Arabella’s Notes 

Goodbye, Mr. Chips  1939  Directed by Sam Wood MGM              B/W	Henreid, Donat and Garson

This was Paul’s first British film. He played the role of Max Staefel, German teacher at the school, who became Chip’s friend and took him on a walking tour of Austria (all done at Denham Studios in London since Austria was under Nazi occupation).

It was also Greer Garson’s first movie role and she was so nervous that she was reduced to tears at least twice a week. Apparently it didn’t affect her performance too much because she won a Best Actress nomination but lost out to Vivien Leigh (“Gone With The Wind”).

Paul (still von Hernried) thought Sam Wood was one of the 5 best directors he had ever worked with and Robert Donat was “a delightful person that brought out the best in all of us”. Robert took home the Oscar for Best Actor and the movie was not only a big hit but became a time-honored classic.

Lockwood and Henreid	Night Train to Munich  1940  Directed by Carol Reed 20th Century Fox     B/W

Having just finished “An Englishman’s Home” (retitled “Mad Men of Europe”) playing a Nazi spy. Paul found himself back in the same uniform for this movie. He didn’t argue about typecasting because he said the villain always got the best lines.  On the other hand, Rex Harrison played a British spy posing as a German officer in an attempt to rescue a inventor and his daughter(Margaret Lockwood) kidnapped by the Germans.

Paul called Rex as a charming rogue and an excellent actor who preferred light roles that suited his image. It is apparent that Henreid didn’t give accolades easily and often judged other actors by the same strict standards as he judged himself. The film received an Oscar for Best Original Story.

Joan of Paris  1942  Directed by Robert Stevenson RKO                 B/W	Henreid and Michele Morgan

Now “Paul Henreid”, Paul was only to happy to doff his German uniform and play a Free French pilot flying with the RAF. His leading lady was the sizzling sexpot from France, Michele Morgan. Paul found Michele was also an excellent actress but he continued to tease Lisl about “staying late at the office”.

He also learned how difficult it could be working at night in California. The chase scene “through the streets of Paris” was done at the RKO ranch out in the valley and, while days were warm, an ice cold wind always blew through there about four in the morning just when they were shooting. Often scenes had to be done several times requiring the actors and crew to wear woolen underclothes under a rubber suit covered with their costume. Brandy on their breaks didn’t hurt either.

This was the first film for a fledgling actor by the name of Alan Ladd. Paul had little hope for him because Alan had those almost expressionless eyes. As the wounded “Baby” his biggest scene came when he died and it has to be re-shot several times. But it was that expression or lack of it that had women all over America crying and wanting more. They got it in “This Gun For Hire” and Ladd was on his way to the top.

Paul and Bette	Now, Voyager  1942  Directed by Irving Rapper WB                       B/W

 What is it about Hollywood? They look high and low for the ideal actor to play a role and when they get him, they want him to look like someone else. Paul reported to the studio only to find they wanted the Leslie Howard/George Brent look and proceeded to make him over. Bette Davis took one look and stormed off the set. “What did you do with that man? How can I act with him? He looks ghastly!”. So Paul was sent back to be made up as….Paul Henreid.

The “two cigarette” bit  was created by Paul but Bette would always take credit for it. And, while the two were friends and made two more films together, Paul’s name was never mentioned in Bette’s biography.

The success of the movie won Paul an invitation to lunch at the White House, a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. (that he signed with reservations) and an onslaught of fans who stalked him at every turn…..with packs of cigarettes.

Casablanca  1942  Directed by Michael Curtiz WB              B/W	Henreid, Bergman, Rains and Bogart

Shooting on this movie began before there was even a script and some scenes were shot hot out of the typewriter ( a device they used back in the old days when there were no computers). No one ever knew what was going to happen next including the director. Some of the tight schedule was due to the impending exodus of Humphrey Bogart who was signed to do “Sahara” already in pre-production.

Paul played Victor Lazlo, a leader of the Resistance, trying to keep out of Nazi clutches in Morocco. Ingrid Bergman was his wife who had fallen in love with Bogart’s character Rick after she thought her husband was dead. “Would she stay with Rick or would she go?” was never answered until filming was almost over and even then two endings were considered and even filmed.

Paul felt there were two problems with this movie. He couldn’t understand a resistance leader spending every day in a immaculately white suit…and no one could understand Mike Curtiz.

Paul, Ida and Olivia	Devotion  1946  Directed by Curtus Bernhardt WB            B/W

This film was made in 1943 but laid on the shelf for 3 years. The delay didn’t help it. The critics objected to the liberties taken with the real lives of the Bronte sisters.

Paul played a curate, a fantasy role created specifically to add a love interest and rivalry between sisters Emily (Ida Lupino) and Charlotte (Olivia de Havilland). Then Jack Warner took it one step further by giving each actress a different script with a totally different outcome. Both endings were filmed even though Warner knew only one would be used. Paul was given the one where Ida got her man but Warner chose the ending with Olivia. Paul’s friendship with Ida almost went out the window until he assured her he knew nothing about Warner’s plot.

Good thing they made up….the two were about to start another picture together!

In Our Time  1944  Directed by Vincent Sherman WB               B/W	Henreid and Lupino

This time Paul played royalty again….a Polish count who falls in love and marries an English girl (Lupino). It wasn’t long before her democratic ways were upsetting the apple cart back at the estate in Poland. She especially infuriated pro-Nazi Uncle Pawel(Victor Francen).

Paul was much impressed with Michael Chekhov. A brilliant Russian actor who had set up drama schools in Berlin, London and New York. Chekhov played another uncle, the more sympathetic Leopold. In the script, Leopold had an impassioned speech and Chekhov absolutely stunned his cast mates with his eloquence at rehearsal. But Sherman wanted more pathos and had the actor re-do it a different way for the final cut. It fell flat but that’s the one the director wanted and he got it. Paul always blamed Sherman for ruining the potentially best scene in the film.

Winnie, Maureen and Paul	The Spanish Main  1945  Directed by Frank Borzage RKO                   Color

Paul was getting tired of suave lover roles and definitely sick of playing Nazis. He loved freedom fighter and pirate roles but it seemed he wasn’t getting them. So what’s an actor to do….write one for himself! Or least the outline of one. He fleshed out a story about a Dutchman who was a pirate and also fighting for freedom of the seas and took it to Jack Warner. Jack’s answer: “Look, if I want a lover, I’ll call you. If I want a pirate, I’ll call Errol Flynn!”

So Paul took it to RKO where they actually liked the idea and called in George W. Yates to write the story. But what Yates wrote wasn’t what Paul gave him. So it was off to the head writer Herman Mankiewicz  where finally Paul got everything he wanted….except for the fire.
It seems it takes a lot more money to burn a city down.

The cast was excellent with Maureen O’Hara as Paul’s leading lady, Walter Slezak as the villainous governor and Binnie Barnes as a lady pirate with nightgown larceny on her mind. The film was a colossal hit bringing in $14 million and keeping RKO alive for the time being.

Deception  1946  Directed by Irving Rapper WB               B/W	Claude, Bette and Paul

The story was based on a French play about a husband and wife who are separated, the wife thinks he is dead and has an affair with another man. When he returns she goes back to him. The script was written and then the censors descended on them. It seems that to get past the code the woman had to be punished for her adultery. So the script was re-written to have her kill the other man and go to jail. The picture was a disaster. It was good that the three leading actors got along well. But if the censors knew what went on behind the scenes, they may have scratched the whole project.

Bette was having problems in her marriage but nonetheless she was now pregnant. She kept calling the movie “Conception”. Since the rumors of her marital troubles had been running rampant for months, the gossip now turned to Paul as the possible father which didn’t please Paul or Lisl. . Hubby William Sherry was none too pleased, either. One afternoon as Paul and Bette were rehearsing a scene in her trailer, things began to shake violently. Paul was sure it was an earthquake of immense proportions but Bette assured him it was “just that stupid bastard of a husband of mine”. Sure enough Sherry had picked up one corner of the vehicle and was shaking it up and down yelling “I know what’s going on in there”. I can’t repeat what Bette yelled out the door.

Paul and Kate	Song of Love  1947   Directed by Clarence brown MGM               B/W

This was the MGM version of the life of composer Robert Schumann (Paul Henreid) and his devoted wife Clara Wieck Schumann (Kate Hepburn). Schumann, whose dream to become a concert pianist is interrupted by a hand injury, pursues composition instead before slowing sinking into depression and mental illness. The film chronicles Clara’s battle to save Robert’s health and his work. Robert Walker plays Johannes Brahms who also loves Clara.

Paul was surprised at how much fun Kate was to work with and also enjoyed Spencer Tracy’s frequent appearances on the set. He was always good for a game of chess.

Rope of Sand  1949  Directed by William Dieterle Paramount          B/W	Burt, Paul and Corinne

The silent blacklist had now begun but Both producer Hal Wallis and director Dieterle worked to get Paul a role in this film. It was a far cry from his previous leading roles. He was cast as the sadistic and brutal guard at a diamond mine but he had some of the best lines in the script. Paul not only had fun doing it but got good reviews for his performance.

Burt Lancaster was in the leading role and Corinne Calvet was his love interest. Paul was also working again with two old friends …Peter Lorre and Claude Rains. This would be the end of Burt’s film noir period. From that time on, Hal Wallis couldn’t dictate what roles Burt chose to do. It was also the end of  Paul’s stalker fans. They loved him as a lover but didn’t want him as a killer.

Rita and Paul	So Young So Bad  1950  Directed by Bernard Vorhaus Danziger Prod.              B/W

Paul played Dr. Jon Jason to Catherine McLeod’s Nurse Ruth Levering as the two join forces to overthrow the abusive heads of a girls reform school and take matters into their own more capable hands.

It marks the film debut of one Rosita Moreno (now known as Rita) as Dolores Guerrero. Anne Jackson and Anne Francis are two other actresses who had prominent parts and yet seemed to survive this film as bad as it was but it was a low blow to a seasoned actor like Paul.

The next year the blacklist was lifted but the damage was done. Paul’s career as a movie actor was already down the tubes. He was left with a string of B-pictures. For him, television was a blessing where he was accepted as both an actor and a director.