Development
The film was based on a 1925 novel by Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil, which had been filmed by MGM under that title in 1934 with Greta Garbo. In 1955 MGM announced it would film the novel again starring Ava Gardner.[2]
Producer David Lewis felt the story "needed modernizing and a fresh approach" and had a script done by Arthur Laurents.[3] Laurents called Lewis "a mild pleasant man who dreaded weekdays because he was certain every morning he drove through the studio gates was the day someone would discover he was gay."[4] Laurents said Lewis "became afraid of me. So much so it took him a week to tell me Ava Gardner was lot in the wilds of Spain and Eleanor Parker was replacing her... That called for a rewrite of a rewrite I would not do."[4]
Eleanor Parker was under contract to MGM at the time. Laurents argued the script was envisioned for "an extremely glamorous person; then they changed the casting to Eleanor Parker, so I knew the picture wouldn't work. They wanted changes [in the script]. I said I was not going to make any changes, for that reason. They got somebody else in to make the changes."[5]
Lewis claimed that director Ronald Neame "with the backing of [studio executive Benjamin] Thau, had rejected Arthur Laurents’ script to return to the old hat of Maugham, and Karl Tunberg was assigned to do a rewrite."[6] Laurents said Turnberg "went over the whole script and when it said, 'I don't do this,' he changed it to, 'I do not do this,' because, you see, that gave him the percentage" necessary to claim full credit.[5] Neame wrote in his memoirs, "wanting desperately to make a movie in Hollywood, I ignored my own advice - never start with a bad script. Karl Turnberg had written it with promises of improvement before production."[7]
Shooting
Filming started on 29 October 1956.[8] There was extensive second unit photography in Hong Kong but the bulk of the movie was shot in the studio. Lewis wrote, "The whole project was pedestrian and Neame, I thought, was doing a very bad job. He has done fine work on other films, but he certainly didn’t on this one. I don’t think he even understood the story—certainly not Laurents’ conception of it."[9]
David Lewis said that Neame was fired off the film and was replaced by Sidney Franklin who was then replaced by Vincente Minnelli, while agent Bert Allenberg "got me off the film".[10] Minnelli wrote in his memoirs that both Neame and Lewis were fired, replaced by himself and Sidney Franklin respectively.[11] This was confirmed by Variety which stated Lewis was fired in December 1956 and Neame a few weeks later.[12] Minnelli said "the enterprise was sour from the beginning. The company didn't get along with each other and the producer and director were having battles royal with the front office. They're struggled through filming when matters finally became untenable."[11]
Hank Moonjean, who worked on the movie as an assistant, said Neame was fired due to drinking.[13] Neame's son Christopher wrote in his memoirs that an editor assembled footage of the movie without Neame's input, showed it to MGM executives who were not impressed, and "the outcome was that he resigned (prior to being 'released') before the completion of shooting."[14]
According to Ronald Neame, Margaret Booth, head of the MGM editing department, watched dailies before the director was allowed to see them and he was told the characters were "flat" and that MGM wanted "bigger" performances. Neame wrote "I tried to explain that actors could only speak dialogue that is reflected in the script." Neame said he tried to improve things but "ten days into shooting" he was told by Bert Allenberg that if he did not resign he would be fired, so he resigned.[15] Neame said he was called up by George Cukor who commiserated with the director, reminded Neame that Cukor had been fired off Gone with the Wind but was still working; Neame always remembered this act of kindness.[16]
According to Minnelli he asked Neame what the director felt was "the best approach" to finish the movie "but Neame was glad to be out of it and begged off. I would have to fill in the missing parts myself. Filming hobbled to a conclusion. The only consideration I requested from the studio: I wanted absolutely no credit for my contribution."[11]
Minnelli's biographer argued that although most of the film "belongs to Neame, the finished film contains some distinctive Minnelli flourishes" such as the opening sequence.[17]
