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Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (7 May 1865 – 22 November 1948) was an English author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, '' The Four Feathers'' and is also known as the creator of
Inspector Hanaud Inspector Gabriel Hanaud is a fictional French detective depicted in a series of five novels and one novella by the British writer A. E. W. Mason. He has been described as the "first major fiction police detective of the Twentieth Century". ...
, a French detective who was an early template for
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's famous Hercule Poirot. His prolific output in short stories and novels were frequently made and remade into films during his lifetime; though many of the silent versions have been lost or forgotten, the productions of '' Fire Over England'' (1937) and '' The Four Feathers'' (1939) remain enduring classics of British cinema.


Life

Mason was born in
Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
. He studied at Dulwich College and graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, in 1888. He was a contemporary of fellow Liberal Anthony Hope, who went on to write the adventure novel '' The Prisoner of Zenda''. He was an actor before he became a writer, and took the role of Major Plechanoff in the premiere of George Bernard Shaw's ''
Arms and the Man ''Arms and the Man'' is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', in Latin: ''Arma virumque cano'' ("Of arms and the man I sing"). The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Aven ...
'' in 1894. He was also an avid cricket player. His first novel, ''A Romance of Wastdale'', was published in 1895. He was the author of more than 30 books, including '' At The Villa Rose'' (1910), a mystery novel in which he introduced his French detective,
Inspector Hanaud Inspector Gabriel Hanaud is a fictional French detective depicted in a series of five novels and one novella by the British writer A. E. W. Mason. He has been described as the "first major fiction police detective of the Twentieth Century". ...
; Hanaud's career in six novels spanned from before World War I to after World War II. His best-known book is '' The Four Feathers'', which has been made into several films (see below). Many consider it his masterpiece. Other books are '' The House of the Arrow'' (1924), '' No Other Tiger'' (1927), ''
The Prisoner in the Opal ''The Prisoner in the Opal'' is a British detective novel by A.E.W. Mason, serialised in ''The Pall Mall Magazine'' and published in book form in 1928. It is the third full-length novel in Mason's Inspector Hanaud series, and the only one to fe ...
'' (1929) and '' Fire Over England'' (1937). He contributed a short story, "The Conjurer", to ''
The Queen's Book of the Red Cross ''The Queen's Book of the Red Cross'' was published in November 1939 in a fundraising effort to aid the Red Cross during World War II. The book was sponsored by Queen Elizabeth, and its contents were contributed by fifty British authors and artis ...
''. Mason was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Coventry in the
1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting ele ...
. He served only a single term in Parliament, retiring at the next general election in January 1910. His first play was the four-act comedy ''Marjory Strode''. Mason wrote three plays that were produced and presented by
Sir George Alexander Sir George Alexander (19 June 185815 March 1918), born George Alexander Gibb Samson, was an English stage actor, theatre producer and Actor-manager, theatre manager. After acting on stage as an amateur he turned professional in 1879 and, over th ...
in St James's Theatre. He wrote, "I had three plays produced by George Alexander; one a failure, ''Colonel Smith'', one which made a moderate profit, ''Open Windows'', and one which was a considerable success, ''The Witness for the Defence''. The light farce ''Colonel Smith'' opened on 23 April 1909. ''The Witness for the Defence'' opened on 1 February 1911, starring Sir George Alexander as Henry Thresk. In 1913 Mason's problem play ''Open Windows'' opened on the evening of 11 March, starring Sydney Valentine as ''Phillip Hammond'', Irene Vanbrugh as ''Cynthia Herrick'', Sir George Alexander as ''John Herrick'', with Rosalie Toller as ''Elsie Herrick''. Mason served with the Manchester Regiment in the First World War, being promoted
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in December 1914. He transferred to the
General List The General Service Corps (GSC) is a corps of the British Army. Role The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allo ...
(reservists) in 1915 and the Royal Marine Light Infantry in 1917 with the rank of Major. His military career included work in naval intelligence, serving in Spain and Mexico, where he set up counter-espionage networks on behalf of the British government. Mason turned to non-fiction as well; he wrote a biography of Sir Francis Drake (1941), whose piratical exploits for the Queen figure in ''Fire Over England''. He was working on a non-fiction book about
Admiral Robert Blake General at Sea Robert Blake (27 September 1598 – 17 August 1657) was an English naval officer who served as the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1656 to 1657. Blake is recognised as the chief founder of England's naval supremacy, a d ...
when he died in 1948. Mason had been offered a knighthood but reportedly declined it, declaring that such honours meant little to a childless man.


Works

Mason's prolific output included over 30 novels as well as plays, short stories and articles. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, several multiples times. During the 1910s and 1920s he worked closely with many film directors of the silent era.


Inspector Hanaud

In 1910, Mason undertook to create a fictional detective as different as possible from
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
, who had recently been resuscitated after his supposed death by
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
in 1903. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud was stout, not gaunt like Holmes; a professional policeman, not a gentleman amateur; from the French Sûreté, not Victorian England; and relying on psychological insights rather than physical evidence. His "Watson" is a retired London banker named Mr. Julius Ricardo. Hanaud's appearance in the 1910 novel '' At The Villa Rose'' marks "the first major fiction detective of the Twentieth Century," according to a historian of the genre. Set in the south of France, its plot also ridicules spiritualism and mediums, well-known enthusiasms of A. Conan Doyle. Four more Hanaud novels and several short stories followed, the last, ''
The House in Lordship Lane ''The House in Lordship Lane'' is a 1946 British detective novel by A.E.W. Mason. It is the fifth and final full-length novel in Mason's Inspector Hanaud series, published when the author was eighty-one. Unlike the others in the series the st ...
'', in 1946 and the only one set in England. The first Hanaud book was a best-seller, as were several of his 30 novels, and as such often adapted into films, often more than once. A 1920 version of '' At the Villa Rose'' was a great success in British movie theatres that year, even as a play version of the novel simultaneously began a long run at the Strand. A successful silent version of '' The Four Feathers'' followed the next year. The first sound version of ''At the Villa Rose'' was shot both in English and in French at Twickenham Studios in 1930, making it the first British bi-lingual production, released in America under the name ''The Mystery of the Villa Rose''. This marked the film début of Austin Trevor, an actor from Northern Ireland, in the role of Mr. Ricardo. Trevor would go on to be the first actor to create Hercule Poirot on the screen. Veteran British director
Walter Summers Walter Summers (1892–1973) was a British film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Barnstaple to a family of actors, British motion picture director Walter Summers began his career in the family trade; his first contact with filmmaki ...
directed '' At the Villa Rose'', aka ''House of Mystery'', in 1940.


Film adaptations

Mason's historical novel '' Fire Over England'' (1936) was set in the
16th century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th cent ...
as a beleaguered Elizabeth I of England prepares for invasion by a tyrannical Spain in the throes of the Inquisition. A thinly veiled metaphor for then-neutral Britain's need to prepare for the threat of Nazi invasion, and published while the Spanish Civil War was raging, the book was adapted for film by the author Clemence Dane for Alexander Korda, England's leading film producer; Korda was helping
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
in his struggle to alert the British people to the military threat of the Third Reich.Charmed Lives (1979) by Michael Korda, p. 130. The lavish costume drama also made stars of
Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...
and
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...
in their first pairing as lovers onscreen, as they were off-screen. Korda also produced '' The Four Feathers'' (1939), directed by his brother, Zoltan Korda. Filmed on location in the desert of Sudan, starring Ralph Richardson and John Clements; its technicolor cinematography was nominated for an Oscar. Released before Britain's entry into World War II, its pro-British theme also features valiant British fighting against hopeless odds, this time in a late 19th century imperial setting. Zoltan Korda directed a remake, the much less successful ''
Storm Over the Nile ''Storm Over the Nile'' is a 1955 British adventure film adaptation of the 1902 novel ''The Four Feathers'', directed by Terence Young and Zoltan Korda. The film not only extensively used footage of the action scenes from the 1939 film versi ...
'' (1955), starring Anthony Steel. Other film versions include three earlier silent films, from 1915, 1921 and 1929, a 1978 American television film with
Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was a ...
in the lead role, and '' The Four Feathers'' (2002), starring Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson.


References


Sources

*


External links


A. E. W. Mason Collection
at the Harry Ransom Center * * *
AEW Mason: The most popular (and now forgotten) Storyteller of Edwardian and Modernist England.


Online editions

* * * *

a
Project Gutenberg Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, A E W 1865 births 1948 deaths 20th-century English novelists Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford British Army General List officers British Army personnel of World War I English mystery writers Military personnel from London Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Manchester Regiment officers People educated at Dulwich College People from Dulwich Royal Marines officers Royal Marines personnel of World War I UK MPs 1906–1910 Victorian novelists Writers from London Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Coventry