Korda, Sir Alexander (1893-1956), Hungarian-born British film director and producer. Korda, born Sándor László Kellner in Puszta Túrpósztó, made films in his native Hungary, as well as in Austria, Germany, Hollywood, and France before finally settling in Britain in 1931 and establishing himself as its foremost independent producer. His career as a director in Hollywood had been inauspicious and in France only Marius (1931) remains memorable. With 50 films behind him, his understanding of the international market was unique in Britain. He created London Film Productions and borrowed the money from a multitude of sources to make The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), which, by a stroke of good fortune, became a worldwide success. Almost immediately he found financial support from the Prudential Assurance.

Korda was a visionary with regard to British cinema and set about correcting its fundamental weaknesses: under-investment in equipment, studios, and manpower, and inadequate distribution. He built Denham Studios along Hollywood lines and brought in “Ace” technicians from Europe and the United States to work on such films as: The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), Sanders of the River (1935), The Ghost Goes West (1935), Things to Come (1936), The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936), Farewell Again (1937), Knight Without Armour (1937), and The Four Feathers (1939). Numerous fledgling British technicians and directors were, for the first time, able to receive training from major cinematographers, editors, and, in design, from Korda's brother, Vincent. He commissioned scenarios from Carl Zuckmayer and brought in such figures as R. C. Sherriff, H. G. Wells, Eric Ambler, and Graham Greene, all of whom added prestige to the script department. Not only did he successfully negotiate a distribution arrangement with United Artists, he continuously sought an innovatory marketing edge in world markets, notably by entering into an early contractual agreement with Technicolor, using the process to maximum effect in The Four Feathers. His actors almost all became stars: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Vivien Leigh, Sabu, Merle Oberon, Robert Donat, Flora Robson, and Charles Laughton are among those whose film-acting careers were established at London Films at the height of its success.

With everything in place, Korda continually sought innovation, sometimes before the appropriate technology was available. For Things to Come, the sound- and music-track was to be created prior to filming, but it proved too complicated. Ludwig Berger attempted to mix the sound and music on the set of The Thief of Bagdad (1940), but again it proved a practical impossibility. With the emphasis frequently on showy effect, sometimes bland scripts were often overblown, and rescuing the films became costly, while the returns were unpredictable. His financiers became overstretched, questioned his management methods, and, in 1939, took over Denham. Korda considered that the Prudential knew nothing about film production; they in turn argued that he did not understand banking. In order to complete The Thief of Bagdad, Korda took it, half-finished, to Hollywood, where he remained for three years, producing and directing the patriotic That Hamilton Woman (1941) and producing Jungle Book (1942). A long-time associate of the British prime minister of the time, Winston Churchill, in 1942 he was rewarded for his loyalty with the first knighthood of the film industry.

In Britain again, Korda re-floated London Films and once again set about acquiring studio and distribution outlets. In 1946 he took a controlling interest in British Lion and acquired Shepperton Studios. He directed only one film after the war and his name gradually disappeared from the screen, most obviously after the collapse of British Lion, which had received a substantial government loan, and for which he was, perhaps unreasonably, blamed. Nevertheless, he initiated the films that Graham Greene wrote and Carol Reed directed, most notably The Third Man (1949); three films by Powell and Pressburger, which included one of their masterpieces, The Tales of Hoffman (1951); and Laurence Olivier's greatly admired Richard III (1956). Neither did he lose his innovatory sparkle and, with colour now standard Korda fare, his last films, which include The Deep Blue Sea (1955), Storm Over the Nile (1955), Richard III, and Smiley (1956), made use of the wide-screen processes CinemaScope and VistaVision before any other British-produced pictures.