Musa Dagh, Edward Minasian (hardcover)

The book traces the trials and tribulations of Franz Werfel’s The Forty Days of Musa Dagh in Hollywood. The book is an original work and the first to deal with the historic controversy Werfel’s masterpiece stirred since its publication in the United States in 1934.

Werfel’s historical novel that described the Armeinan defense at Musa Dagh in the days of the Armenian Genocide became an instant best seller in Europe and the United States in 1934-1935. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the most powerful studio in the world, purchased the rights with the intent to make it into a major motion picture. The film project was subjected to protests by the Turkish government. Turkish pressure was applied on the U.S. State Department to influence the Hays Office (Hollywood’s censor bureau) to exhort MGM to cancel the film production. Until today it has become the most on-again and off-again motion picture production in Hollywood history.

This book is thoroughly documented and based on archival research and interviews of personalities involved in the film project. The basic components of historical research are covered in a manner that finally unveils the truth of a film denied.