Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Eight records
Late Extra
Castaway mentions this as his first film; no music disc explicitly chosen — transcript likely erroneous.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
Despite all your success, you packed your bags and left us. You weren't very happy?
Uh … happy but I felt that um that there were more stars than there was work for in this country. There were other reasons and one of them being the very powerful reason that I'd never been to Hollywood and since that is that was the center of film making I thought that I should have a stab at it and see how I would get along there thinking that it'd be very nice to be constantly employed and also bask in the sun in one's leisure hours. Yes, and it worked out all right. Yes, it did. It required a great deal of obstinacy on my part because the first five or six films that I made there were dreadful duds. But I wouldn't give up and I decided that I would stay there, particularly since my wife loved it.
Presenter asks
What's the pattern of film-making at the moment in Hollywood? Things have changed very much there, haven't they?
Yes, there are comparatively few films made uh in the big studios in Hollywood. Most of them, happily, are made away from the studios. Sometimes uh even if they don't go outside the country, they're made uh in New York or in the south or whatever locale the story demands, and they profit thereby because they get away from the assembly line precision was the order of the day in the studios.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
James Mason
BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
Speaker 1
Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. This is the only extract the BBC has of this episode.
Speaker 1
The presenter is Roy Plomley. I hope you enjoy listening.
Presenter
What was your first film?
Presenter
Something called Late Extra, which was a little cheap quota picture. Yes. You made quite a lot of those uh little cheap films, didn't you? Yes in those days.
Presenter
Um you wrote some plays in those days, didn't you? My work.
James Mason
Waff and I wrote some things together. None of the was a great success. We they were produced, a couple of them were produced in a small way, but the the writing that uh did most for us was this film script of a little thing called I Met a Murderer. Mm-hmm.
Presenter
I remember that film. You made it very cheaply. You produced it yourself and and made it in mostly in the open air on locations. Yes, it's a sort of backyard job. You starred in some of the most successful films ever made in this country, The Man in Grey, The Seventh Veil, The Wicked Lady.
James Mason
Me yes.
James Mason
Okay.
Presenter
You won the National Film Award for two years running and then you packed your bags and left us. Despite all your success, you you weren't very happy.
James Mason
Uh
Presenter
Ah that's perfectly.
James Mason
happy but I felt that um that there were more stars than there was work for in this country. There were other reasons and one of them being the very powerful reason that I'd never been to Hollywood and since that is that was the center of film making I thought that I should have a stab at it and see how I would get along there thinking that it'd be very nice to be constantly employed and also bask in the sun in one's leisure hours. Yes, and it worked out all right. Yes, it did. It required a great deal of obstinacy on my part because the first five or six films that I made there were dreadful duds. But I wouldn't give up and I decided that I would stay there, particularly since my wife loved it. I I like it very much too. Perhaps not quite to the extent that she does. And also we have two children now and it's a nice place for growing long-legged athletic kids.
Speaker 1
Thank you.
Presenter
mister Mason, what's the pattern of film-making at at the moment in Hollywood? Things have changed very much there, haven't they?
James Mason
Yes, there are comparatively few films made uh in the big studios in Hollywood. Most of them, happily, are made away from the studios. Sometimes uh even if they don't go outside the country, they're made uh in New York or in the south or whatever locale the story demands, and they profit thereby because they get away from the assembly
James Mason
Lime
James Mason
Precision was the order of the day in the studios.
Presenter
It was in Hollywood. And what do you think of the film set up here? Is it healthier than it was when you left here in 1946?
James Mason
I think so. There seems to be less of an effort to hit the international jackpot, and the filmmakers the strictly British filmmakers seem to be more content to make something which is strictly British and which perhaps will pay off in a in a limited English market. I'm thinking of the great English comedies, of course, for which we have now become famous, and some of the uh lower budget things like this famous Saturday night and Sunday morning. With films of this scale, they can have uh uh a truth and uh a national integrity which is unavailable if you try to do it on a splashy or pretentious scale.
Presenter asks
What do you think of the film set up here [in Britain]? Is it healthier than when you left in 1946?
I think so. There seems to be less of an effort to hit the international jackpot, and the filmmakers the strictly British filmmakers seem to be more content to make something which is strictly British and which perhaps will pay off in a in a limited English market. I'm thinking of the great English comedies, of course, for which we have now become famous, and some of the uh lower budget things like this famous Saturday night and Sunday morning. With films of this scale, they can have uh uh a truth and uh a national integrity which is unavailable if you try to do it on a splashy or pretentious scale.
“It required a great deal of obstinacy on my part because the first five or six films that I made there were dreadful duds. But I wouldn't give up and I decided that I would stay there, particularly since my wife loved it.”
“I think so. There seems to be less of an effort to hit the international jackpot, and the filmmakers the strictly British filmmakers seem to be more content to make something which is strictly British and which perhaps will pay off in a in a limited English market.”