reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/07/85)
"Tales From the Hollywood Raj" is an attempt by Sheridan Morley (Robert
Morley's son) to chronical the history of the British in Hollywood. If,
however, the material in his book represents the most interesting things
that British people did in Hollywood over the years, then one wonders
why he bothered. Considering how many of the great British actors,
actresses, and authors had reputations for great wit, great eccentricity,
or both, I thought that such a volume should be delightful reading.
Unfortunately, Mr. Morley has failed to uncover very many interesting
stories and doesn't tell the ones he has very well.
Emblematic of his failure is the fact that the very best moments of
his book come from the Hollywood moghuls, not the British, and are not
even related to the British, in most cases. Probably the best story
in the book is a moderately well known one about Louis B. Mayer, who
forever lived in the critical shadow of Irving Thalberg at MGM. Thalberg made
classy, prestigious productions, frequently adaptations of famous novels
or plays. Mayer made cheaper, less splashy films, which, oddly enough,
were often better than Thalberg's. None the less, Thalberg was the
critics' darling and had almost unlimited authority to produce the films
he wanted. Thalberg died at an early age, however, and at his funeral,
Mayer was heard to gleefully whisper to his flunky, "Isn't God good to
me?"
Too many of Morley's stories are overly familiar. We hear again about
Olivier spitting at Merle Oberon in "Wuthering Heights" (the story being
that he was put out that Vivien Leigh didn't get the role), again about
William Desmond Morris' murder (which was juicier when Kenneth Anger told
it), again about Leigh's discovery for the part of Scarlett O'Hara, again
about P.G. Wodehouse's visit to Hearst's castle. The stories do not gain
in these retellings. Morley does have some good original material, such
as Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's experiences in the early days of Hollywood,
but this material is largely historical in interest.
Rarely have so many interesting people seemed so dull. Who would have
thought that Errol Flynn, David Niven, Olivier, Chaplin, Hitchcock, and
Charles Laughton could be written of without any of them coming to life?
Relatively few of the figures Morley deals with seem like real people,
though he does better, by and large, with the authors than the actors,
perhaps because he can fall back on their writings rather than his own.
"Tales From the Hollywood Raj" has an interesting perspective, but it is,
at best, an opportunity missed. Morley would have done better to present
his thesis in a longish article rather than a full book. A better researcher
and writer may yet produce a good book on the subject, but Morley's work
on the British in Hollywood is for film history buffs only.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher