Christopher Columbus (1949 film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Christopher Columbus

| image = Christopher Columbus FilmPoster.jpeg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = David MacDonald

| writer = Muriel Box
Sydney Box
Cyril Roberts

| based_on = {{based on|Columbus
1941 novel|Rafael Sabatini}}

| producer = Sydney Box
A. Frank Bundy

| starring = Fredric March
Florence Eldridge
Francis L. Sullivan
Kathleen Ryan

| narrator = Valentine Dyall

| cinematography = Stephen Dade

| editing = Vladimir Sagovsky

| music = Arthur Bliss

| studio = Gainsborough Pictures

| distributor = General Film Distributors

| released = {{Film date|1949|10|12|df=yes}}

| runtime = 104 minutesSome versions of the film were cut to 95 minutes. Spicer p.128

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget = £500,000{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sY1LGFNtCOEC&q=sydney+box+film+producer&pg=PA232|author=Andrew Spicer|title=Sydney Box|publisher=Manchester Uni Press|date=2006|page=211|isbn=9780719059995}}{{cite news |last=Aylward |first=Margaret |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229772293 |title=Margaret Aylward's BRITISH FILMS |newspaper=The Sun |issue=2411 |location=Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |date=26 June 1949 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=31 |via=National Library of Australia}}

| gross = £121,000 (by 1953)

}}

Christopher Columbus is a 1949 British biographical film starring Fredric March as Christopher Columbus and Florence Eldridge as Queen Isabella. It is loosely based on the 1941 novel Columbus by Rafael Sabatini with much of the screenplay rewritten by Sydney and Muriel Box.Spicer p.127-128

Plot

Christopher Columbus, an explorer from Genoa, Italy, arrives in Spain with his son seeking funds for a trip to India. He obtains an introduction at court from Father Perez, the former confessor for Queens Isabella.

Columbus is opposed by Francisco de Bobadilla, who uses Beatriz to distract Columbus, However eventually the Queen agrees to finance Columbus's ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, on its journey.

On the trip over, the crew threaten mutiny. Columbus promises to turn back if no land is found in three days. On the third night, Columbus sees a light and they reach the New World.

Columbus returns to Spain a hero but continues to face opposition at court, even as his discoveries help turn Spain into a rich country.

Cast

Fredric March as Christopher Columbus
Florence Eldridge as Queen Isabella
Francis L. Sullivan as Francisco de Bobadilla
Kathleen Ryan as Beatriz
Derek Bond as Diego de Arana
Nora Swinburne as Joanna de Torres
Abraham Sofaer as Luis de Santángel
Linden Travers as Beatriz de Peraza
James Robertson Justice as Martín Pinzón
Dennis Vance as Francisco Pinzón
Richard Aherne as Vicente Pinzón
Felix Aylmer as Father Pérez
Francis Lister as King Ferdinand
Edward Rigby as Pedro
Niall MacGinnis as Juan de la Costa
Ralph Truman as Captain
Ronald Adam as Talavera
Guy Le Feuvre as Admiral
Lyn Evans as Lope
David Cole as Columbus' Son
Hugh Pryse as Almoner
Stuart Lindsell as Prior

Development

The film was a passion project for producer Sydney Box who in 1945 had a huge success with The Seventh Veil. In September 1946, Box announced he would make the film from Sabatini's novel for the United Kingdom Moving Picture Company.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46171988 |title=FILM WORLD |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=62 |issue=18,785 |location=Western Australia |date=27 September 1946 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}} Finance would come from the Rank Organisation. The film was part of a deliberate attempt by Rank to break into the American market, following the path blazed with films like Henry V (1944) and Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). John Woolf, head of international distribution for Rank, said in October 1946 that:

Before we smacked Henry V and Caesar and Cleopatra into the American Markets, we were getting a poor showing in the United States. Although the most optimistic figures have been put out in London about the achievements of Henry and Caesar, in fact they have had to fight hard to make their way. The important thing to remember is this— that these big films enabled us to break through the highly controlled theatre circuits in America. We are using them as a spearhead to get a showing of British films.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62996273 |title=COLUMBUS IN A NEW BATTLE OF BRITAIN. |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |location=Qld. |date=7 October 1946 |accessdate=13 July 2012 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

For a time it seemed there would be a rival movie on the same subject produced by Edward Small from a biography by David Lawrence.{{Cite news|title=RANDOM NOTES ABOUT FILMS: Hollywood and England Discover Columbus--New Theatre|author=A.H. WEILER|work=New York Times|date=Sep 22, 1946|page=X3}} The other film was not made.

When Box became head of Gainsborough Pictures he immediately put the project in development at that studio.{{cite news|title=FILMS FOR 1947: Novels Featured in New Programmes SCOTTISH SUBJECTS|author=Our London Film Critic|work=The Scotsman|location=Edinburgh, Scotland|date=Jan 13, 1947|page=6}} In January 1947, Sabatini was reportedly working on the script.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240019447 |title=Top Ranking Film Star Sought For Role Of Columbus |newspaper=The Kyogle Examiner |volume=45 |issue=3389 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 January 1947 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Casting=

In October 1946, Box said he wanted a young, virile actor to play the lead.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62996273 |title=COLUMBUS IN A NEW BATTLE OF BRITAIN |newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin |volume=LXVII |location=Queensland, Australia |date=7 October 1946 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} Stewart Granger was originally mentioned. In January 1947, Arturo de Córdova was announced as star.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203129135 |title=TALKING of TALKIES |newspaper=Truth |issue=2445 |location=Brisbane |date=2 February 1947 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=42 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In August 1947, Sydney Box arrived in Hollywood to sign a star. He met with James Mason.{{Cite news|author=Hopper, H.|title=Looking at hollywood.|date=Aug 13, 1947|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|id={{ProQuest|177401461}}}} Then in September he announced he had signed Fredric March and Florence Eldridge to play the leads.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228971015 |title=Latest Film News From Hollywood, London |newspaper=The Sun |issue=11,740 |location=Sydney|date=11 September 1947 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=16|edition=LATE FINAL EXTRA |via=National Library of Australia}}

"It's a great part", said March.{{cite news|title=The BEST YEARS of YOUR LIFE: FREDRIC MARCH |author=Gendall, Bruce|work=Answers; London |volume=114|issue=2958|date=Jul 17, 1948|page=7}}

Shooting

March arrived in England in April 1948 for what was meant to be a five-month shoot.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229000368 |title=Robt. Morley returns to film-making |newspaper=The Sun |issue=11,936 |location=Sydney |date=29 April 1948 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=17|edition=LATE FINAL EXTRA |via=National Library of Australia}} Studio filming took place at Pinewood and there was location filming in Barbados.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95699641 |title=SHADES OF COLUMBUS |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |volume=54 |issue=14,335 |location=Western Australia |date=17 July 1948 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} March had recently had an operation and suffered a relapse while in London.{{Cite news|title=FREDRIC MARCH ILL IN LONDON; SUFFERS OPERATION RELAPSE. |date=Apr 26, 1948|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|id={{ProQuest|177562250}}}}

Two ships, replicas of the Nina and Santa Maria were built especially for the film and in April 1948 they were shipped from Spain to London.{{Cite news|title=RANDOM NOTES ABOUT LONDON MOVIE STUDIOS|author=C. A. L.|date=Apr 4, 1948|work=New York Times|id={{ProQuest|108378542}}}}

Shooting was often difficult. The replica of the Santa Maria broke its moorings during a squall in the West Indies and drifted for two nights and a day with people on board before it was rescued. Then a fire broke out and the ship was burnt. It had to be rebuilt at a cost of £100,000 because scenes set on it had yet to be shot.{{cite news|title=Of local origin|date=Jul 24, 1948|work=New York Times}} March collapsed one day due to heatstroke.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49921799 |title=THE STARRY WAY |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |issue=3663 |location=Brisbane |date=21 August 1948 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Reshoots=

A new subplot was added towards the end of shooting involving the romance between Columbus and the sister (Kathleen Ryan) of his lieutenant (Derek Bond).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231143932 |title=LATEST FILM NEWS FROM ABROAD |newspaper=The Sun |issue=12,062 |location=Sydney |date=23 September 1948 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=17|edition=LATE FINAL EXTRA |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231143932 |title=LATEST FILM NEWS FROM ABROAD |newspaper=The Sun |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 September 1948 |access-date=16 June 2020 |page=17|edition=LATE FINAL EXTRA|via=Trove }}

March was reportedly very disappointed with the final film.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22713688 |title=March Disappointed |newspaper=The Argus |issue=31,979 |location=Melbourne|date=1 March 1949 |accessdate=14 September 2017 |page=3 (The Argus Super Comic) |via=National Library of Australia}}

The Francoist Spanish government considered the portrait of Columbus to be unflattering. In response the leading Spanish studio CIFESA produced Dawn of America (1951), which portrayed Columbus as a more daring figure.

Muriel Box later called the film "a calamity but we couldn’t avoid it happening." She added:

We were pressed into making it, didn’t want to do it at all. The script had been paid for by Gainsborough Pictures, and when we got there in 1945 they asked us to make it. I got in one or two other authors to help us work on it, but it was doomed from the start. The whole unit went out to the Caribbean with the Santa Maria and they were sailing the ship around, and they lost it! Later it caught fire!.. There was trouble with the artistes, everything. The first rehearsal we called was for a preliminary run-through of the script, to give the artistes an idea of the film as a whole. We called the whole cast to the Dorchester but Fredric March... didn’t turn up... We waited an hour or more, then I sent off the first assistant to find them. Freddie was very apologetic but said he couldn’t possibly come until their contract was signed. Of course people in England knew that, if Arthur Rank was financing the film, he would never break his word, that was enough. But it wasn’t the same for Freddie; he had too much experience of broken words in Hollywood.{{cite book|first=Brian|last=McFarlane|page=90|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofb0000unse_i5w8/page/90/mode/1up?q=%22christopher+columbus%22|year=1997|title=An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it|publisher=Methuen |isbn=9780413705204 }}

Reception

=Critical=

The New York Times called it "largely an uninspired succession of legendary but lifeless episodes."{{Cite news|title='Christopher Columbus,' With Fredric March and His Wife, Showing at the Victoria|author=BOSLEY CROWTHER.|date=Oct 3, 1949|work=New York Times|page=33}}

=Box-office=

In April 1949 J. Arthur Rank told Hedda Hopper he thought the film would be his most successful of 1949.{{Cite news|author=Hopper, H.|title='Running of tide' now named to star lana.|date=Apr 15, 1949|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|165945096}}}} However, the film failed to recoup its enormous cost at the box office. By 1953, it only grossed {{GBPConvert|121000|year=1953|showdate=no}} in theatrical rentals around the world, leading to a loss of more than US$2 million.

References

Bibliography

Spicer, Andrew. British Film Makers: Sydney Box. Manchester University Press, 2006.

External links

{{IMDb title|0041247|Christopher Columbus}}
[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/178896 Christopher Columbus] at TCMDB
{{Rotten Tomatoes|1046730}}
[https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A00E0DB113DE03ABC4B52DFB6678382659EDE&mcubz=1 Review of film] at The New York Times
[https://web.archive.org/web/20170914084356/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a794fbc Christopher Columbus] at BFI
[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700981.txt Original text of novel Columbus by Rafael Sabatini] at Project Gutenberg