Service for Ladies: how Alexander Korda’s glittering comedy brought a dash of continental sophistication to British cinema

Deemed “one of the most enjoyable [films] ever to emanate from a British studio” by the weekly magazine Bioscope upon its release in 1932, Alexander Korda’s Service for Ladies was, nonetheless, a ‘quota film’ – an example of the kind of production that came into being following the 1927 Quota Act. 

In the name of boosting home-grown production, the act decreed that a certain percentage of films shown in national cinemas had to be British-made. But the resulting films have a reputation of being cheap and hurriedly produced, churned out by producers in the knowledge that, quality notwithstanding, they would likely find a place on British screens. Film historians have long struggled to find positive things to say about the so-called quota quickies, but they are slowly being re-evaluated, not least as a valuable training ground for technicians and actors joining the industry.

Of course, there are quota films and then there are Alexander Korda quota films: the Rolls Royce of the form. Korda was working for Paramount’s European operation, after disenchantment led him to leave Hollywood, and he was sent to London to inject some quality into the studio’s quota production. His move to England turned out to be fortuitous for British cinema as he was to become, in Charles Drazin’s words, “Britain’s Movie Mogul”.

Paramount had proclaimed its intention to make films “equal to Hollywood productions”, with superior budgets to most quota films. For his first UK venture, Korda stayed on fairly safe ground by making a sound version of a successful Paramount silent. Service for Ladies (1927), based on a novel by Hungarian writer Ernest Vajda, was a vehicle for Adolphe Menjou, playing a Parisian head waiter who falls in love above his social station. Menjou was dapper and continental-looking and his suavity and lightness of touch ensured the success of the film, which the publicity dubbed: “A platter piled high with hors d’oeuvres of humour.”

For his version, Korda cast a very different physical type. Tall and blond, Leslie Howard was born and bred in the suburbs of London, though also had a touch of the continental via his Hungarian father. Perhaps it was this connection that helped Korda persuade Howard to appear in Service for Ladies, as he was doing well in Hollywood at the time and was only visiting England on a break between films. He was ideal casting as the low-born but highly-cultured maitre d’, confidant of the rich and powerful, who eventually wins the hand of Sylvia, a haughty debutante betrothed to another.

In the role of Sylvia is 21-year-old Elizabeth Allan, while her love rival, Countess Ricardi, is played by Benita Hume. As the bigger star, Hume featured more prominently in the publicity; she had entered the industry in 1925 at the age of 19, her career really taking off after her appearance in Gainsborough hit The Constant Nymph (1928), and she had easily made the transition to sound.

The US success of Service for Ladies opened up Stateside careers for these two female stars. Benita Hume settled in America in 1933 and married Ronald Colman in 1938 to form one of the most famous celebrity couples in the business. Elizabeth Allan was signed to MGM but, like Korda, did not flourish in Hollywood and returned to Britain where she had a long and varied screen career, becoming a TV personality through her regular appearances on the quiz show What’s My Line?

Critics were full of praise for Korda’s British debut, particularly the script, with Bioscope declaring the dialogue “extremely witty”. Two writers are credited on screen: Hungarian Lajos Biró who was Korda’s closest collaborator throughout the 1930s, and a relative newcomer, Eliot Crawshay-Williams, perhaps brought in as a native English speaker. Crawshay-Williams had been a Liberal MP, but his political career ended in 1913 when he was cited as co-respondent in the divorce case of a fellow MP. 

He pursued writing instead and his entrée to the film world came in 1931 when one of his plays was filmed as Fascination (1931), directed by Miles Mander. During the shoot of this film at Elstree he got to know the head of Paramount who offered him a screenwriting job, and he was immediately assigned to Service for Ladies. After meeting Korda on 1 September 1931, he and Biró began working urgently on the script, with Korda’s uncredited participation. In his memoirs, Crawshay-Williams recalled the speed with which the film was made: 

“my memories of the preparation of Service for Ladies are like a rather blurred composite photograph of such scenes as the kitchen of the Dorchester Hotel (visited to get local colour and technical information); Korda’s flat late at night (with three of us working out the sequence following the one we were shooting); Selfridges on a flying visit with Leslie Howard (to get an overcoat appropriate to a head waiter on holiday); the office at Elstree (myself dictating dialogue to a typist, and then taking it down to be learnt by actors waiting to go on the set).”

The reason for the flurry of activity was the incredibly tight schedule. The script was still being written when the first shot was taken on 24 September and, even after the film’s closing scene was in the can by the beginning of October, the crafting of what went between had barely begun.

Service for Ladies opened in mid-June 1932, exhibiting far more assurance and sophistication than most filmmakers in the UK could muster at the time. Korda had worked in Hungary, Austria, France and Hollywood so brought a great deal of varied experience, and cannily looked to the continent rather than America for inspiration, imbuing the film with a European style and restraint.

Audiences voted it their second favourite British film of 1932 (musical comedy Sunshine Susie came top), and in the US it made the list of the New York Times’ top 10 films of the year.

It was the film’s success across the Atlantic that saved Service for Ladies for posterity; missing from the national collection until 1991, it came to the BFI National Archive in the form of a nitrate print repatriated from the Library of Congress. A viewing print was created by the archive in 1995, after preservation safety material was made. 

It has only recently screened twice at BFI Southbank, once from the original nitrate, and audiences were bowled over by its subtle humour and high production values on both occasions. The film demonstrates the ambition and professionalism that Alexander Korda brought to British cinema, qualities that were to equip national production to compete with Hollywood, and, on occasion, win.

This rare British film is preserved in the BFI National Archive. It can be viewed upon request via our research viewing service. Special Collections items can be viewed by appointment at the J Paul Getty Jr Conservation Centre in Berkhamsted.