The Lion That Lost Its Way: And Other Cautionary Tales of the Show Business Jungle

by Sydney Box

Sydney Box was one of the most important film producers in British cinema. Between 1940 and 1967 he made over 60 feature films and over 100 documentaries. After the huge success of The Seventh Veil (1945) - which earned him an Oscar® for Best Original Screenplay - Box became head of Gainsborough Pictures from 1946 to 1949. In 1963 he initiated an ambitious and innovative scheme to challenge the monolithic structures of British film and television by acquiring British Lion and the London Weekday television franchise. Ill health forced his retirement in 1967.

In this candid and witty autobiography, Box provides fascinating and illuminating insights into the working of the British film industry. The autobiography covers the whole of Box's varied career in British cinema over the period 1940-65, as well as his earlier career as a writer and his later role as an impresario. This memoir also contains many perceptive portraits of those he worked with, including Dylan Thomas, Noël Coward, W. Somerset Maugham, the Duke of Windsor, J. Arthur Rank, Leslie Caron, Alec Guinness and George Bernard Shaw.

The memoir is supplemented by an introduction and notes from film scholar Andrew Spicer who clarifies any obscurities and assesses Box's significance to the British film industry.

Includes 16 photos.

232 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2005