Programming Note - Rare Viewing Event

[Leslie Howard and Conchita Montenegro in
Never the Twain Shall Meet, 1931]

Never the Twain Shall Meet to air on TCM on Monday, July 25, at 11:00 AM PST [Please check your local listings]

This film is one of Leslie Howard's earliest ventures into talking films. The film is rarely shown and very hard to find on DVD. Never the Twain Shall Meet was produced and distributed by MGM. It was filmed on location in Tahiti. The south seas, Polynesian theme was very popular with movie goers at the time. Although the film isn't one of Howard's best, his performance was excellent as usual. The New York Times review stated "Mr. Howard comes through with another of his specimens of finished acting, investing his character with humor and
personality" and said the movie was worth seeing.

Howard is reported to have had an affair with his Spanish co-star, Conchita Montenegro. Although their affair may have been brief, they formed a long-lasting friendship. It is thought that Howard used this friendship at the urging of Winston Churchill to secure a meeting between Howard and Francisco Franco in an effort to keep Spain out of the war. Montenegro admitted in a rare interview before her death that she used her husband's influence to arrange the meeting. She was one of the last people to see Leslie Howard before his plane was shot down by Germans over the Bay of Biscay. She was said to have been devastated.

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