draculvanhelsing

And since the picture was behind schedule anyways because
of Laughton’s anghst and the tensions between Laughton and
von Sternberg, it was decided to just scrap the picture.

Of course, Merle Oberon’s facial scars did heal but by the
time they did, the chilling winds of impending war were already
blowing across Europe so no effort was ever made to finish
the picture.

I remember as a young kid, I had a tremendous crush on
Merle Oberon.

There was one night a week when the local TV station every summer
showed what they called a Korda Film Festival in which they ran one
of Sir Alexander Korda’s great London Films movies from the 1930s.

The first film I ever saw Merle Oberon in was called The Divorce of
Lady X and starred both Miss Oberon and the young Sir
Laurence Olivier.

I went to bed that night having pleasant dreams.

I dreamed that I was busy kissing Merle Oberon.

But my favourite Korda film of all with Merle Oberon in
it was the 1934 The Scarlet Pimpernel in which she
played Lady Blakeney and Leslie Howard played the
eccentric English nobleman and seeming fop Sir Percy
Blakeney (it was just an act for he was actually
the courageous intelligent and brave Scarlet
Pimpernel who saved thousands of Frechmen
and women and children from their deaths at the
hands of Madame Guillotine during the French Revolution).

I remember the dresses Merle Oberon wore in that
film were absolutely gorgeous.

So I’d go to bed imagining that I was the
Scarlet Pimpernel and having spent the day
rescuing people from Robespierre’s guillotine
would spend my nights kissing and making out
with the lovely and beautiful Merle Oberon.

In the few scenes that were shot with
Merle Oberon as Messalina in I, Claudius,
she made a priceless and far better Messalina
than the one they cast in the mid-70s BBC TV
production.

And Flora Robson made a far better Livia
than did the one cast in the mid-70s TV production.

Derek Jacobi was of course excellent as Claudius in
the BBC-TV production.

But how did he stack up against Laughton?

Well of course not too many scenes were shot
with Laughton as Claudius because of Laughton’s personal
anghst in trying to capture the character.

My godfather a retired high school art teacher
who used to also do set designs for local stage
theatre productions once met Charles Laughton.

My godfather and another man Bob Willis
were doing set designs for a University
Studio Theatre production back in the 1950s
and Charles Laughton was going to be sitting
in the audience on the opening night of the production.

The play was a Greek tragedy and was to be set
in the Temple of Diana of the Ephesians.

Now for those of you who have studied classical
Greek history, the statue of Diana of the Ephesians
was of course a multi-breasted woman.

So my godfather and Bob did a faithful reproduction of
the statue- there was Diana of the Ephesians in all her
multi-breasted glory.

Well of course in Social Credit governed Alberta of
the 1950s, to show a statue of a nude multi-breasted
woman would be verbotten shall we say?

So the breasts were covered up with gauze and cloths.

My godfather being the meek and mild mannered man
that he is went along with it.

But Bob Willis was fuming.

On opening night before the play began,
Bob stormed out on stage in front of the curtain
and began a long diatribe against censorship to
the audience.

At first the director thought, “oh well. We’ll just
give Bob the chance to get it all off his chest
and then the play can begin.”

But Bob wasn’t letting up in getting it all
off his chest (the way Diana of the Ephesians
had got it all on her chest) and so after
20 minutes with no end in sight, the play’s
director sent out a couple of extra strong
stage hands to drag Bob off stage.

Bob had to be dragged literally kicking
and screaming off the stage.

At the end of the play, Charles Laughton
in the theatre auditorium was asked by the local
press what he thought of the play and Laughton 
answered in all honesty and seriousness, “Well
I do think the play dragged a bit but I thought
the prologue was positively brilliant. I don’t
think I’ve ever seen a better performed prologue
to this play. That fellow was marvellous.
A marvellous actor. And to have him dragged
kicking and screaming off the stage like that-
with such utter passion. My kudos to the director
for conceiving such a brilliant performance.”

As to who was the better Claudius? Laughton
or Derek Jacobi?

Well most of the scenes with Laughton as Claudius,
Laughton did seem a bit unsure of himself.

You could see his anghst in trying to capture the
character.

Ironically on the same day that Merle Oberon had her
car accident, they shot the scene where Claudius
after the murder of Caligula is dragged off by the
Praetorian Guard to the chambers of the Roman
Senate to have Claudius acclaimed Emperor.

The night before, Laughton had spent hours
listening to a grammophone recording of 
King Edward VIII’s abdication speech
in which Edward gave up the throne “for the woman
I love” (Mrs. Wallis Simpson).

That morning like a child, Laughton excitedly entered
the studio, exclaiming with glee, “I’ve found him.
I’ve found Claudius.”

And after watching that performance where Laughton as
Claudius had spoken to the Senate and the Praetorian 
Guard, my dad and I both sat silent at the end of the speech.

It’s what one does when one is in the presence of a
great work of art.

Viewing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.

Or gazing at Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement on 
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Or putting down a copy of Shakespeare’s or Keats’
sonnets.

Or having just listened to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen or probably ever will see
a better speech delivered on a screen by an actor.

It was even better than Sir Laurence Olivier’s St.
Crispin’s Day speech from his performance as 
Shakespeare’s King Henry V.

For Laughton had indeed become Claudius.

Sad that the day it happened, Merle Oberon
had a car accident and the picture was shelved.

For what was probably the greatest film performance
in all of motion picture history has sadly been seen by few
as a result.

Only those fortunate enough to watch that scene on
that documentary about the forgotten unfinished epic
of Sir Alexander Korda would have seen it.

And today instead of wondering whether it
was Sir Laurence Olivier or Sir John Gielgud
who was the 20th Century’s greatest actor,
there’d be no discussion.

Laughton as Claudius. The silver screen’s greatest
performance.

The 20th Century’s greatest actor.