485 Anderson’s diary: His account of working on the script for The Robe is in his 1948 diary, with his papers at the University of North Dakota.
487 “Ingrid has always been difficult”: Edith Gwynn column, Dec. 2, 1948. On November 23, Dorothy Kilgallen had sneered, “This sounds far-fetched, but a rumor sweeping the theatrical set has it that Ingrid Bergman fainted three times while reading the more lukewarm reviews on Joan of Arc, which she considers her greatest effort.”
487 “Miss Bergman presents”: Variety, Oct. 20, 1948.
487 “a director whose sensitivity”: Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 20, 1948.
488 “I’m getting my history this way”: New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 11, 1948.
488 “the spiritual ordeal”: The New York Times, Nov. 12, 1948.
488 “The one time [Vic] failed”: St. Johns’s anecdote about watching Joan with Fleming is contained in the Reminiscences of Adela Rogers St. Johns (1971) in the Oral History Collection of Columbia University, p. 31.
488 “sprawls awkwardly”: Los Angeles Daily News, Dec. 23, 1948.
30 Death in the Desert
490 “becomes a lifeless symbol”: Time, Nov. 19, 1948.
490 Joan of Arc competitive only: The New York Times, Nov. 21, 1948.
491 “If a man has a $200 pipe”: Bob Hope Swan Show, Feb. 15, 1949, Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.
491 “I cannot accept this award”: Associated Press, March 25, 1949.
493 The total for embalming: Records of the Scott and McMillan Mortuary at the Jerome (Ariz.) Historical Society.
493 “Words are inadequate”: Walter Wanger Collection, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison.
494 “The pall of gloom”: Hedda Hopper column, Jan. 14, 1949.
494 “Man of Iron”: Copies of John Lee Mahin’s eulogy are held by several members of Fleming’s family.
495 “The great Fleming’s lithe figure”: Laurence Stallings, “The Real Ingrid Bergman Story,” Esquire, Aug. 1950.
495 front pew: Told by Helene Rosson Bowman to Sally Fleming.
495 birthday of Joan of Arc: January 6 has been her accepted birthday since her church rehabilitation proceedings in the 1450s—she was declared innocent in 1456—and is based on a reference in a letter written in 1429. Also sharing that birthday: the devout Catholic actress Loretta Young.
496 “I am positive”: Goodman, Fifty-Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood.
496 “Of all the old friends”: Wanger Collection.
498 “Mrs. Fleming, this isn’t a patch”: Recalled by Yvonne Blocksom, evidently because her mother, Ruth Kobe, was present. Eva Deacon died in Los Angeles in 1960, at age ninety-two. During the years following Sid Deacon’s death, she gave away most of her fortune to her six grandchildren in annual installments.
498 wide-screen: Most of the movie was blown up to a 1.6:1 ratio; a matte was used to reshape the most spectacular scenes from square to broader rectangular compositions. Howard Dietz devised an ad line—“GWTW—Greater With the Wide-Screen and stereophonic—as an added tonic—sound”—that inspired part of Cole Porter’s song “Stereophonic Sound” in Silk Stockings.
498 “and sitting sadly”: Louella Parsons column, Aug. 13, 1954.
498 “For a girl”: Ogden Standard-Examiner, Nov. 16, 1952.
499 Mogambo: If Ford knew that the picture was a Fleming tribute, he didn’t talk about it later. “I never saw the original picture,” he told Peter Bogdanovich (in Who the Devil Made It). “I liked the script and the story, I liked the setup and I’d never been to that part of Africa—so I just did it.”
499 Gable had boasted: In 1938, several columnists mentioned both this and the planned African safari with Fleming.
Afterword
501 “Someday someone’s going to bring up”: Kobal, People Will Talk.
501 “highly unlikely”: Todd McCarthy column, Daily Variety, Nov. 3, 1995.
502 “a gaudy company”: From a 1962 essay reprinted in Fuchs, Golden West.
504 “a modified road-show policy”: Behlmer, Memo from David O. Selznick.
505 “In the past”: Trumbo’s memo was reprinted in Cineaste 18 (1992).
Filmography
With the exceptions of Victor Saville’s producing title on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the section on Fleming’s own uncredited work, the following list adheres to official credits. I frequently cite additional collaborators elsewhere in the book: readers will notice that the screenwriter John Lee Mahin participated in nearly every important Fleming film from 1932 on, whether his name appeared on-screen or not. But in most cases it’s impossible to tell (at this distance) whether the weight and nature of anonymous labor deserves the same standing as the credited work. To judge from Mahin’s marked-up copy of his Captains Courageous script, which scrupulously apportions authorship to each writer on the project, the old studios did make an effort to evaluate who did what in their movies.
Most of Fleming’s silent films have been lost. The approximate running times below are based on current copies or contemporary reviews; in cases where neither is available, the number of reels provides a clue (a reel usually ran about ten minutes). For Fleming’s MGM films, I’ve provided additional detail wherever possible on the dates of his involvement. Although the body of the book contains similar information about his Paramount films, MGM was the only studio to open up its files for specific verification.
The artists and craftsmen are called by their most familiar names, so, for example, the “James Howe” of the silent-film credits appears below as “James Wong Howe.”
DIRECTED BY VICTOR FLEMING
1919
When the Clouds Roll By (United Artists) Released December 29. Length: 77 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Kathleen Clifford, Frank Campeau, Herbert Grimwood, Albert McQuarrie. Production: Fairbanks, producer; Tom J. Geraghty, screenwriter; Harry Thorpe and William McGann, cinematographers; Ted Reed, assistant director.
1920
The Mollycoddle (United Artists) Released June 13. Length: 86 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Ruth Renick, Wallace Beery, Paul Burns, Morris Hughes, George Stewart, Charles Stevens, Albert McQuarrie, Frank Campeau. Production: Fairbanks, producer; Tom J. Geraghty, screenwriter (from story by Harold McGrath); Harry Thorpe and William McGann, cinematographers; Ted Reed, assistant director.
1921
Mamma’s Affair (Emerson-Loos Productions, released by First National) Released January 23. Length: 60 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Constance Talmadge, Effie Shannon, Katherine Kaelred, George Le Guere, Kenneth Harlan. Production: Joseph M. Schenck, producer; John Emerson and Anita Loos, screenwriters (from Rachel Barton Butler’s play); Oliver T. Marsh, cinematographer.
Woman’s Place (Emerson-Loos Productions, released by First National) Released October 17. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Constance Talmadge, Kenneth Harlan. Production: Joseph M. Schenck, producer; John Emerson and Anita Loos, screenwriters; Oliver T. Marsh and J. Roy Hunt, cinematographers.
1922
The Lane That Had No Turning (Paramount) Released January 15. Length: Five reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Agnes Ayres, Theodore Kosloff, Mahlon Hamilton, Frank Campeau. Production: Adolph Zukor, producer; Eugene Mullin, screenwriter (from Gilbert Parker’s screen treatment of his own novel); Gilbert Warrenton, cinematographer.
Red Hot Romance (Emerson-Loos Productions, released by First National) Released February 13. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Portions of the first two and final two reels are at the Library of Congress. Cast: Basil Sydney, May Collins, Edward Connelly, Tom Wilson, Snitz Edwards. Production: Emerson and Loos, producers; Emerson and Loos, screenwriters; Ernest G. Palmer and Oliver T. Marsh, cinematographers.
Anna Ascends (Paramount) Released November 19. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Alice Brady, Robert Ellis, David Po
well, Nita Naldi. Production: Adolph Zukor, presenter; Margaret Turnbull, screenwriter (from Harry Chapman Ford’s play); Gilbert Warrenton, cinematographer.
1923
Dark Secrets (Paramount) Released February 5. Length: Six reels. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Dorothy Dalton, Robert Ellis, José Ruben, Pat Hartigan. Production: Adolph Zukor, presenter; Edmund Goulding, screenwriter; Harold Rosson, cinematographer.
The Law of the Lawless (Paramount) Released July 22. Length: 67 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Dorothy Dalton, Theodore Kosloff, Charles De Roche, Fred Huntley. Production: Jesse L. Lasky, presenter; E. Lloyd Sheldon and Edfrid Bingham, screenwriters (from the story in Ghitza, and Other Romances of Gypsy Blood by Konrad Bercovici); George R. Meyer, cinematographer.
To the Last Man (Paramount) Released September 23. Length: 75 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, Noah Beery, Robert Edeson, Fred Huntley, Leonard Clapham, Frank Campeau, Eugene Pallette. Production: Jesse L. Lasky, presenter; Doris Schroeder, screenwriter (from the novel by Zane Grey); James Wong Howe and Bert Baldridge, cinematographers; Henry Hathaway, assistant director. (Remade in 1933, directed by Hathaway.)
The Call of the Canyon (Paramount) Released December 16. Length: 75 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, Noah Beery, Marjorie Daw, Ricardo Cortez, Fred Huntley, Leonard Clapham, Lillian Leighton, Mervyn LeRoy. Production: Jesse L. Lasky, presenter; Doris Schroeder and Edfrid Bingham, screenwriters (from the novel by Zane Grey); James Wong Howe, cinematographer; Henry Hathaway, assistant director.
1924
Code of the Sea (Paramount) Released June 2. Length: 61 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Rod La Rocque, Jacqueline Logan, George Fawcett, Maurice B. Flynn, Lillian Leighton. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Bertram Millhauser, screenwriter (from a story by Byron Morgan); Charles Edgar Schoenbaum, cinematographer.
Empty Hands (Paramount) Released October 13. Length: 80 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Norma Shearer, Jack Holt. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Carey Wilson, screenwriter; Charles Edgar Schoenbaum, cinematographer.
1925
The Devil’s Cargo (Paramount) Released February 2. Length: 75 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Wallace Beery, Pauline Starke, William Collier Jr., Raymond Hatton. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; A. P. Younger, screenwriter (from a story by Charles E. Whittaker); Charles Edgar Schoenbaum, cinematographer.
Adventure (Paramount) Released April 27. Length: 78 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Pauline Starke, Tom Moore, Wallace Beery, Raymond Hat-ton, Duke Kahanamoku, Noble Johnson. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; A. P. Younger and L. G. Rigby, screenwriters (from the novel by Jack London); Charles Edgar Schoenbaum, cinematographer.
A Son of His Father (Paramount) Released September 21. Length: 75 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Bessie Love, Warner Baxter, Raymond Hatton, Walter McGrail. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Anthony Coldeway, screenwriter (from the novel by Harold Bell Wright); Charles Edgar Schoenbaum, cinematographer.
Lord Jim (Paramount) Released December 14. Length: 67 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Percy Marmont, Shirley Mason, Noah Beery, Raymond Hatton, Joseph Dowling, George Magrill, Nick De Ruiz, Duke Kahanamoku. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; George C. Hull, screenwriter (from John Russell’s screen treatment of Joseph Conrad’s novel); Faxon Dean, cinematographer. (Remade in 1965, directed by Richard Brooks.)
1926
The Blind Goddess (Paramount) Released April 12. Length: 77 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Jack Holt, Ernest Torrence, Esther Ralston, Louise Dresser. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Gertrude Orr, screenwriter (from Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton’s adaptation of Arthur Cheney Train’s novel); Alfred Gilks, cinematographer.
Mantrap (Paramount) Released July 24. Length: 68 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Ernest Torrence, Clara Bow, Percy Marmont, Eugene Pallette, Patty DuPont. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; B. P. Schulberg and Hector Turnbull, associate producers; Adelaide Heilbron and Ethel Doherty, screenwriters, and George Marion Jr., titles writer (from the novel by Sinclair Lewis); James Wong Howe, cinematographer; Henry Hathaway, assistant director. (Remade as Untamed in 1940, directed by George Archainbaud.)
1927
The Rough Riders (Paramount) Released March 15 in New York City, October 21 nationwide. Length: In premiere version, thirteen reels; cut to ten reels (app. 100 minutes) for nationwide release. Preservation status: Fragments at the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art. Cast: Noah Beery, Charles Farrell, George Bancroft, Charles Emmett Mack, Mary Astor, Frank Hopper. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; B. P. Schulberg, associate producer; Robert N. Lee and Keene Thompson, screenwriters, and George Marion Jr., titles writer (from an adaptation by John Fish Goodrich of an original story by the technical adviser Hermann Hagedorn); James Wong Howe, cinematographer; Henry Hathaway, assistant director. (The writer-director John Milius did his version of the story for television in 1997.)
Hula (Paramount) Released August 27. Length: 64 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved. Cast: Clara Bow, Clive Brook, Agostino Borgato, Arnold Kent, Albert Gran, Patty DuPont. Production: B. P. Schulberg, associate producer; Ethel Doherty, screenwriter, and George Marion Jr., titles writer (from Doris Anderson’s adaptation of Armine von Tempski’s novel); William Marshall, cinematographer; Henry Hathaway, assistant director.
The Way of All Flesh (Paramount) Released October 1. Length: 90 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Emil Jannings, Belle Bennett, Phyllis Haver. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Jules Furthman, screenwriter, and Julian Johnson, titles writer (from Lajos Biro’s adaptation of a story by Perley Poore Sheehan); Victor Milner, cinematographer; Henry Hathaway, assistant director. (Remade in 1940, directed by Louis King.)
Academy Award: Jannings, best actor, winner, for this film and The Last Command.
1928
The Awakening (Samuel Goldwyn, released through United Artists) Released November 17. Length: 90 minutes. Preservation status: Lost. Cast: Vilma Banky, Walter Byron, Louis Wolheim. Production: Samuel Goldwyn, producer; Carey Wilson, screenwriter, and Katherine Hilliker and H. H. Caldwell, title writers (from an original story by Frances Marion); George Barnes, cinematographer (assistant, Gregg Toland); William Cameron Menzies, art director.
Academy Award nomination: Menzies (submitted, not an official nomination).
1929
Abie’s Irish Rose (Paramount) Released January 5. Silent with sound sequences. Length: 129 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved except for some musical sequences. Cast: Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Nancy Carroll, Jean Hersholt, J. Farrell MacDonald. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; B. P. Schulberg, associate producer; Jules Furthman, screenwriter, and Herman J. Mankiewicz, Julian Johnson, and Anne Nichols, title writers (from Nichols’s play); Harold Rosson, cinematographer. (Remade in 1946, directed by Edward Sutherland.)
Wolf Song (Paramount) Released March 30. Silent with sound sequences. Length: 75 minutes. Preservation status: 35 mm preserved except for some musical sequences. Cast: Gary Cooper, Lupe Velez, Louis Wolheim, Russell “Russ” Columbo. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Fleming, producer; John Farrow and Keene Thompson, screenwriters, and Julian Johnson, title writer (from Harvey Fergusson’s novel); Allen Siegler, cinematographer.
The Virginian (Paramount) Released November 9. Length: 90 minutes. Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, Mary Brian, Richard Arlen, Eugene Pallette, Willie Fung. Production: Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, presenters; Louis D. Lighton, producer; Howard Estabrook, screenwriter, and Edward E. Paramore, dialogue writer (from Grover Jones and Keene Thompson’s adaptation of Owen Wister’s novel an
d the theatrical adaptation by Wister and Kirk La Shelle); J. Roy Hunt and Edward Cronjager, cinematographers; Henry Hathaway, assistant director. (Previously made in 1914 with Dustin Farnum and in 1923 with Kenneth Harlan; remade in 1946 with Joel McCrea; later the basis of a 1960s TV series with James Drury and a 2000 TV movie directed by and starring Bill Pullman.)
1930
Common Clay (Fox) Released August 13. Length: 89 minutes. Cast: Constance Bennett, Lew Ayres, Tully Marshall, Matty Kemp, Beryl Mercer. Production: William Fox, presenter; Jules Furthman, screenwriter (from the play by Cleves Kinkead); Glen MacWilliams, cinematographer. (Previously made in 1919.)
Renegades (Fox) Released October 26. Length: 84 minutes. Cast: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Noah Beery, Bela Lugosi, Victor Jory, Noah Beery Jr. Production: William Fox, presenter; Jules Furthman, screenwriter (from the novel Le renégat by André Armandy); L. William O’Connell, cinematographer.
1931
Around the World in Eighty Minutes (United Artists) Released December 12. Length: 80 minutes. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Fleming, Sessue Hayakawa, Duke Kahanamoku, Mickey Mouse. Production: Fairbanks, producer; Robert E. Sherwood, screenwriter; Harry Sharp and Chuck Lewis, cinematographers.
1932
The Wet Parade (MGM) Released March 26. Length: 122 minutes. Principal shooting took place January 18–February 23, but Fleming began developing the project on September 21, 1931, and did retakes from February 24 to March 8. Cast: Dorothy Jordan, Lewis Stone, Robert Young, Walter Huston, Jimmy Durante, Wallace Ford, Myrna Loy, Joan Marsh, Clarence Muse, Clara Blandick. Production: Hunt Stromberg, producer; John Lee Mahin, screenwriter (from the novel by Upton Sinclair); George Barnes, cinematographer.
Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master (Screen Classics) Page 75