Hal Wallis by Bernard F. Dick
Hal Wallis splashed his name across the credits of golden age Hollywood. Even casual fans will recognize him as the producer for the most beloved film from that period, Casablanca. In his 1980 memoir Starmaker, Wallis was reticent about his personal life while generously crediting himself as the mastermind behind classics such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Casablanca (1942), Now Voyager (1942), a bevy of films noir, a slew of Elvis pictures and such fondly remembered movies from his late career as Five Card Stud (1968) and True Grit (1969).
Bernard F. Dick’s biography Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars fills in the blanks and sorts out the details. He came from Jewish immigrant parents and grew up poor in Chicago. Largely self-educated, he had great respect for culture but was more enamored of theater than film as a youth. Wallis was a successful oven salesman who learned to make a good pitch for his product line. After his sister Minna became a well-connected Hollywood agent and opened doors for him, his ability to market his movies—and himself—was important to his rise.
Dick sifts fact from self-promotion, studying the archival studio memos for clues about Wallis’ differing roles in shaping the movies he produced. Wallis was instrumental in launching a cycle of gangster pictures by casting Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931). He ordered director Anatole Litvak to tone down Bette Davis in All This and Heaven Too (1940), resulting in her least mannered performance. He bemoaned sloppy diction and its opposite number, affectation. On many occasions Wallis’ “contributions were minimal, probably consisting of some uncredited contributions to the script.” Pinching pennies, he “wanted perfection, but at bargain prices.”
Wallis wasn’t a typical mogul. He disliked schmoozing and attended as few Hollywood parties as possible. There was no casting couch in his office and his occasional affairs were discrete. He was devoted to his first wife, remarrying only after her death, and yet work was always his first love.
As Wallis summed up his credo, “Many of my films contain messages, but I try to see that the message is delivered entertainingly.” Dick has written an enduring (and entertaining) narrative of a leading figure in Hollywood’s golden age. The new paperback edition of Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars is published by University Press of Kentucky.
