At the Villa Rose

Alfred Edward Woodley Mason known as A. E. W. Mason was an English novelist playwright actor army officer intelligence agent and – for a short period – a politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime The Four Feathers and as the creator of Inspector Hanaud a French detective who was an early template for Agatha Christies Hercule Poirot. Masons prolific output included over 30 novels as well as plays short stories and articles. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen several multiples times. During the 1910s and 1920s he worked closely with many film directors of the silent era. Masons historical novel Fire Over England (1936) was set in the 16th century as a beleaguered Elizabeth I of England prepares for invasion by a tyrannical Spain in the throes of the Inquisition. A thinly veiled metaphor for then-neutral Britains need to prepare for the threat of Nazi invasion and published while the Spanish Civil War was raging the book was adapted for film by the author Clemence Dane for Alexander Korda Englands leading film producer; Korda was helping Winston Churchill in his struggle to alert the British people to the military threat of the Third Reich. The lavish costume drama also made stars of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier in their first pairing as lovers onscreen as they were off-screen. Korda also produced The Four Feathers (1939) directed by his brother Zoltan Korda. Filmed on location in the desert of Sudan starring Ralph Richardson and John Clements; its technicolor cinematography was nominated for an Oscar. Released before Britains entry into World War II its pro-British theme also features valiant British fighting against hopeless odds this time in a late 19th century imperial setting. Zoltan Korda directed a remake the much less successful Storm Over the Nile (1955) starring Anthony Steel. Other film versions include three earlier silent films from 1915 1921 and 1929 a 1978 American television film with Beau Bridges in the lead role and The Four Feathers (2002) starring Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson.