Tweet

THE LIFE AND FILMS OF HENRY KING
By Charles Shibuk and Christopher North

HENRY KING was born in Christiansburg, in the Blue Ridge section of Virginia, on January 24, 1888 (c.). His grandfather had served as a first lieutenant under Robert E. Lee, and his father was a railroad attorney and plantation owner.

King was educated in public schools and was prevented by his father’s business reverses from entering the University of Virginia, where his family had hoped he would study for the Methodist ministry. At 17 he went to work for the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and at 21 left home and became an actor. The reasons for this last have never been publicly stated (King believes in keeping his private life private).

He worked in vaudeville, circuses, burlesque and stock, and eventually became leading man to Anna Boyle, who toured the South in Shakespearean repertoire. It was not till he reached New York via Henry W. Savage’s production of TOP O’ THE MORNING – that he decided to try the movies. His first work was with the Lubin Company in Philadelphia in 1912. Several years later he discovered Baby Marie Osborne and co-starred in six pictures with her, which he directed in the old Pathe studio at Balboa, Calif.

Early in ’17 he directed shorts for the General Film Co., and later that year vehicles for Gail Kane and Mary Miles Minter for Mutual, and Western vehicles for William Russell for Mutual and later Pathe.

The first important film directed by King was 23 1/2 HOURS LEAVE, which Thomas Ince produced in ’19 for Famous Players-Lasky. Based on a story of army life by Mary Roberts Rinehart, it was a fast-moving comedy starring Douglas MacLean and Doris May, and made King known throughout the industry.

His next five films, for Robertson-Cole, were H. B. Warner vehicles: A FUGITIVE FROM MATRIMONY and HAUNTING SHADOWS in ’19, and THE WHITE DOVE, UNCHARTED CHANNELS and ONE HOUR BEFORE DAWN in ’20.

King’s last appearance as an actor was as the male lead in HELP WANTED MALE, starring Blanche Sweet, for Pathe in ’20.

After directing two more H. B. Warner vehicles for Pathe – DICE OF DESTINY (’20) and WHEN WE WERE 21 (’21) – King went back to Robertson-Cole and directed three Pauline Frederick vehicles – MISTRESS OF SHENSTONE, SALVAGE and THE STING OF THE LASH (all ’21). He then joined the new Inspiration Co. that Richard Barthelmess had formed for the production of TOL’ABLE DAVID (see FILMS IN REVIEW, Jan. ’58).

TOL’ABLE DAVID made King’s reputation. It was shot on location 80 miles from his birthplace, and its directorial and cinematographic techniques were ahead of their time.

His next four films were Barthelmess vehicles – THE SEVENTH DAY, SONNY, THE BOND BOY and FURY – and in ’23 he took a production crew to Italy to shoot THE WHITE SISTER, starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman (see FILMS IN REVIEW, April ’58). He returned to Italy the same year to do ROMOLA, with the Gish sisters, Colman and William Powell.

On his return to the US King directed two inexpensive Alice Terry vehicles for Famous Players-Lasky – SACKCLOTH and SCARLET AND ANY WOMAN (both ’25).

Samuel Goldwyn then hired him to direct the screen version of Olive Higgins Prouty’s popular novel STELLA DALLAS. The all-star cast included Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett (in one of the screen’s most unforgettable performances), Alice Joyce, Jean Hersholt, Lois Moran and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. King’s handling of this cast was perceptive and sensitive and is still a pleasure to watch.

In ’26 he directed two films for Goldwin – Partners Again, the second of the Potash and Perimutter series, and Harold Bell Wright’s THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH, starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky, and Gary Cooper in his first major role.

King’s last picture for Goldwyn was shot the following year. It was THE MAGIC FLAME, a romantic drama with Colman and Banky based on Rudolph Lothar’s play, King Harlequin. It was also King’s last silent film.

THE WOMAN DISPUTED, which he co-directed with Sam Taylor in ’28, starred Norma Talmadge and Gilbert Roland. It had sound effects and a synchronized score by Hugo Riesenfeld, and was far from a success.

His next picture, SHE GOES TO WAR, a large-scale war drama starring Eleanor Boardman and John Holland, was made in silent and sound versions. The public cared little for either.

King’s next film, HELL HARBOR (’30), an inexpensive melodrama with Gibson Gowland, Lupe Velez, Jean Hersholt and John Holand, showed considerable movement at a time when most directors had acquired camera-stasis. In ’30 King also directed EYES OF THE WORLD, based on a Harold Bell Wright story, with Una Merkel and Brandon Hurst, and LIGHTNING, from the play by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon. John Ford had directed a version of it in ’25.

LIGHTNING was King’s first picture for the Fox Film Corp., for which, and its successor, 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., he directed more than 40 pictures. The cast of LIGHTNING included Will Rogers, Joel McCrea, Louise Dresser and Jason Robards, Sr.

In ’31 he directed MERELY MARY ANN, a pleasant family film with Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor, and OVER THE HILL, a re-make of the tearjerker of 1920 that had such fine performances by Mae Marsh and Mary Carr. In King’s re-make Sally Eilers played Miss Marsh’s role and Miss Marsh played Mary Carr’s (i.e., the mother).

The following year King directed THE WOMAN IN ROOM 13, a well-made but minor mystery featuring Elissa Landi, Ralph Bellamy, Neil Hamilton, Myrna Loy and Charles Grapewin. And then, in ’33, he directed one of Fox’s most popular and financially successful pictures – STATE FAIR, with Will Rogers in one of his most fondly remembered roles, supported by Janet Gaynor, Louise Dresser, Lew Ayres, Frank Craven and Sally Eilers.

King then co-directed I LOVED YOU WEDNESDAY, an elaborate soap opera vehicle for Warner Baxter, with William Cameron Menzies, Hollywood’s foremost art director.

In his next picture King had an opportunity to create some of the atmosphere of the South into which he was born. CAROLINA (’34) had some of the cinematic qualities of TOL’ABLE DAVID and was a good filmization of Paul Green’s well-known play, THE HOUSE OF CONNELLY, about the rehabilitation of an aristocratic Southern family that had gone to seed. Lionel Barrymore created one of his best characterizations. Janet Gaynor was in support.

Also in ’34 King directed MARIE GALANTE, an exciting film based on the novel by Jacques Deval about a plot to destroy the US fleet in the Panama Canal and the efforts of several nations to uncover it in time. It was so well written and directed that interest never flagged. Spencer Tracy starred, and a new French actress, Ketti Gallian charmingly played the girl who was unwittingly involved in the plot.

The following year King directed two pictures – ONE MORE SPRING, based on Robert Nathan’s fantasy about jobless people living in the park in winter, starring Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter; and WAY DOWN EAST, Lotti Blair Parker’s old melodrama about the wronged girl and the Puritanical squire. King humanized this sure-cry tearjerker and provided some lovely New England scenery for it. An excellent cast included Henry Fonda, Rochelle Hudson, Slim Summerville, Russell Simpson and Spring Byington.

Fox Film Corp. merged in ’36 with 20th Century Pictures and King’s first picture under the new set-up was THE COUNTRY DOCTOR, in which the Dionne quintuplets appeared. Jean Hersholt played the Dr. Dafoe who brought them into the world and enabled them to survive. The babies were merely the climax of a fine, human story written by Sonya Levien, based on an idea of Charles Blake’s.

King’s next picture, and his first in color, was a re-make – the third – of Helen Hunt Jackson’s RAMONA. The beauty of some of its outdoor scenes was considered breathtaking. The cast included Don Ameche, Loretta Young, Kent Taylor, Pauline Frederick and Katherine DeMille.

In ’37 he directed two pictures. LLOYD’S OF LONDON, a stirring, picturesque story of Nelson and the Napoleonic wars and the part played therein by the famous insurance company, brought Tyrone Power to stardom (Freddie Bartholomew and Madeleine Carroll were also in the cast). SEVENTH HEAVEN was a 10-reel re-make, starring James Stewart and Simone Simon, of the old favorite about the Paris street-cleaner and the frightened, abused girl to whom he brought love and courage.

IN OLD CHICAGO, which King directed the following year, was full of the colorful characters and atmosphere of the late ’60s (Niven Busch wrote the script). It was a lusty tale about big politicians in a young city, and had a great fire scene for its spectacular finish. The cast included Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Alice Brady and Don Ameche.

Also in ’38 King directed ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND, an elaborate filmusical intended as a tribute to Irving Berlin. Tyrone Power played a traveling bandleader in love with singer Alice Faye, and 26 of Berlin’s tunes were worked into the plot. Ethel Merman and Jack Haley provided a little comedy now and then.

Tyrone Power shared star billing with Henry Fonda in King’s next film. JESSE JAMES was based on an original screen story by Nunnally Johnson about America’s favorite outlaw. It was a colorful picture, and tempered sympathy for James’ battle against the railroads by reiterating that crime doesn’t pay. Randolph Scott and Nancy Kelly were in the cast.

Nancy Kelly was also in King’s next – STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE, an impressive record of the Stanley expedition into darkest Africa, to learn whether Livingstone was alive or dead, which has had so many historical consequences. Spencer Tracy made a very believable Stanley.

Continue to page: 1 2 3 4