Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-British film director, producer and screenwriter, who founded his own film production studios and film distribution company.
The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation.
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until these were all surpassed by Salad Days. The Boy Friend marked Julie Andrews' American stage debut.
Walter Goehr was a German composer and conductor.
The Divorce of Lady X is a 1938 British Technicolor romantic comedy film produced by London Films; it stars Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Binnie Barnes. It was directed by Tim Whelan and produced by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Ian Dalrymple and Arthur Wimperis, adapted by Lajos Bíró from the play Counsel's Opinion by Gilbert Wakefield. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and Lionel Salter and the cinematography by Harry Stradling.
London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Things to Come (1936), Rembrandt (1936), and The Four Feathers (1939). The facility at Denham was taken over in 1939 by Rank and merged with Pinewood to form D & P Studios. The outbreak of war necessitated that The Thief of Bagdad (1940) be completed in California, although Korda's handful of American-made films still displayed Big Ben as their opening corporate logo.
Zoltan Korda was a Hungarian-born motion picture screenwriter, director and producer. He made his first film in Hungary in 1918, and worked with his brother Alexander Korda on film-making there and in London. They both moved to the United States in 1940 to Hollywood and the American film industry.
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British Technicolor historical fantasy film, produced by Alexander Korda and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger and Tim Whelan, with additional contributions by William Cameron Menzies and Korda brothers Vincent and Zoltán. The film stars teen actor Sabu, Conrad Veidt, John Justin, and June Duprez. It was released in the US and the UK by United Artists.
The Man Who Could Work Miracles is a 1937 London Films British fantasy-comedy film directed by Lothar Mendes and produced by Alexander Korda. The film stars Roland Young with a cast of supporting players including Sir Ralph Richardson. Possibly the best-known of Mendes' 20 films, it is an expanded version of H. G. Wells's 1898 short story of the same name. Wells worked on the adaptation, revising the plot to reflect his socialist frustrations with the British upper class and the growing threats of communism and fascism in Europe.
David Bernard Wood OBE is an English actor, author, composer, director, magician and producer. The Times called him "the National Children's Dramatist".
Anna Karenina is a 1948 British film based on the 1877 novel of the same title by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy.
Antonietta Meneghel, better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian operatic soprano. She may be best remembered today for her performance as Cio-cio-san in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, having recorded this role complete in 1939 with Beniamino Gigli as Pinkerton.
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan is a 1953 British musical drama film dramatisation of the collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. Librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, portrayed by Robert Morley and Maurice Evans, co-wrote fourteen comic operas, later referred to as the Savoy Operas, which became the most popular series of musical entertainments of the Victorian era and continue to remain popular today.
The Rebel Son is a 1938 British historical adventure film directed by Adrian Brunel and starring Harry Baur, Anthony Bushell and Roger Livesey. Patricia Roc also appears in her first screen role. It is a re-working by Alexander Korda of Granowski's 1936 French film adaptation of the Russian novel Taras Bulba by Russian classic writer Nikolai Gogol, set in the 17th century Ukraine.
Joan Gardner was a British actress.
Mary Hannah (May) Brahe was an Australian composer, best known for her songs and ballads. Her most famous song by far is "Bless This House", recorded by John McCormack, Beniamino Gigli, Lesley Garrett and Bryn Terfel. According to Move.com.au: "She was the only Australian woman composer to win local an international recognition before World War II," having "290 of her 500 songs published. Of these, 248 were written under her own name, the remainder under aliases.
Premiere is a 1938 British musical mystery film directed by Walter Summers and starring John Lodge, Judy Kelly, Joan Marion, Hugh Williams. In Paris a leading theatre impresario is murdered on opening night, shortly after replacing his leading lady. A police Inspector in the audience takes over the investigation.
Counsel's Opinion is a 1933 British romantic comedy film starring Henry Kendall and Binnie Barnes. It was one of three films directed in Britain in the early 1930s by Canadian-American Allan Dwan and was an early production from Alexander Korda's London Films. Counsel's Opinion was based on a 1931 Gilbert Wakefield play and was remade, again by London Films, in 1938 as The Divorce of Lady X starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.
Forget Me Not is a 1935 German drama film directed by Augusto Genina and starring Beniamino Gigli, Peter Bosse and Kurt Vespermann. The rights to the film were bought by Alexander Korda who remade it in Britain the following year.
