VOA常速英语2007年-Hollywood Film Director Annakin Looks Back on G

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
05 December 2007

British-born filmmaker Ken¹ Annakin has made more than 50 movies and become known as one of Hollywood's most versatile² directors. He spoke³ with Mike O'Sullivan about a career that has taken him from the beaches of Normandy to South Africa and Malaysia.

Were it not for some twists of fate, might have had a career in the British civil service.

"My uncle was the chancellor⁴ of the exchequer⁵ in England, my uncle Philip Snowdon," he said. "And it was he who advised my father that I should go into the income tax department. And so that is what I was for three years."

But the young Annakin yearned⁶ for adventure, and he got lucky. He won 100 pounds, a lot of money in those days, at the race track, and he used the money set off for New Zealand, Australia and America. He would prospect⁷ for gold, sell insurance and do odd jobs, and returned to Britain in time for World War II.

He joined the Royal Air Force, was injured and hospitalized, and ended up making propaganda films for the British government.

"I had to learn my job in film very quickly, and made 14 documentaries, including some explaining the war," said Annakin.

Another urged British mothers to breastfeed their babies.

After the war, Annakin made family films, including comedies and adventures. He also co-directed two well-received films that dramatized short stories by British writer Somerset Maugham, one called Quartet and the other called Trio. A later movie, Across the Bridge, was based on a story by Graham Greene, and starred Rod Steiger.

There were four Disney films, including The Story of Robin⁸ Hood⁹ and Swiss Family Robinson, the famous tale of a shipwrecked family.

He would make a classic war film. In 1962, Annakin was one of three directors for The Longest Day, a big-screen epic¹⁰ with a huge all-star cast.

Three years later, he directed another war film, Battle of the Bulge¹¹.

Another big success was the popular comedy, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, which also had a big ensemble¹² cast.

Annakin has worked with some of Hollywood's biggest-name performers, from Henry Fonda to Charlton Heston. He says he was able to bring out the best in actors, which is the most important quality for a director.

"I would have liked to be an actor. I would have liked to have been a top writer. I have done both," he said. "But something told me that there were other people who I could see were better than I was at that. And I found that handling other people and bringing out their talents was something that I could do."

Annakin inadvertently gave his own name to a film character, although the spelling is slightly different, when the actor Alec Guinness suggested the name to director George Lucas for a character in the Star Wars films.

At a screening of the film, Annakin asked Lucas about it.

"He was running his picture with Anakin Skywalker in it, and I went over to him and said, 'you know, you never got permission for this.' He said, 'but I dropped an "n" and therefore I got away with it,"' Annakin said.

Now 93, Annakin says he has had fabulous¹³ adventures all over the world, making films that included the western-themed The Hellions in South Africa, the colonial drama The Planter's Wife in Malaysia, and dozens of other films shot on location.

His last, in the 1990s, was called Genghis Khan, and was filmed in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China. The film's Italian producers went bankrupt and it has not yet been released.

But Annakin is looking for backers for yet another project, a tale of lost aviator¹⁴ Amelia Earhart. He says that, just as his other films, this one will be good family entertainment.

Ken Annakin has chronicled his globe-trotting adventures in the book So You Wanna Be a Director?  which was published in Britain.

1 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

2 versatile   

adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的

参考例句：

• A versatile person is often good at a number of different things.多才多艺的人通常擅长许多种不同的事情。
• He had been one of the game's most versatile athletes.他是这项运动中技术最全面的运动员之一。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

5 exchequer   

n.财政部；国库

参考例句：

• In Britain the Chancellor of the Exchequer deals with taxes and government spending.英国的财政大臣负责税务和政府的开支。
• This resulted in a considerable loss to the exchequer.这使国库遭受了重大损失。

6 yearned   

渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The people yearned for peace. 人民渴望和平。
• She yearned to go back to the south. 她渴望回到南方去。

7 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

8 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

9 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

10 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

11 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？

12 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

13 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

14 aviator   

n.飞行家，飞行员

参考例句：

• The young aviator bragged of his exploits in the sky.那名年轻的飞行员吹嘘他在空中飞行的英勇事迹。
• Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous aviator.数百名爱慕者围困那个著名飞行员。