United Artists, Volume 1, 1919–1950: The Company Built by the Stars

9. Facing the War: 1941

9 Facing the War [1941] Although the fight with Sam Goldwyn rivaled, in entertainment value, any films that United Artists had in release, thoughtful observers of the industry were not amused. Variety, for example,· devoted an editorial to the subject: UA for more than 20 years has occupied a unique and highly important place in the film business. The principles on which it was formed to provide expert and showmanly handling of individual pictures, in contrast to program selling by its major competitors , have been repeatedly justified by the encouragement it has given to independent production.... United Artists provides an efficient and one of the few channels for film distribution to meet the requirements of the showman-entrepreneur-the producer , actor or director who is willing (and able) to match his wits and purse against the strongly entrenched major companies with their almost unlimited studio resources, their domestic and foreign exchanges, and their affiliated theatre circuits. At first glance the odds for success would appear against the individual and in favor of the integrated operations. It is a David versus Goliath struggle, and the VA producers have been tossing the pebbles with marked success for a score of years.... United Artists long ago justified its place in the film industry as a dominant influence for the production of better pictures. The organization always has had to do things the hard way-usually in direct challenge to routine. It has functioned best when the resistance has been strongest. There is no reason to believe that there will not be found the right solution to the current internal difficulties. I During the name-calling, the bickering, and the lawsuits of the post-Schenck period, UA sustained its reputation with such hits as Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1941); Goldwyn's Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939), and The Westerner (1940); Selznick's A Star Is Bom (1937) and [ 161 ] 1621 UNITED ARTISTS Rebecca (1940); Wanger's Stagecoach (1939) and The Long Voyage Home (1940); Hal Roach's OfMice and Men (1940); and Korda's The Thiefof Bagdad (1940). Hal Roach became a VA producer in 1938. Then at the peak of his productivity, he delivered in quick succession a series of twelve features, with "a new slickness and high glossy polish," in the words of WiIIiam K. Everson. 2 In addition to the Steinbeck movie, these included Captain Fury, A Chump at Oxford, One Million B.C., and Road Show. Edward Small returned to VA the same year. In the next three seasons he contributed seven pictures, among them The Man in the Iron Mask, My Son, My Son, and The Son of Monte Cristo. Veterans Sol Lesser and Richard Rowland also signed contracts with VA, as did newcomer David Loew, among others. Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr., in Roach's D.(Mice and Men (1940) Facing the War: 1941 [ 163 With this lineup, VA should have been able to maintain its enviable status as the Tiffany's of the industry. After 1941, however, it began to decline in both prestige and viability. An important factor, to be sure, was World War II, its effects on foreign markets and on the company's production units at home, which is the subject of the first section of this chapter; another, equally significant, factor was the bizarre behavior of the owners, which not only demeaned the principles on which the company was based but also prevented it from attracting a steady flow of quality product on a par with Goldwyn's. The concluding section describes the entry ofDavid O. Selznick into United Artists as a partner to replace Goldwyn. The unhappy consequences of this action are discussed later. CHAPLIN'S THE GREAT DICTATOR As a prelude to the consideration of the war, it is only fitting to pay homage to Chaplin's brilliant antifascist film, The Great Dictator. Lewis Jacobs had characterized its achievement as "a trenchant and grandiloquent satire--daring to lampoon dictatorship, tyranny and Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1941) 164] UNITED ARTISTS oppression, and to strike a blow at Hitler's image at the very height of his seeming invincibility. At the same time, it was also a tragicomic fantasy of man's inhumanity to man, with a passionate plea for the return of world sanity and an end to the barriers to universal peace." 3 Chaplin spoke on the screen for...