big studio in Budapest and he becomes the company’s leading director by 1917, which makes him 22 years old. And he borrows enough money to actually buy the company. And this incredible wiz kid. He can, it’s the silent cinema, remember. He buys up most of the leading stars, including a beautiful woman called Maria, who he marries. And actually for over a hundred years, Corvin is going to be Hungary’s leading film studio. Of course, 1918, all hell breaks loose, the Habsburg empire is dismembered. And in Hungary, they’re on the losing side.

Hungary is then subjected to a communist revolution led by the Jewish Communist Belikun. In other lectures, I’ve talked a lot about this, the preponderance of Jews in left wing movements. Now, the minute Belikun didn’t see himself as a Jew. Bilekun saw himself as an international man who was going to change the world. But his revolution fails. Korda made films in the revolutionary period. What happens is the Soviet Republic of Kon is destroyed by Admiral Horthy. And what is instituted is the white terror.

There is a witch hunt against the communists or any of the fellow travellers. Korda was arrested, and after his release, he flees Budapest for Vienna, which is now capital of Austria, and separated completely from Hungary, Austria, which was once the centre of a huge empire, is a country of 7 million people with an empire, with a capital city that was once the centre of an empire. So we find him in Vienna. And in Vienna, he joins Hassana Films and worked on major historical epics. He’s already got a huge reputation. He works on the Prince and the Pauper, which is a great success internationally.

Remember, these are silent films and in which means they can go international. You’ve got no language problems. All you’ve got to do is dub and play the music. And it inspired him to think internationally and also make him understand he was an entrepreneur, remember. He’s an outsider that he can think about making films with global box office appeal. So where’d you go if you are ambitious? You leave Vienna for Berlin. Berlin had one of the greatest film centres in Europe, Ufa. Ufa was run by a Jew called Fritz Palmer. Or when I say the word Jew, Fritz Palmer was one of the, it didn’t matter very much to him.

Later on, it’s going to matter a lot to people who felt that Jews couldn’t possibly be Europeans. And in Berlin, he manages to obtain money and backing from Ufa, and he then returns to Vienna to make a few more films. For example, Tragedy in the House of Hapsburg, which is the story of Mayerling, when the, when the heir to the Hapsburg throne, Archduke Rudolph kills himself and also his 17 year old mistress Maria Vetsera. So he makes historical epics and he makes another film, Melodramas Dancing, Dancing Mad was one, he usually stars his very beautiful blonde wife as the female lead. She had huge star pal. She was one of the greatest actresses in silent movie Europe.

In 1927, A Modern Day of Dubari, which of course is the life of Madden Dubari, based on the screenplay of another very interesting Hungarian Jew called Laszlo Biro. You might know of him for an a completely different reason. He created the Biro. Made his final German film for, for a Berlin subsidy of Fox, Madam Wants No Children. 1926, where is all the action? It’s in America. So that’s when he sails for America. But he hated the studio system. He’s very much his own person. He makes the private life of, of Helen and Troy, which stars his wife, Stola Bride.

They make money, it’s successful, but he feels very strained in Hollywood. And the arrival of sound is going to have huge impact. And it ruins his wife’s career. She’s got a very thick accent. It’s another story, but many of the great film stars of the silent era, their reputations were ruined by the advent of sound. There’s a very good Hollywood film, a comedy actually dealing with this, which is of course singing In the Rain. He dreamt of returning to Europe to begin large scale productions, but he kept a very, very lavish lifestyle.

He lived to the full and then the Wall Street crash prevented anything. And this is when he moves to Fox because he’s a very good film director and they offer him a hundred thousand dollars a year. He can’t say no to that. Finally though, he can’t take it anymore, and he moves to Paris to make films for Paramount. And then he relocates to London. Why? Because he is now going to work for Paramount in London.

Now, in London, he forms his own film company, London Films, and London films, he has huge success with. He makes films like Wedding Rehearsal, That Night in London with Robert Donut, Strange Evidence, Council’s Opinion. And then he has his first huge hit, Hitler’s come to power in Europe, and there’s no way that he’s going to leave England now. And his first huge hit is The Private Life of Henry VIII starring Charles Lawton. It’s the film that made Lawton very, very famous. Made him a star. And he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

And this is what establishes Korda. And now he’s almost unassailable. He’s working in London, but his films are of interest to Hollywood. Remember he’s made films for Paramount and Fox in Europe. Now he’s got his own film company. And The Private Life of Henry VIII actually was a very, very interesting film because it’s about an English king who understood the need to build up a Navy to create a very strong England. And that’s going to be an incredibly important motif to quarter during the thirties.

Now he followed it with The Private Life of Don Juan with Douglas Fairbanks, which he directed The Rise of Catherine the Greats. And then in 1934, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and he made the Scarlet Pimpernel with two of the great stars, Merle Oberon. Now he’s going to marry Merle Oberon in the 1939. She was born in 1911 and she’d had a very, very chequered life. She came from a, she was born in India, she came from a mixed race, very dysfunctional family, and she had to conceal it all her life. She concealed both of these factors. She arrived in London in 1928. She worked as a club hostess, minor film roles.

Korda saw her and she had incredible quality. She, I’m sure many of you would’ve seen films with Merle Oberon. She was incredibly photogenic and he gave her a bit part in The Private Life of Henry VIII. She played Amber Lynn, and then of course, beg your pardon, then of course he makes the next film in 1934, where she stars in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Now, I want you to think about the subject matter of The Scarlet Pimpernel. It’s the story, I always take it for granted that most people of our age would’ve seen these kind of films. And my grandson said to me once, “How do you cope with films in black and white?”

But The Scarlet Pimpernel is a wonderful film, and it’s the story really of an English aristocrat who saves people who are under the regime of terror of the French Revolution. Now, there’s some wonderful scenes when they come back to the Cliffs of England, the security of England and it stars, Leslie Howard. Leslie Howard, who for most people was the quintessential Englishman. Now, who was Leslie Howard?

Again, it’s an interesting story because Leslie Howard was, in fact the son of a Hungarian Jewish father, a man called Ferdinand Steiner and Lillian Bloomberg, his mother had been brought up as a Christian. But her father, Ludwig Bloomberg was a merchant from East Prussia. He had moved and married into the English upper class, upper middle class. They lived in a very exclusive suburb. He went to all he went to Allins Public School in Dolige. He became a bank clerk, a book voluntary enlisted in the First World War, changed his, he had a German sounding name, not a good thing to do.

My grandfather had exactly the same problem. he actually had to put the picture of all his, he had a very German name and he had to put the pictures of his five sons in military uniform to stop people smashing the windows of his shop. Anyway, he changed his name to Howard and what he really wanted was an acting career. He starts on the stage, but it’s talkies that launch him into Hollywood as they do so many of the other stage actors of Britain. Many of them are going to be involved in this. He always loved at the stage. And also he is then attracted by Hollywood.

And what does he do in Hollywood? He plays the stiff upper lip Englishman. And he starred in a film version of Barclay Square, which gave him a nomination for an Academy Award. He comes back to London to play The Scarlet Pimpernel for Alexander Korda, Merle Oberon. The film also starred Raymond Massey. Brilliant actor, often played the villain. It was hugely popular at the box office and a very seductive propaganda campaign. In Hollywood, Howard was very close to Les Humphrey Bogart, relaunched his career actually. And when he married the Jewish Lauren Bacall, they named their first child after Leslie Howard. And of course, he is most famous for Gone With the Lit Wind. And when war breaks out, he was a very patriotic Englishman, just like Korda. And he did everything he could to help the British War effort.

He was actually working in Lisbon, in neutral Lisbon, and he returns on a plane with thir 12 other people, and it shot down over the Bay of Bisque. There’s a very good book in 2018 on him. It’s called The Man Who Did Give a Damn. Anyway, going back to Korda, he makes Sands of the River starring Paul Robson, which was directed by his brother Zoltan Moscow Knight with Laurence Olivier, Rembrandt in 1936 with Charles Norton. And then if you could turn to the next slide, please, if you don’t mind, Lauren.

He then built, bought Denim studios with financed by the Prudential. These are denim studios in Buckinghamshire that were opened in 1936. The huge hype, most up to date of all the world’s studios was the opening. And this is from Thurston McCauley, the London and correspondent of the New York Times. Hollywood, as well as the rest of the world, we’re watching with interest what Korda does at Denim. You see here you have a man now who is very much in the style of Hollywood moguls, but he is in England. And one of the most important films he makes is Fire Over England, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivian Lee.

Now, Fire Over England is a propaganda film, and I’m going to show you a clip from it in a minute, but it was, it’s centred on the story of brave little, embattled England fighting the horrible notion of the Spanish Armada. When the Pope declares a Holy War against Elizabeth England, and of course Philip II of Spain, the zealous Catholic comes to England and England is under threat. And it was the first British film to be premiered in Los Angeles. It’s handsomely mounted. It’s forcefully dramatic glorification of Queen Bes, who is played by the incredible Flora Robson. And, this is the, this is LA Variety, who says this. “It holds a succession of brilliantly played scenes, a wealth of choice diction pointed excerpts from English history and a series of impressive tableau.”

The League of Nation’s Committee on Motion Pictures awarded it the 1937 Cinema Medal of Honour. And it, as I said, it starred the beautiful Vivian Lee and the new rising star, Laurence Olivier. Laurence Olivier, the great stage actor, he and Vivian Lee had already, they were both married to other people, they’d fallen in love and Fire Over England was really their big calling card for Hollywood. And it’s going to lead, of course, to Vivian becoming one of the most famous women in the world because she is going to play Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.

You know, the great epic of David Selznick, who by the way was a close friend of Alexander Korda. Can we see? And of course it is a propaganda film. It’s embattled Little England. It’s really geared to g the English up, but it’s geared for the American market. So can we please see if you don’t mind Lauren, the trailer for Fire Over England?

[Clip begins]

• And as the shot echo across the sea to Spain, the Armada will sail and then there will be fire over England.

• They still cry. “Save the Queen.”

• I cannot teach you to be a hero. I am only a servant myself.

• We will right to be happy. Everyone’s right to be happy Michael.

• Robin, do you think that Don Fellow is indeed a traitor?

• I know it.

• I know a youngster who is no traitor.

• Why should he risk his life twice?

• You are the world’s hope. My father said so.

• I have seen blacker fears turn to hooks. Hook on 'til you know there is none.

• When your Ballard in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory.

[Clip ends]

• Thank you very, very much, Lauren. Now what then happens is that he goes on making many more films, but the the Fiesta resistance is the Hamilton woman. And after Gone With the Wind, again, he has a coup because he has the most famous woman in actress in the world. Now, Vivian Lee, after Gone with the Wind, very patriotic, starring in it with again, with Laurence Olivier. And it’s the story of Nelson.

So, and I want you to listen to, we’re going to show you a clip from it, but I want you to listen very carefully to the words, because I’m going to talk a lot about propaganda. It’s the story of Lady Hamilton.

[Clip begins]

• [Narrator] This woman is known to the world. Look closely. Do you recognise her? Listen to her story, then condemn her. If you can.

• Shame. I’m not ashamed. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s true there were men in my life before Charles. I admitted I made mistakes. I was young, I was stupid. I believed in men in their promises. But Charles knew about me before he took me into the house.

• Oh, I know she helped you. She encouraged. Wife is part of our plan to play upon your vanity. And she’s quite capable of declaring of the father of our child.

• Francis, control yourself.

• As long as I live, I shall be your wife.

• We’ve been living in a dream. And now we are faced with the truth. How ugly it is. How terribly ugly.

• [Narrator] Here moves drama, the screen Hassel known, a daring, intimate story of a glorious woman fighting the irresistible power of love with lovely Vivian Lee in a worthy challenge to her Academy Award-winning role as Scarlet O'Hara, Laurence Olivier.

• My darling, come back.

[Clip ends]

• Okay, the film was made in Hollywood and what is, thank you Lauren, and what is absolutely, can we go back to, should we just have a look at picture of Korda now, if you don’t mind? I think we’ll keep Korda on the screen. Yes, that’s better. The film was made in Hollywood and obviously you’ve seen the romantic trailer, but what it’s really about is Britain’s struggle against Napoleon in terms of resistance to a dictator who seeps to dominate the world. Now remember, it’s made in 1940 and this is when Britain is fighting alone against the Nazis. And America, is America going to come into the war? It’s brilliantly designed.

Vincent Korda himself designed the sets. He had a very tight budget. It was completed in five weeks, And by this time, Laurence Olivier and Vivian Lee managed to divorce their spouses and they were married. So now we have inverted commerce, the dream couple. And if there had been, when Fire Over England had been shown, there was problems because of the code of morality, the kind of, a lot of women’s groups were saying, quote unquote adulterous relationship as a romance instead of a sin.

Although it, it’s marketed as a historical romance, but make no bones about it, it is actually propaganda. And in July, 1941, the Isolationist Group, America First Committee targeted along with Chaplain’s, great dictator, foreign correspondent Mortal Storm, as productions that are being deliberately manipulated by British filmmakers and Winston Churchill to try and bring America in the war and called on the American public to boycott it. And I’ll talk more about that in a minute. It was always Churchill’s favourite film.

The film historian, professor Stacey Olster, said that Alexander, “at the time the film was made, Alexander Korda’s New York office”, quote unquote, “was supplying cover to MI5 agents gathering intelligence on German activities in the Americans and isolationists amongst makers of US foreign policy. And it became exhibit A in the case against Korda”, wait for it, “brought by the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.” Well, if you think about it, Phil, this evening, was talking about un-American activities.

Korda, and it’s true, Korda had had lots of conversations with Churchill and MI5 and yes, his film office, they were using it to spy. He was accused of operating an espionage propaganda centre for Britain in America. He escaped the charge because he was scheduled appearance before the committee was on the 12th of December, 1941. Five days earlier, Pearl Harbour, five days earlier, Japan had attacked Pearl Harbour. And five days after that, the day of the hearing, Germany declared War on America. And all of a sudden, all this kind of talk is no longer important. It was in Britain, it was the fourth most popular film at the box office after The 49th Parallel, the great dictator Pimpernel Smith, and in the 14th Academy Awards in America, it was nominated for four Oscars and won one.

But this is the speech, this is a speech in Nelson’s from the Nelson’s mouth, because of course Nelson, the great hero of Trafalgar, just as in Fire Over England. It’s Queen Elizabeth standing up to Tara. Now you have Korda putting this speech into the mouth of Laurence Olivier. And I should, I’ll mention this a little later, but Churchill remember a great friend of Porter in the thirties, a screenwriter and Churchill himself could almost have written this speech. Gentleman, this is one of Nelson’s speeches from the Hamilton woman. “Gentlemen, you will never make peace with Napoleon. Napoleon cannot be master of the world until he has smushed us up. And believe me, gentlemen, he needs to be master of the world. You cannot mace peace with dictators. You have to destroy them, wipe them out.”

So in Fire Over England, it’s Elizabeth and Philip of Spain. In That Hamilton Woman, it’s Nelson, and the battle of Trafalgar against the French, against Napoleon. First you have Philip of Spain as Hitler. Now you have Napoleon as Hitler. So these propaganda films very much dressed up by the sort of the, the subtleness of the love affairs. But in the end, this is seductive propaganda. Now, I think it’s worth mentioning the America First Committee a little more because it was very, very important at the time. And it very much ties up with what Phil was talking about when he talked about the atmosphere for Jewry in America in the thirties and forties.

There was a huge isolationist pressure group. It had been launched on the 4th of September, 1940. It was also violently anti-Semitic. The membership peaked at 800,000 members and it’s not dissolved until the 10th of December, 1941. One of the greatest patrons was the great war hero and the great flying ace Charles Lindbergh. He identified and in a very famous speech, he identifies the forces that are pulling America into the war. Roosevelt and American Jews, Roosevelt was called in certain circles, Rosenfeld. New York was called Jew York.

And this is what he said in his big rally speech. “Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing in every way all of this work, for they will be the first to feel its consequences.” Let me repeat this. “Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way, for they will be the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and destruction and devastation. Their greatest danger of the Jews in this country lies in their large ownership and influence, in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our government.”

So it’s extraordinary really that when in the end, what power did the Jews ever have? And yet here you have one of the most popular powerful men in America actually saying that it’s Jewish power. Anyway, he returns to London and he is knighted. He is made Alexander Korda. He is the first, he is the first of the film mobiles to be so, to be so knighted. And he really is the English patriot. He returns, he comes back to the UK as production chief of MGM with a 35 million budget, but it doesn’t end very well. He only makes one film for them, Perfect Strangers. He didn’t really like the constraints of the big studios. He manages through London films to buy up a controlling issue, a controlling interest in British Lion films, which makes some fantastic post-war films.

An Ideal Husband, Anna Karenina, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Winslow Boy. And one of his greatest films was a co-production with his friend David Selznick, The Third Man. I think what certainly in my top 10, and I’m sure in many of yours. And his next great movie was Richard III, starring Laurence Olivier. If you haven’t seen it, please put it on your list. And his last film, Smiley, George Smiley. In 1956, John LeCarre, he had a, he was actually thinking of bringing James Bond to the screen when he had a heart attack. He wrote to Fleming, the author, of course, of the Bond books on his book, Live and Let Die. It’s one of the most exciting films I’ve ever read.

As far as his family life is concerned, as I said, he divorced his first wife, the Hungarian actress in Hollywood. In 1939, he married Merle Oberon. They divorced in 1945. In 1953, he married Alexandra Boison and he lived the life of an English country gentleman. He loved his cigars. He died of a heart attack in 1956 and he’s buried in the crematorium in gold and green. Strange, many of the fascinating characters, the middle European characters of the 20th century are buried in that colour barring. What is rather special at the bafters? The most important prize is the Alexander Quarter Prize. Shall we have a look at some of the great scenes from his favourite stars if you don’t mind, Lauren?

Yes, here you see Laurence Olivier, you see scenes from Gone With the Wind. They were all very close. Laurence Olivier and Vivian Lee believed passionately in helping England. Tragically, that marriage is going to fall apart because Vivian Lee was very unstable. And of course, Laurence Olivier goes on to be probably the greatest stage actor in the English theatre and was creator of the National Theatre. But then he had colleagues such as Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud. It was a wonderful time for action and actors. Can we see some more? I think we’ve got one or two others.

Should we see there is the exquisite Merle Oberon. She was an incredibly beautiful woman, but a very, very tragic woman in many ways. She just couldn’t get her over what she considered to be the shame of her mixed race and very dysfunctional heritage. And, but what a beauty. Anyway, what I want to concentrate, I think we should go back to a picture of Alexander Korda because I want to concentrate in the last few minutes on the, his relationship with Churchill.

He’d been introduced to Churchill by Churchill’s son, Randolph, and as I said, Korda employed him as a screenwriter in the thirties. Please don’t forget that Winston Churchill was always in debt. He was out of office. Yes, he was a member of Parliament, but where’s his money going to come from? Yes, he’s the grandson of a Duke, but his father didn’t have the title. And he made his living as a writer and a journalist, and he was evidently a very, very good screenwriter. What did he think of Korda? He said he was the only honourable man in the world of film.

And in 1935, this is the letter after Churchill just completed a screenplay. Korda was playing with the idea of making a film on the reign of George V. Very much a patriotic film against about England, George V, King in the First World War when they had beaten the Han inverted comers And Churchill really wanted to see it made. And these are his, these are some of Churchill’s directions. “It’s to be an, an imperial film, embodying the sentiments, anxieties and achievements of the British people all over the world.”

He was under contract as an assistant producer and historical advisor. He had absolutely, Churchill had no idea about budget and it had to be shelved, but the sort of things he wanted, rapid shots, of shots for all over the empire. You have to go from country to country to country. I want wonderful scenes, I want armies of the empire. Then I want a German gunboat steaming through the water in the moonlight. Korda just couldn’t make it, it was too expensive. But he did pay Churchill, 10,000 pounds for the writing.

And this is a letter that Winston wrote to his wife, Clementine. “Korda certainly gives me the feeling of a genius at this kind of thing. I have great confidence in the man and his flair.” And Churchill on the movies. This is an article he wrote in 1936, the Future of Publicity. “The pictures are amongst the most powerful instruments of propaganda the world has ever known. Denim is based on the simple belief that the British Empire should sooner or later have its own film studio.” And you can imagine that’s what they talked about, Churchill and Korda.

Churchill, the child of the Empire, Korda, the adopted son of England. And after the private lives of Henry VIII was released, the Churchill’s note to Korda, “My only criticism will be a little less chicken bone chewing and a bit more England, be it building.” Now, after Korda received his knighthood, he wrote a private letter to Churchill. He quoted Browning’s poem, Trafalgar. And this is what, this is the line. “Here and here did England help me. How can I help England say? Let me repeat this. This is from his poem. This is from, remember Browning’s poem, Trafalgar. "Here and here did England help me. How can I help England say?”

During the war, Korda built for Churchill a permanent cinema at Chartwell in the basement of Chartwell and supplied films on a regular basis. And later on when Churchill published the history of the English speaking peoples, Korda paid him 50,000 pounds for the film rights. In August, I think perhaps the most poignant episode is in August, 1941. This is before America was in the war. There was a meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt on the ship, the Prince of Wales. And the tragically, not long afterwards, the ship was torpedoed with huge loss of life. And on the ship, Churchill’s favourite film was of course That Hamilton Woman. He saw it 17 times.

And after his discussions with Roosevelt, he said, “I think this would interest you gentlemen.” And they showed That Hamilton Woman on the boat. They both, as I said, they both had this incredible love of England. And if you think about it, Churchill himself was incredibly theatrical. And if you think of the props, the V sign, he understood the nature of propaganda. And think about it, the Nazis also used propaganda. Think of the Leni Riefenstahl style films and something absolutely bizarre. The power of movies.

Look, today we live in a different age. We live in the age of the computer. But if I told you that in the thirties, most Americans went to the cinema twice a week. Something absolutely extraordinary, the propaganda value. When Clark Gable took off his vest in one of his films, the sale of vests went down in America by 30%. That’s a silly little notion, but people went to the cinema in terrible times to be lulled. All you’ve got to do is think of the musicals of MGM. Think when life is dark, you go into these wonderful, you go into these wonderful emporiums and for a short space of time, you have the luxury of forgetting or sometimes the luxury of feeling good about yourself.

Even in the Warner Brothers films, and I’ll be talking about a lot about this in August, even in the Warner Brothers gangster films, the good guys always win. But going back to Nazi Germany, Gerber was also understood the importance of film. In January, 1945, he made a film about a little town in Germany called Colberg, which held out against the Napoleonic armies. It was very, very brave. But he switched regiments of troops from the Russian front to be extras in the film. Three days after the film was completed, the town was taken by the Russians. But it’s not the point. The point is they understood and you have of course the history epics being made in Germany and Korda was really in tune with Churchill.

You know, most of the films he made in the war years, and I haven’t mentioned them all, 49th Parallel, et cetera, they were propaganda films. They were Pimpernel Smith was another one. They were to make people feel really, really good about themselves. And most of, many of Churchill’s speeches to the Americans in his broadcast on the Nazi invasion of Russia. Remember the Nazis tore up the Molotov Ribbontrop agreement by invading Russia on June the 22nd, 1941. And Churchill makes a speech that is just as capable of being part of a chord of film. He says, “We can save mankind and one day we will save the world.”

Anyway, what I’m going to do now is to take a few questions, but suffice to say, Korda, that quintessential English gentleman that he became and he had his estate in the country. They had a beautiful house near Denim. But I think it was because he was an outsider. He really got England and he really, he fell in love with it, yes, but he understood what England needed and I think it’s rather remarkable that he must have been a giant of a man to have the friendship of one of the greatest giants of the 20th century. And it was a real friendship. Korda respected Churchill more than anyone else in the world. And I think Churchill respected Korda.

So I think we’ll look at questions now.

Q&A and Comments

Yes, this is some lovely messages from people to Wendy wishing her family a speedy recovery. And this is from… Oh, this is from Pamela and there’s some lovely messages. Thank you.

This is Pamela. “Raymond Massey was totally miscasting The Scarlet Pimpernel plus because his so-called French accent was more Scottish. Not a good villain.” Or I think he, not in that, but he was a wonderful villain in Arsenic and Old Lace. He’s one of my favourite actors.

Q: Arlene, “Was it true that the plane Leslie Howard was on was allowed to be fired upon by Nazis because England didn’t want to reveal that they broke the German code?” A: Arlene, there are so many stories about that plane. Did they think that the, did they think Churchill was on it? There certainly was some very important military intelligence on it. Was it an accident? Did, had they decoded it and didn’t want to break the code? I don’t think we’ll ever know the story. What was Leslie Howard doing in Lisbon? Remember Portugal was neutral. They were worried about Spain. Would Spain say neutral? He was giving propaganda talks from area to area. He was very charismatic. He himself believed so passionately in the British War effort. Arlene, I think there’s lots of different books that give different stories and that’s certainly one of them. I can’t answer that.

You know it, the whole story of spies and Bletchley Park and Trent Park is such a complex, difficult one. In fact, Helen Fry, who is probably the expert, who is certainly the English expert on this, is going to be coming in in August to give a couple of lectures on it. And of course you do know that certainly the secret listeners, the majority of them were German, Austrian, and Czech Jews. Can you imagine how they felt when some of the information came through? Churchill had to make some extraordinary decisions in his life. I remember William the other day was talking about the bombing of the French fleet. Did he have any choices? Sometimes you have to make decisions that are beyond morality.

Yes, Dennis, “Leslie Howard and Raymond Massey had key roles in the wonderful 49th Parallel.” Yes, and that is such a propaganda film. Yes, of course.

“I think Humphrey Bogart named their daughter.” Yes, there’s for the Leslie. Yes, that’s right. That’s right, Daniela. They called her Leslie. Leslie can be boy or girl, but it was for Leslie Howard.

Yes, Sue. Yes, Canadian, yes, the Canadians and the Australians. I think that’s important. You’re right. And I stand corrected. Yes, Britain, the whole notion of Britain standing alone is also a bit of a propaganda thing. But if you think about how scary it must have been when you watched so many of our families lived through those, of course, tragically caught by the show, but also those in England who knew what was going to happen. And after the fall of France, the low countries, and it was a long, would America actually enter the war? I’d just begun to touch the surface of American isolationism. There was a huge body of opinion. It took the bombing of Pearl Harbour and Germany declaring war on America.

You know, Churchill’s big fear was that America would only get, would only actually be involved against Japan. And then Hitler declares war on Germany. I mean, then you’ve got that extraordinary line in my favourite propaganda film, Casablanca. I think you may remember when the Conrad White character, poor Conrad White. He was a liberal married to a Jewish woman. That’s why he had to get out. Alexander Balcon, another one of the film mate, Jewish moguls, brought him to England. He plays the Nazi and he says to Rick, “Why did you come to Casablanca?” “I came for the waters.” The great, “There are no waters in Casablanca”, ha ha. But then he’s, and then he says, “But what will you do if we get to America?” And Rick says, “There are areas of New York I really advise you not to get into.”

Yes, that’s what I was saying, Jonathan. Yes, they did that on the eight. Yes, of course, you’re right. Evidently he saw that he, they did it on the Prince. They saw that film. Churchill saw that film 17 times and it always made him cry.

Oh, that’s interesting, Jill. “My mother’s cousin owned British line films.” That’s so interesting.

“How about the…” We have actually in the past looked at the Rothschild family and we will be in the future. I’ve been discussing it with Wendy. We’re going to look at the Jews of the East and we’ll certainly be doing this as soon as in the cadouries. And Yeah, I think the, yeah, it’s all happening.

Q: “Did Korda have any children?” A: Yes, he had one child. That is, I’ve been told by my friend Patrick, that only Jewish audience has asked that. He might be not be, he might be misinformed, but yes, he had one child with his first wife.

Oh, this is from Jennifer. “Wendy feel better soon.” Yeah, it’s her little grandson’s got it.

And this is the Ellie, “The music of the Third Man is a masterpiece on its own.” Very much so.

“It’s rumoured that Merle Oberons maid was really her mother.” That’s another story. Her mother was a 12, was a 12. She thought her grandmother was her mother. Her mother was a 12 year old girl who was raped. It’s a horrible, horrible story. Her background and really what she overcame.

“Thank you, it happened one night. That’s where he didn’t wear a vest.” Yes, it, thank you Harold. Do you know what I love about this group? If I don’t know, then one of you are going to know. Apparently Mrs. Mineva. Yes. That was a very important film.

Oh, this is interesting, Ray. I didn’t know this. “Raymond Massey’s brother Vincent was Governor in Canada and consequently the Queen’s representative.” Yes, I knew Anna Massey, his daughter. She was fascinating. She used to, when I ran the London Jewish Cultural Centre, Holocaust Memorial Day, she had a wonderful speaking voice and she often came to, and she would come to read extracts and she was a very, very lovely lady.

Alexander was on the top of the Gestapo list to be arrested. You know, there were over 3000 leading Jews on a list of Gestapo. And of course there were many other people who would’ve been arrested.

“Canada entered World War II of its own free world.” There is a lot of patriotic Canadians online. I’d love to know where most of you come from.

This is from Monty. “Growing up in South Africa in the forties and fifties, we went to the cinema up to three times a week where we learned about was going on in the outside world. Yeah, I mean you remember, I remember the old days when you’d have the A picture, the film in the middle of England. It was Pathy News. And then you’d have the, and then of course you’d have the B picture. I have many of the news reels from Pathy News of the thirties and forties. And I’m hoping that when the website is up, we’ll be able to show all these wonderful films. You’ll just be able to pick them up if you want them.

Q: Do I know about Max Gumpel? A: No Jeffrey, I don’t.

Yeah, Joel Jeffries, "From a member of the family, I was told that Merle Oberon was the product of , but her father was a Scott.” I’m not sure about that. There’s another story that he was an Irish. Anyway, look, she had a very sad background, let’s put it that way.

Q: “Did Korda completely reject Judaism and hide that he was Jewish?” A: No, he never hid that he was Jewish, but he became an English gentleman.

Over, in the days of war between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, rather than be part of our syllabus, Wendy and I considering what we’re going to do, and I know one of the issues that Jeremy Rosen and I might talk about is what on earth is Jewish identity? How many of you listening today feel your identity through your religion? How many of you through feel it through nationality, those of you living in Israel? How many of you feel it through a cultural affiliation? And also there’s that other categorization. I mentioned Belikun who didn’t see himself as a Jew but the world saw him as a Jew.

Yes, Daniel Massey was also a fine actor. Yes, and “Korda’s son Michael became a very prominent publisher and editor in the US.” Thanks you for that, Peter. Yes, of course, Daniel Massey was a wonderful actor. And Anna was married to Jeremy Brett and sometimes they all acted together, yeah.

Harriet’s saying most of you are in Toronto. No, that I don’t think so. I just think for some reason, our Canadians are very vocal. Cultural affiliation for sure.

Lauren, I think that’s everything. So shall I wish you all a very good evening and it’s Thursday and our next lecture will be on Saturday with Professor David Pima.

So thank you all very much and have a lovely evening.