Hal Wallis was one of the giants of old Hollywood; he’s not as well remembered today as Selznick, Zanuck, Mayer or Warners despite being head of production of Warners during their glory days. As one writer pointed out (I can’t remember who, maybe Humphrey Bogart’s biographer), Warners were never really Warners after Hal Wallis left – but Hal Wallis was never Hal Wallis again either. He never lost his ability to spot and exploit stars – Martin and Lewis, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Elvis – but his films were, on the whole, less distinguished. Inevitably they were more conservative – his bread and butter efforts were Westerns, Martin and Lewis and Elvis, but he still took the odd chance eg Come Back Little Sheba, Becket.
Lots of interesting stories – you only wish there were more. Even though funding films was easier in the old days it was still a pain in the neck getting the script right, the cast they wanted etc. We hear a lot about original casting choices – Bette Davis was last choice for Now Voyager, ditto Monte Woolley for The Man Who Came to Dinner (Orson Welles almost did it, Charles Laughton was considered too gay – they were worried the same thing about Woolley); Mia Farrow agreed to do True Grit but turned it down after Mitchum told her how scary Henry Hathaway was; Kim Darby only reluctantly agreed to replace her despite a lack of reputation. The hassles of casting Casablanca get a long airing, not surprisingly (perhaps Wallis’ crowning achievement, although luck was on his side). He also talks at great length about the troubles of making Captain in the Clouds – would anyone care?
Apparently Elvis was a dream to deal with; his most troublesome stars were Jerry Lewis and Shirley Maclaine; Joan Fontaine was selfish (when Wallis arranged a cabin on a ship for her she didn’t even send him champagne) and Anna Manganini a handful but one of those handfuls that people seem to be affectionate about.
Wallis wrote this in collaboration with Charlies Higham and definitely feels like a Higham work – fast paced, gossipy, inaccurate in places, sketchy. He alludes to Higham’s claims against Errol Flynn (“we never would have employed him if we’d known), including the silly one that Dive Bomber was used by Japanese espionage – didn’t the US Navy want to do the film to show off their boats, etc? The book is frustratingly vague on Wallis’ family and his first marriage – he alludes to unhappiness, what was the deal there?
This is OK, but it feels incomplete. It doesn’t help that on a personal level Wallis is a little dull (hard working, private, happy marriages, likes massages and walks). There are memos at the end which are great because they give the impression of the sort of decisions Wallis had to make every day. You get the feeling had the entire book been comprised of memos it would have been better.
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