The Times (11/Jul/1939) - New British films
(c) The Times (11/Jul/1939)
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Carole Lombard, Daphne du Maurier, H.G. Wells, John Steinbeck, Laurence Olivier, Rebecca (1940), The Flashing Stream, Thornton Wilder
NEW BRITISH FILMS
"THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD"
Work on the production of a new version of Mr. Douglas Fairbanks's old silent film, The Thief of Baghdad, has begun at Denham under the direction of Mr. Ludwig Berger, who made Les Trois Valses and the Dutch version of Pygmalion. The film will be in colour, with Sabu, the young Hindu actor, as the thief who has to match his wits against the cunning of nearly all Asia, since, in addition to the Caliph of Baghdad, he has to outwit a Chinese, an Indian, and a Persian potentate. There will be many new scenes, but the one in which the flying carpet is used will be retained. Later in the year Sabu will take part in a story taken from Kipling's "Jungle Book" These two films, as well as Over the Moon, in which Miss Merle Oberon and Mr. Rex Harrison appear, and Manon Lescaut, will be distributed throughout the world by the United Artists Corporation of America.
The two films to be made in Hollywood by Mr. Alfred Hitchcock — Rebecca, an adaptation of Miss Daphne du Maurier's novel in which Mr. Laurence Olivier will be seen as Max de Winter, and The Flashing Stream, based on Mr. Charles Morgan's play with Miss Carole Lombard as the young mathematician — will also be included in the programme of films to be presented during the next 12 months by the United Artists. Mr. Hal Roach's contributions will include an adaptation of Mr. John Steinbeck's American play, Of Mice and Men ; a version of "Captain Caution," a novel by Mr. Kenneth Roberts, whose "North-West Passage" is also to be filmed; and One Million Years, B.C., an imaginative attempt to show what the world looked like at the beginning of time. There will also be four films with Laurel and Hardy again in partnership; the first will be called A Chump at Oxford.
Mr. H. G. Wells's "Food of the Gods" will be filmed by Mr. Edward Small, who has also arranged to transfer to the screen Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years before the Mast" and Mr. Howard Spring's "O, Absalom." He will also produce a biography of Rudolf Valentino. Mr. Leslie Howard's next appearance on the American screen will be in Intermezzo, a story about a famous violinist who falls in love with his young accompanist. Mr. Chaplin's new film, The Great Dictator, will also be released by the United Artists Corporation. There will be two productions from Mr. Samuel Goldwyn's studios — Music School, in which M. Heifetz, the well-known violinist, will make his first appearance on the screen; and The Real Glory, a story of action and romance in the Philippines with Mr. Gary Cooper leading the cast. Herr Ernst Lubitsch's contribution will be a film version of Mr. Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer prize play, Our Town, which describes life in an American small town in the quiet days of yesterday. Lola Montez will be the subject of a film to be made by Mr. Douglas Fairbanks under the title of The Californian ; and another English production to be distributed by the American organization will be An Englishman's Home, a modernized version of Colonel Guy du Maurier's pre-War play.
