Queenie

Maybe if I didn't read the book and know the story behind it I would have enjoyed this movie more. "Queenie" in reality was Merle Oberon (born Merle Estelle Thompson O'Brien, the half-caste daughter of an Indian mother and Irish father), the exotically beautiful star during Hollywood's Golden Age of the 30's and 40's. Like Queenie, Merle underwent much hardship and effort--first by taking off for England from India to escape prejuduce and a dead-end life for a new beginning there, where her fair skin and unusually ravishing appearance allowed her to "pass" and become a hostess under the name of Queenie O'Brien at the world-famous Cafe de Paris. Then when she was discovered by famed film producer Sir Alexander Korda (played by Douglas as Sir David Konig), who made her an international star as well as his wife, she couldn't really enjoy her success and financial stability since always threatening it was her mixed heritage, which she spent her lifetime suppressing and denying--even to her death. If it had come to light and Tinseltown didn't reject her, then she probably woulda been cast as sexy foreign maid or native girl roles and not as a glamorous leading lady. Knowing this, that's why I find this movie superficial and it rings so hollow with me.