Wed 27 May 2009

10 Responses to “A Review by Mary Reed: A. E. W. MASON – At the Villa Rose.”

1. David Vineyard Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

   Though perhaps dated a bit the Hanaud books are of interest for a number of reasons, including Mason’s abilities as a storyteller. In particular Hanaud was the inspiration for Poirot (Christie may also have borrowed a bit from Ricardo for the ‘Watson’ in the Harly Quinn stories), and the sucess of Mason’s books helped spur the movement of the classical detective story from short story to novel form.

   House of the Arrow is usually considered the best (filmed at least twice), though Prisoner in the Opal, They Wouldn’t Be Chessmen, and The House on Lordship Lane all have their advocates (there is one semi rare short story).

   Mason is an interesting character in himself. Best remembered today as the author of British Imperial adventure stories like The Four Feathers (often filmed) and Fire Over England, he was a theatrical producer and friend to fellow writers like Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Henry James, Ford Maddox Ford (nee Huffaker), and Anthony Hope (nee Hawkins — The Prisoner of Zenda).

   In addition Mason was an operative of the British Secret Service (usually through the Admiralty’s Naval Intelligence). Though he writes few actual spy stories he was one of the most succesful agents of the era, operating in Spain and Nothern Mexico. The Spanish network he set up prior to WWI was still being operated during the Cold War, and may still be around. In addition Mason seems to have foiled a German plot to have infiltrated anthrax infected livestock into France through Spain during WWI — shades of James Bond. He operated in Mexico in the era prior to and in early WWI and may have played a role in the famed Zimmerman telegram that brought the US into the war, although that is speculation. He did destroy several German monitoring stations on the Texas and Mexican border. His biography by Roger Lancelyn Green is well worth reading, as are many of his novels and shorts.

   His classic story “The Crystal Trench” was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, one of the few actually directed by Hitchcock himeself.

2. Steve Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

   David

   Thanks for adding all that background to Mason the man as well as the author. Personally I think he should be remembered more today than he is, but considering all of the obscure books written at the same time he was writing, maybe he’s doing OK.

   A cursory look has suggested that none of the filmed versions of VILLA ROSE exist. Does anyone have anything more optimistic they can say?

3. David Vineyard Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 11:06 pm

   Steve

   Carroll and Graf published all of the Hanaud stories in paperback as well as The Four Feathers (which was available as late as the Heath Ledger film). Mason is a little obscure, but so many of his books were bestsellers in their day he isn’t hard to find. Aside from the best known books, No Other Tiger, Sapphire, Martin Connigsby’s Vengenance (a historical spy novel), Running Water, and several others are worth reading. Most books are either adventure or have some other tie to the mystery genre, and he’s an excellent storyteller.

   I’ve read complaints about the amount of romance in the Hanaud books, and Hanaud’s sometimes high handed actions, but I enjoyed them all.

   As for the films I’ve never seen anything on At The Villa Rose, and I’m not sure either version of House of the Arrow is available either. Austin Trevor who played Hanaud in Villa Rose, also played Poirot, Philip MacDonald’s Anthony Gethryn, and Inpsector Parker from the Lord Peter Wimsey books in films and on stage. As late as Terence Fisher’s 1950 So Long at the Fair he was still playing detectives.

4. Steve Says:
   May 28th, 2009 at 12:00 am

   When I mentioned obscure books in my previous comment, I was referring to books written by others at the same time Mason was working, famous in their day but essentially forgotten now, while his are remembered.

   By some of us, anyway!

   And now that I’ve written that, I wonder if titles of Mason’s books are more well-known than he is. THE FOUR FEATHERS certainly is. Obviously the movie version is responsible for that, but ask most of the fans of the movie who wrote the book, and I doubt they could tell you.

   — Steve

5. David Vineyard Says:
   May 28th, 2009 at 1:09 am

   Steve

   I would agree that The Four Feathers has far outstripped Mason in fame and recognition. I know there is a silent version, at least four sound versions, and a made for television movie version that starred Beau Bridges, and there are probably more. The Korda version shows up fairly frequently, and I think Storm Over the Nile, the scene for scene remake with John Richardson and Lawrence Harvey, was recently on TCM.

   Mason is a little better known in the mystery genre thanks to the influence of the Hanaud books. That said, his books aren’t too difficult to find if you know to look for them.

   You are certainly right about the obscurity of writers from his general period. Harold MacGrath, George Barr McCutcheon, Richard Harding Davis (a little better remembered as one of Hearst’s more adventurous correspondents), Winston Churchill (the American one, not the Prime Minister), Stanley Weyman, and many others are little more than ghost names, though some of their works may be a little better known.

   But then who reads William Bradford Hughie, James Gould Cozzens, Hamilton Basso, or some other major bestselling writers from the fifties today?

   William Everson wrote a bit about the two film versions of House of the Arrow in The Detective in Film and even has a picture of Oscar Holmoka from the second version.

6. MChang Says:
   March 3rd, 2010 at 1:42 am

   Mason destroyed German monitoring stations *before World War 1* ? Thats pretty impressive, I didn’t know there was domestic spying by Germany along the border that long ago. Guess I’ll have to check out the biography.

7. L. Haward Says:
   April 16th, 2010 at 9:02 am

   Can’t agree that Stanley Weyman is “little more than a ghost name”. Not, perhaps, so celebrated as Rider Haggard, e.g., but nevertheless a classic.

   L.A.H.

8. Bevis Says:
   July 20th, 2011 at 8:28 pm

   There are actually two published Hanaud Short stories. “The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel” and “The Ginger King”, the latter has a really rather neat arson method in it. In addition to these these two short stories Inspector Hanaud and Mr Ricardo also appear very briefly in “The Sapphire” . Mr Ricardo has a cameo appearance in ” No Other Tiger”.

9. Francis Golding Says:
   December 18th, 2013 at 6:29 am

   A small correction,

   Martin Connigsby’s Vengenance
   mentioned in May 2009 was by Jeffery Farnol

   For I moment I was excited to discover a Mason I had not known.

10. Steve Says:
    December 18th, 2013 at 10:18 am

    Francis

    Thanks for the correction, even at this late date (over four years later!).

    To correct a small spelling error committed by David also, it’s Martin Conisby, and you can find the novel online at

    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9835

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