Kitty (1945 film)
Encyclopedia
Kitty is a 1945 film, a fictional 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
. Another major artist depicted is Sir Joshua Reynolds, played by Gordon Richards.
's Pygmalion
story line, the film tells the rags-to-riches story about a young guttersnipe, cockney
girl from the slums of 18th century London.
(Hans Dreier
, Walter H. Tyler
, Sam Comer, Ray Moyer
).
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 Mrs. Gainsborough that is seen in the film. Lukits knew Ray Milland, the film's star, because he had painted his wife's portrait in 1942.
.
Mitchell Leisen
Mitchell Leisen was an American director, art director, and costume designer.-Film career:He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments...
, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall
Rosamond Marshall
Rosamond Marshall was a 20th-century American novelist. She wrote historical romances for adult and youth readers during the 1940s and 50's, and two of her novels, Kitty and The Bixby Girls, were made into motion pictures.- Early life :...
(published in 1943), with a screenplay by Karl Tunberg
Karl Tunberg
Karl Tunberg was an American screenwriter and occasional film producer.Born in Spokane, Washington, Tunberg's earliest writings included short stories, and a novel entitled While the Crowd Cheers, which was published in 1935 by the Macaulay Company...
. It stars Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
, Ray Milland
Ray Milland
Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
, Constance Collier
Constance Collier
Constance Collier was an English film actress and acting coach.-Life and career:Born Laura Constance Hardie, in Windsor, Berkshire, Collier made her stage debut at the age of 3, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in A Midsummer's Night Dream...
, Patric Knowles
Patric Knowles
Reginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s...
, Reginald Owen
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen was a British character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American movies and later in television programs.-Personal:...
, and Cecil Kellaway
Cecil Kellaway
Cecil Lauriston Kellaway was a South African-born character actor.Cecil Kellaway spent many years as an actor, author, and director in the Australian film industry until he tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1930s. Finding he could get only gangster bit parts, he got discouraged and returned to...
as the English painter Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
. Another major artist depicted is Sir Joshua Reynolds, played by Gordon Richards.
Plot introduction
In a broad interpretation of George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's Pygmalion
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
story line, the film tells the rags-to-riches story about a young guttersnipe, cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
girl from the slums of 18th century London.
Plot
Kitty (Goddard) is found working on the streets picking pockets by the painter Thomas Gainsborough (Kellaway) and agrees to sit for a portrait for him. She then attracts the attention of wealthy playboy Sir Hugh Marcy (Milland) who, upon finding out her real social status, uses her for revenge against a former colleague to whom he owes the loss of his job in the foreign office by having Kitty pose as a lady of fashion. What Sir Hugh does not count on is the attraction Kitty develops for him.Cast
- Paulette GoddardPaulette GoddardPaulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
as Kitty. To acquire a Cockney accent, Goddard shared a room with the mother of actress Ida LupinoIda LupinoIda Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
, who had quite a thick one for a time, and learned dictionDictionDiction , in its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story...
from Constance Collier. Upon seeing this film, the director Jean RenoirJean RenoirJean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
decided to cast Goddard in his film The Diary of a ChambermaidThe Diary of a Chambermaid (1946 film)The Diary of a Chambermaid is a drama film about a newly-hired servant who severely disrupts a wealthy family. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau and the play Le journal d'une femme de Chambre by André Heuse, André de Lorde, and Thielly Nores, was directed by Jean...
. - Ray MillandRay MillandRay Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
as Sir Hugh Marcy - Patric KnowlesPatric KnowlesReginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s...
as Brett, Earl of Carstairs - Reginald OwenReginald OwenJohn Reginald Owen was a British character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American movies and later in television programs.-Personal:...
as Duke of Malmunster - Cecil KellawayCecil KellawayCecil Lauriston Kellaway was a South African-born character actor.Cecil Kellaway spent many years as an actor, author, and director in the Australian film industry until he tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1930s. Finding he could get only gangster bit parts, he got discouraged and returned to...
as Thomas Gainsborough - Constance CollierConstance CollierConstance Collier was an English film actress and acting coach.-Life and career:Born Laura Constance Hardie, in Windsor, Berkshire, Collier made her stage debut at the age of 3, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in A Midsummer's Night Dream...
as Lady Susan Dowitt - Dennis HoeyDennis HoeyDennis Hoey was a British film and stage actor, best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. He played the Master of Harrow in The Foxes of Harrow and appeared in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. After a career as a singer, Hoey moved to acting on the stage in...
as Jonathan Selby - Sara AllgoodSara Allgood-Biography:Allgood was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her sister was actress Maire O'Neill.Allgood began her acting career at the Abbey Theatre and was in the opening of the Irish National Theatre Society, appearing in many of their plays all over Britain...
as Old Meg - Eric BloreEric BloreEric Blore was an English comic actor. Blore was born in Finchley , England.Aged eighteeen, he worked as an insurance agent for two years. He gained theatre experience while touring Australia. Originally enlisting into the Artists Rifles he was commissioned in the South Wales Borderers in World...
as Dobson - Gordon Richards as Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Michael Dyne as Prince of Wales
- Edward NortonEdward NortonEdward Harrison Norton is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and producer. In 1996, his supporting role in the courtroom drama Primal Fear garnered him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
as Earl of Campton - Patricia Cameron as Elaine Carlisle
- Percival Vivian as Dr. Holt
- Mary GordonMary Gordon (actor)Mary Gordon was a Scottish actress, long in the United States, who specialized in housekeepers and mothers, most notably the landlady Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the Thirties and Forties...
as Nancy
Production
The film was nominated for one Oscar for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-WhiteAcademy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Hans Dreier
Hans Dreier
Hans Dreier was a film art director.Born in Bremen, Germany, Dreier began his career in German film in 1919 and by the end of the 1920s had relocated to Hollywood....
, Walter H. Tyler
Walter H. Tyler
Walter H. Tyler was an American art director. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for eight more in the category Best Art Direction.He was born in Los Angeles, California and died in Orange County, California...
, Sam Comer, Ray Moyer
Ray Moyer
Ray Moyer was an American set decorator. He won three Academy Awards and was nominated for nine more in the category Best Art Direction.He was born in Santa Barbara, California and died in Los Angeles, California....
).
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
Theodore Lukits
Theodore Nikolai Lukits was a California portrait and landscape painter. His initial fame came from his portraits of some of the most glamorous actresses of the Silent Film era, but since his death, his Asian-inspired works, figures drawn from Hispanic California and his pastel landscapes have all...
served as technical adviser for the film's artistic scenes and painted the portrait of Mrs. Gainsborough that is seen in the film. Lukits knew Ray Milland, the film's star, because he had painted his wife's portrait in 1942.
Availability
As of early 2010, the film is not available on DVD and considered rather rare, although on February 4, 2010, the film was premiered on Turner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
.