Ronald Colman & Ida Lupino In The Light That Failed – 1939
If Ronald Colman had his way, Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh would have played opposite Colman in The Light That Failed, (1939) not Ida Lupino.
The film version of Rudyard Kipling’s book stays truer to the story than the two previous silent film versions of 1916 and 1923. The Light That Failed is about a soldier / painter (Colman) who is losing his sight while trying to complete his masterpiece. It is a depressing subject, yet superbly acted. Behind the scenes, the director and star did not care for one another.
Opposites – Star and Director
Colman’s daughter Juliet Benita Colman interviewed director William Wellman for her biography Ronald Colman A Very Private Person (1975) William Morrow & Company.
Pairing Wellman and Colman was not an obvious choice as they were opposites in many ways. Colman was a gentleman who rarely lost his temper, at least publicly. Colman had a rare attribute for a star. Even when Colman was not needed for a scene, he was known for staying on set to read his lines to actors including bit players, during their close-ups.
Wellman was nicknamed “Wild Bill” during his stint as an aviator in World War I. The name carried over to his film career for many reasons, among them, his machismo, drinking, and disdain for actors. But, Wellman could appreciate Colman’s talent on a certain level.
Wellman says, “He had the most gorgeous voice I have ever heard in my life. I appreciate a good voice. I have been to the Boston Conservatory of Music and I had a lovely voice. Voice to me is always wonderful. I remember once, early in the picture, he had a very important scene, and when it was all over and I yelled ‘Cut!’ he said, ‘What did you think of it?’ and I said, ‘So help me God, I don’t know. Your voice is so wonderful to me that I close my eyes and just listen to it! I remember it sounded great!’ And he just looked at me strangely. . . .”
Wellman’s Battle Over Ida Lupino
“We had one argument that went to the studio, it was so bad. He (Colman) wanted me to use Vivien Leigh for the role of the waif. Just before (agent) Jimmy Townsend had brought her up to my office, Ida Lupino had burst in. She went by my secretary and everyone and said to me, ‘You’re doing Kipling’s Light That Failed, and this is my part. You have got to give me a chance. I know it right now. I know the whole script, because I stole it!’
“Then she played one of the greatest scenes (where Heldar breaks her down completely to bring out what he needs in the portrait he is painting of her). I played a very, very bad Colman with her, and I have never seen anything so terrific in my life. I said, ‘You’ve got the part. And I went to tell (producer) B.P. Schulberg and said, “This is my girl.’
Then Ronnie wanted Vivien Leigh and said to me, I think you’ve made a big mistake.’ I said, ‘Well that’s one of my faults. I make mistakes, but occasionally it sticks its head out of the ground and amounts to something.’ He hadn’t seen Lupino do her stuff; he’d just heard me talk about her. So, he then went to Schulberg and complained about it and said, ‘If I can’t get Vivien Leigh, I want another director.’ Schulberg said, ‘Well I cannot do that. Wellman has made some great pictures, and he is very capable and this is his type of picture. I have a hunch he will make a great picture out of this, and I’m running this studio. I’ll call in Wellman and see if I can’t talk him out of it.’
So then I said, ‘No, get yourself another director. The hell with Colman. If he is going to cast the picture for me, then you don’t need a director, you need a messenger boy. How am I going to direct a guy like that? If you want to do it, I’ll go home and you get me somebody else.’ He looked at me and said, ‘No, you’ve got Lupino.’
“So that’s the way it was; we started out on the wrong foot. I’m completely in accord with the way Ronnie felt about me. If I had been Colman, and Colman had been Wellman, I would have felt the same way.”
