'An engrossing memoir with a scoop story about the film producer’s espionage activities'   – Books of the Year, Independent

 

‘Film history rarely has such a deft touch. As with so much, Korda got lucky’ – Times Literary Supplement

 

‘Wry, ruthless and expertly researched’ – Financial Times

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Sir Alexander Korda was one of the world’s most important and charismatic movie moguls. In Britain, with films like The Four Feathers, The Thief of Baghdad and The Third Man, he made movies that in their scale, glamour and sophistication equalled and often surpassed Hollywood. He worked closely with such legends as Samuel Goldwyn, David Selznick and Louis B. Mayer, and guided to stardom screen icons that included Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and Charles Laughton. But for colour and incident none of these great showbusiness lives came even close to matching his own. Behind the public façade of movie mogul, he played a hidden role as one of Britain’s most important intelligence agents and masterminded Britain’s vital propaganda battle to bring the United States into the Second World War. Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, this biography is the first book to go behind the myths to reveal the many sides of one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing figures.