Alexander Korda - Hollywood

Hollywood

In December 1926 after receiving a joint contract offer from the American studio First National, Korda and his wife sailed for the United States on board the steamer Olympic. Once they reached Hollywood both struggled to adapt to the studio system, and there was a considerable pause before Korda was handed his initial directorial assignment. The first American film Korda made, in 1927, was a drama titled The Stolen Bride. He was chosen because the production was a Hungarian-themed romance story about a peasant's love for a Countess. The film starred the American actress Billie Dove, rather than Korda's wife.

After The Stolen Bride's moderate success, Korda was brought in to work on the comedy The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927), replacing the previous director, George Fitzmaurice. The film retells the story of Helen of Troy, parodying the plot-line of historical epics of the era by transforming the classical characters into everyday people with modern problems. The film was a significant success for Korda, with his wife playing the role of Helen. After this film, however, Korda became pigeon-holed as a director of female stars and exotic foreign locations and he was generally given similar assignments for the remainder of his time in Hollywood. Nonetheless the film was his most satisfying work in the United States and provided the template for his later success in Britain.

Korda's next few films Yellow Lily (1928), Night Watch (1928), and Love and the Devil (1929) were disappointments as his career lost its momentum. The latter two were both Silent films but had sound effects and music added to their soundtracks as part of Hollywood's transitional phase of technology following the success of the Sound film The Jazz Singer. Korda's next film The Squall (1929) was his first "Talkie" and featured a Hungarian setting. Although, like many other directors, Korda had misgivings about the new technology he quickly adapted to making sound films.

Korda's marriage had become further strained in Hollywood, and the arrival of sound films wrecked his wife's career as her heavy accent meant studios were unwilling to employ her. Love and the Devil was the last of Korda's films she appeared in and she only made two further films. She became increasingly resentful of the switch in the dynamic of their relationship as her career was now over while Korda, who had once relied on her for the production of his films, was relatively flourishing. This led to the collapse of their marriage and they divorced in 1930.

Korda made two more sound films at First National: Her Private Life (1929) and Lilies of the Field (1930), both of which were remakes of earlier silent films. Korda grew gradually more frustrated in Hollywood as he came to strongly dislike the studio system. He hoped to save up enough money to return to Europe and begin producing on a large scale there, but his lavish personal spending and the large amounts he lost in the Wall Street Crash prevented this. When his producer Ned Marin moved from First National to the Fox Film Corporation Korda followed him. Korda's new conract gave him $100,000 a year.

His first film for Fox, Women Everywhere (1930) cost slightly more than some of the programmers he had previously directed in America and allowed him to collaborate with several figures who would contribute to his future success in Britain. Korda was then offered a series of scripts, all of which he disliked, before he finally agreed to make The Princess and the Plumber (1930). Korda's clear reluctance to make the film led to his conflict with studio bosses which brought to an end his first period in Hollywood.