A Hell Of A War

Features of A Hell of a War

It was just six weeks before Pearl Harbor, and the star of Gunga Din and The Prisoner of Zenda, now a newly commissioned lieutenant, began his naval service, leaving behind his wife and baby daughter, as well as a prospering movie career.Unlike so many Hollywood heroes who never heard a shot fired, Fairbanks spent most of his time in harm's way, including gruelling experiences aboard a destroyer in the North Atlantic, followed by combat in parts of the European Theater. Towering figures - FDR, General Patton, King George VI, Marshal Tito, the Mountbattens - play significant roles in this fast-paced, enthralling story.And there were lighter moments as well, notably in wartime London, where falling bombs took second place to frolics with old friends like Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Noel Coward, and David Niven.A Hell of a War colorfully ends with the return of the sailor to his wife and two daughters, Daphne and Victoria, to their California home, and their bizarre reception by the motion picture community, including Cary Grant, Barbara Hutton, and Fairbank's first wife, Joan Crawford: a fitting Hollywood finale to four years crammed with enough adventures to leave a screenwriter delightfully dizzy.