Kitty (1945 film)

Last updated

Kitty
Kitty (1945 film).jpg
Theatrical poster to Kitty (1945)
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Written by Karl Tunberg
Darrell Ware
Based onnovel by Rosamond Marshall
Produced byMitchell Leisen
Starring Paulette Goddard
Ray Milland
Cinematography Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by Alma Macrorie
Music by Victor Young
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • March 31, 1945 (1945-03-31)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [1]
Box office$3.5 million (US rentals) [2]

Kitty is a 1945 film, a costume drama set in London during the 1780s, directed by Mitchell Leisen, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall (published in 1943), with a screenplay by Karl Tunberg. It stars Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Constance Collier, Patric Knowles, Reginald Owen, and Cecil Kellaway as the English painter Thomas Gainsborough. In a broad interpretation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion , the film tells the rags-to-riches story of a beautiful young cockney guttersnipe who is given a complete makeover by an impoverished aristocrat (Milland) and his aunt (Collier) in hopes of arranging her marriage to a peer, thereby repairing their fortunes and their social status.

Contents

Plot

In 1783 London, a poor thief, Kitty, is caught picking the pocket of painter Thomas Gainsborough. Amused, he pays her to sit for a portrait. While posing, she attracts the attention of Sir Hugh Marcy, who offers her a job as a scullery maid and (later) his aunt's ward. Kitty later learns he is impoverished, having lost his post in the Foreign Office. All the while, Gainsborough's portrait of Kitty, The Anonymous Lady, creates a stir, as people try to guess the subject's identity. The Duke of Malmunster, who buys the painting, asks Gainsborough about the model. Sir Hugh interjects that she is his aunt's ward. So in exchange for an introduction to Kitty, the Duke offers to have Hugh reinstated in the Foreign Office. But the relationship goes no further than the promised introduction. Meanwhile, Kitty develops an attraction for Hugh—so much so, that when he is sent to debtors' prison, Kitty charms wealthy industrialist Jonathan Selby into marriage, using her dowry to free Hugh. But he and his aunt once again go broke. So when Kitty breaks into her husband's strongbox to bail them out of trouble, Selby beats her but then dies at the hands of Kitty's loyal maid.

As a result, Kitty inherits a large fortune. She desires happiness with Hugh, but he is determined instead that she marry the Duke of Malmunster and reclaim his career. Kitty gives in, and after the honeymoon, the duke makes it known that Kitty is pregnant (though the father is actually the late Selby). After the birth of the boy, the old duke dies, leaving Kitty extremely wealthy. After a respectable mourning period, Hugh attempts to arrange a third marriage for Kitty, this time to the Prince of Wales. Kitty, however, confesses to Hugh she married twice out of love for him. Unimpressed, Hugh replies that he considers their relationship a business arrangement, nothing more. Meanwhile, Kitty becomes engaged to Hugh's close friend, the Earl of Carstairs. Seeing them together, Hugh realizes he actually is in love with Kitty. The Earl, ever the gentleman, chooses not to stand in the way of Hugh's happiness. So in the end, Hugh and Kitty are free to affirm their mutual devotion.

Cast

Production

The film was based on a novel by Rosamond Marshall. Film rights were bought by Paramount prior to the novel's publication for a reported $50,000. [3]

In October 1943, Paramount announced they would make the film with Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland, with Karl Turnberg and Darrell Ware to write and produce. [4] The novel was published that month. [5] The New York Times described the released film as being "robust entertainment". [6] By January 1946, the book had sold almost 900,000 copies. [7]

In the original novel, Kitty was a prostitute. The Breen Office, who handled censorship at the time, ruled if this was to be kept in the film version, Kitty would have to die at the end for punishment. The story was changed so Kitty was a pickpocket. [8]

In March 1944, Mitchell Leisen was announced as the director and Cecil Kellaway was cast as Gainsborough. [9]

Director Leisen worked very hard with the set and costume designers to create a historically correct picture of 18th-century England. The California portrait painter Theodore Lukits served as technical adviser for the film's artistic scenes and painted the portrait of Kitty that is seen in the film. Lukits knew Ray Milland because he had painted his wife's portrait in 1942.

Goddard was coached in her cockney accent by Connie Lupino, mother of Ida Lupino. [10]

In May 1944, before filming began, Goddard signed a new contract with Paramount to make two films a year over seven years. [11]

Filming started in May 1944. Leisen reportedly spent over $25,000 on recreations of Gainsborough portraits. [12] Goddard made the film after returning from entertaining the troops in India and Burma. Milland made it immediately prior to The Lost Weekend . [13] [14]

The ending of the film was re-shot in December 1944. [15]

Reception

Box office

The film earned over $3 million at the North American box office. [2]

Awards

The film was nominated for one Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (Hans Dreier, Walter H. Tyler, Samuel M. Comer, Ray Moyer). [16]

Radio adaptation

Kitty was presented on Hollywood Players on CBS November 5, 1946. The adaptation starred Paulette Goddard. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Milland</span> Welsh-American actor and film director (1907–1986)

Ray Milland was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945), which won him Best Actor at Cannes, a Golden Globe Award, and ultimately an Academy Award—the first such accolades for any Welsh actor.

<i>Hold Back the Dawn</i> 1941 film by Mitchell Leisen

Hold Back the Dawn is a 1941 American romantic drama film in which a Romanian gigolo marries an American woman in Mexico in order to gain entry to the United States, but winds up falling in love with her. It stars Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland, Paulette Goddard, Victor Francen, Walter Abel, Curt Bois, Rosemary DeCamp, and an uncredited Veronica Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Tufts</span> American actor (1911–1970)

Bowen Charlton "Sonny" Tufts III was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for the films he made as a contract star at Paramount in the 1940s, including So Proudly We Hail!. He also starred in the cult classic Cat-Women of the Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulette Goddard</span> American actress

Paulette Goddard was an American actress and socialite. Her career spanned six decades, from the 1920s to the early 1970s. She was a prominent leading actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida Lupino</span> British actress and filmmaker (1918–1995)

Ida Lupino was a British actress, director, writer, and producer. Throughout her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed eight, working primarily in the United States, where she became a citizen in 1948. She is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system. With her independent production company, she co-wrote and co-produced several social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir, The Hitch-Hiker, in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macdonald Carey</span> American actor

Edward Macdonald Carey was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Gwenn</span> English actor (1877–1959)

Edmund Gwenn was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for the comedy film Mister 880 (1950). He is also remembered for his appearances in four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

<i>Reap the Wild Wind</i> 1942 adventure color film made in USA

Reap the Wild Wind is a 1942 American adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Ray Milland, John Wayne, and Paulette Goddard, with a supporting cast featuring Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Susan Hayward and Charles Bickford. DeMille's second Technicolor production, the film is based on a serialized story written by Thelma Strabel in 1940 for The Saturday Evening Post. The screenplay was written by Alan Le May, Charles Bennett, Jesse Lasky, Jr. and Jeanie MacPherson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constance Collier</span> British actress (1878–1955)

Constance Collier was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insulin in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Sandrich</span> American film producer

Mark Sandrich was an American film director, writer, and producer.

<i>Variety Girl</i> 1947 film by George Marshall

Variety Girl is a 1947 American musical comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Mary Hatcher, Olga San Juan, DeForest Kelley, Frank Ferguson, Glenn Tryon, Nella Walker, Torben Meyer, Jack Norton, and William Demarest. It was produced by Paramount Pictures. Numerous Paramount contract players and directors make cameos or perform songs, with particularly large amounts of screen time featuring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Among many others, the studio contract players include Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Robert Preston, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Barbara Stanwyck and Paula Raymond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Kellaway</span> South African actor (1890–1973)

Cecil Lauriston Kellaway was a South African character actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, for The Luck of the Irish (1948) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).

<i>An Ideal Husband</i> (1947 film) 1947 British film

An Ideal Husband, also known as Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, is a 1947 British comedy film adaptation of the 1895 play by Oscar Wilde. It was made by London Film Productions and distributed by British Lion Films (UK) and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (USA). It was produced and directed by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Bíró from Wilde's play. The music score was by Arthur Benjamin, the cinematography by Georges Périnal, the editing by Oswald Hafenrichter and the costume design by Cecil Beaton. This was Korda's last completed film as a director, although he continued producing films into the next decade.

<i>Star Spangled Rhythm</i> 1942 all-star cast musical film

Star Spangled Rhythm is a 1942 American all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, generally musicals, frequently with flimsy storylines, and with the specific intent of entertaining the troops overseas and civilians back home and to encourage fundraising – as well as to show the studios' patriotism. This film was also the first released by Paramount to be shown for 8 weeks.

<i>Practically Yours</i> 1944 film by Mitchell Leisen

Practically Yours is a 1944 comedic film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Mitchell Leisen, written by Norman Krasna and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Lukits</span> American painter (1897–1992)

Theodore Nikolai Lukits was a Romanian American portrait and landscape painter. His initial fame came from his portraits of glamorous actresses of the silent film era, but since his death, his Asian-inspired works, figures drawn from Hispanic California and pastel landscapes have received greater attention.

<i>Bride of Vengeance</i> 1949 film

Bride of Vengeance is a 1949 American historical drama film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Paulette Goddard, John Lund and Macdonald Carey. Produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is set in the Italian Renaissance era. Ray Milland was originally cast in the film but refused the assignment, leading the studio to suspend him for ten weeks.

<i>The Crystal Ball</i> (film) 1943 film by Elliott Nugent

The Crystal Ball is a 1943 film directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard.

<i>The Lady Has Plans</i> 1942 film by Sidney Lanfield

The Lady Has Plans is a 1942 American comedy film spy thriller film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard and Roland Young. It was produced ad distributed by Paramount Pictures as a World War II espionage film set in neutral Portugal.

<i>Are Husbands Necessary?</i> 1942 film

Are Husbands Necessary? is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Ray Milland and Betty Field. It follows the misadventures of a wacky wife and her sometimes exasperated, but loving, banker husband. The film's screenplay was adapted by the husband-and-wife writing team of Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis, from the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage by Isabel Scott Rorick. This novel would later be a source for the related 1948 radio series My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball, which itself would evolve into the television series I Love Lucy.

References

  1. Pryor, Thomas M. (8 April 1945). "BLITHE SPENDTHRIFT: Parisian Lady". The New York Times. p. 41.
  2. 1 2 "60 Top Grossers of 1946", Variety 8 January 1947 p8
  3. Hopper, Hedda (6 December 1943). "Looking at Hollywood". Los Angeles Times. p. A9.
  4. "Screen News Here and in Hollywood: Goddard and Milland to Star in 'Kitty' -- Cook Chosen to Head Film Critics Group". The New York Times. 19 October 1943. p. 15.
  5. "Books Published Today". New York Times. 22 October 1943. p. 13.
  6. Sherman, Beatrice (7 November 1943). "Cockney Galatea: KITTY. By Rozamond Marshall. 303 pp. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce. $2.50. The Latest Works of Fiction". New York Times. p. BR18.
  7. "Books--Authors". New York Times. 31 January 1946. p. 30.
  8. Spiro, J.D. (16 October 1949). "Hollywood Memos: Gertrude Lawrence Prepares for 'Glass Menagerie' -- Dual Deal -- Other Items". The New York Times. p. X5.
  9. Schallert, Edwin (6 March 1944). "Lubitsch Will Help Re-Sponsor Catherine: Leisen to Boss 'Kitty,' With Kellaway Acting Gainsborough; Academy Rebuttal". Los Angeles Times. p. 10.
  10. Schallert, Edwin (28 June 1944). "'Storm in April' New Purchase by Columbia: Negrete Plans to Do Film in Hollywood; 'Gallant Week-End' Slated by R.K.O.". Los Angeles Times. p. A9.
  11. "Screen News Here and in Hollywood: June Allyson Named to Lead in 'Music for Millions' -- 'Taxi to Heaven' Opens Today". The New York Times. 24 May 1944. p. 23.
  12. Stanley, Fred (9 July 1944). "Hollywood Round-Up: Matters of Hollywood Moment". New York Times. p. X1.
  13. Frank Daugherty. The Christian Science Monitor (18 August 1944). "'Kitty' Might Stir Costume Film Revival". p. 4.
  14. Jones, Idwal (15 October 1944). "What! No More Yanks?: Producers Are Faced With Dilemma as Crop of Hair (for Wigs) Runs Out". The New York Times. p. X3.
  15. Hopper, Hedda (1 December 1944). "Looking at Hollywood". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 24.
  16. "NY Times: Kitty". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  17. "Recreates 'Kitty" Role". Harrisburg Telegraph. 26 October 1946. p. 21. Retrieved 29 September 2015 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg