Wilson (1944 film)
Wilson is a 1944 American biographical film in Technicolor about the 28th American President Woodrow Wilson. It stars Charles Coburn, Alexander Knox, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell and Sir Cedric Hardwicke; the story begins in 1909, a time when Wilson is best known as the head of Princeton University and the author of several books on the democratic process. Urged into running for Governor of New Jersey by the local political machine, Wilson soon proves that he is his own man—beholden to no one—and that he is dedicated to the truth at any cost; as the U. S. is going through a progressive change in national politics and a split is developing in the opposing Republican Party, Woodrow Wilson is nominated in Baltimore and wins the Presidency in 1912. He pushes through a series of programs, called'The New Freedom'; as World War I is breaking out in Europe in 1914, President Wilson tries to keep the U. S. neutral. At this same time, his wife Ellen dies of bright's disease. Overcome with grief and loneliness, the President, carries on.
Early in 1915, at around the same time of the British trans-Atlantic passenger steamer Lusitania sinking, he meets Edith Bolling Galt, a Washington D. C. widow. A courtship develops and they find themselves in love and are married in December 1915; the next year of 1916 brings The President to reelection to a second term. Many feel that he is going to be defeated, the result is so close that the balance hangs of the returns from California, which goes for President Wilson. As, he starts his second term, the war comes to America; the Zimmerman note is enough to put the U. S. in the war. The Yanks are coming, in 1918 victory is on the side of the Allies. President Wilson travels to France to have a hand in the Peace treaty, but many Republican senators, including Henry Cabot Lodge, feel the President is leaving them out of the process, make a decision to kill whatever treaty he brings back, or saddle it with reservations. President Wilson takes the issue to the people in a multi state tour, but his health is broken on the trip and days after returning to Washington, has a stroke.
Edith shields the President and screens visitors, takes on a role, controversial. But President Wilson recovers enough to make an orderly transition to President Warren G. Harding in 1921. Alexander Knox as Woodrow Wilson Charles Coburn as Professor Henry Holmes Geraldine Fitzgerald as Edith Wilson Thomas Mitchell as Joseph Tumulty Ruth Nelson as Ellen Wilson Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Vincent Price as William G. McAdoo William Eythe as George Felton Mary Anderson as Eleanor Wilson Ruth Ford as Margaret Wilson Sidney Blackmer as Josephus Daniels Madeleine Forbes as Jessie Wilson Stanley Ridges as Admiral Grayson Eddie Foy Jr. as Eddie Foy Charles Halton as Colonel House Thurston Hall as Senator E. H. Jones J. M. Kerrigan as Edward Sullivan James Rennie as Jim Beeker Katherine Locke as Helen Bones Stanley Logan as Secretary Lansing Marcel Dalio as Clemenceau Edwin Maxwell as William Jennings Bryan Clifford Brooke as Lloyd George Tonio Selwart as Von Bernstorff John Ince as Senator Watson Charles Miller as Senator Bromfield The movie was written by Lamar Trotti and directed by Henry King.
Wilson's daughter, Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, served as an informal counselor. Journalist Ray Stannard Baker, an authority on Wilson served as an adviser; the film lost a reported $2 million for Fox. Though the film was critically acclaimed and won five Oscars, it is remembered for being a big financial failure at the box office. Film critic Manny Farber was unenthusiastic, calling the production "costly and impotent" while writing: "The effect of the movie is similar to the one produced by the sterile post-card albums you buy in railroad stations, which unfold like accordions and show you the points of interest in the city... The producers must have known far more about the World War, the peace-making at Versailles, Wilson himself, but, kept out of the movie in the same way that slum sections are kept out of post-card albums... About three-quarters of the way through, a large amount of actual newsreel from the first World War is run off and the strength of it makes the film that comes before and after seem comical."
Despite the negative press and lackluster box office, it was still nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning five: Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color Best Cinematography, Color Best Film Editing Best Sound, Recording Best Writing, Original Screenplay Its remaining nominations: Best Picture Best Director Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Best Effects, Special Effects The film was notable for giving character actor Alexander Knox one of his few chances to play the lead in a film. American president Franklin D. Roosevelt showed the film at the September 1944 Second Quebec Conference with British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill. Churchill was unimpressed, leaving during the film to go to bed. Despite being a pet project overseen by 20th Century Fox Studios' president Darryl F. Zanuck, its failure at the box office upset him to the point that for years he forbade his employees from mentioning the film in his presence; the film is sometimes shown on cable television, was first broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on February 8, 2013.
The Academy Film Archive preserved Wilson in 2006. Wilson at the American Film Institute Catalog Wilson on IMDb Wilson at AllMovie Wilson at the TCM Movie Database
Suspicion (1941 film)
Suspicion is a 1941 romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It features Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, Leo G. Carroll. Suspicion is based on Francis Iles's novel Before the Fact. For her role as Lina, Joan Fontaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1941; this is the only Oscar-winning performance in a Hitchcock film. In the film, a shy spinster runs off with a charming playboy, who turns out to be penniless, a gambler, dishonest in the extreme, she comes to suspect that he is a murderer, that he is attempting to kill her. In 1938, irresponsible playboy Johnnie Aysgarth meets dowdy Lina McLaidlaw on a train in England and charms her into eloping despite the strong disapproval of her wealthy father, General McLaidlaw. After a lavish honeymoon and returning to an extravagant house, Lina discovers that Johnnie has no job and no income, habitually lives on borrowed money, was intending to try to sponge off her father.
She talks him into getting a job, he goes to work for his cousin, estate agent Captain Melbeck. Lina learns that Johnnie has continued to gamble wildly, despite promising to quit, that to pay a gambling debt, he sold two antique chairs that her father had given her as a wedding present. Beaky, Johnnie's good-natured but naive friend, tries to reassure Lina that her husband is a lot of fun and a entertaining liar, she catches Johnnie in more significant lies, discovering that he was fired weeks before for embezzling from Melbeck, who says he will not prosecute if the money is repaid. Lina writes a letter to Johnnie that she is leaving him, but tears it up. After this, Johnnie shows her a telegram announcing her father's death. Johnnie is disappointed to discover that Lina has inherited no money, only her father's portrait, he convinces Beaky to finance a hugely speculative land development scheme. Lina is afraid this is a confidence trick or worse, futilely tries to talk Beaky out of it. Johnnie overhears and angrily warns his wife to stay out of his affairs, but he calls the whole thing off.
When Beaky leaves for Paris, Johnnie accompanies him partway. News reaches Lina that Beaky died in Paris. Johnnie lies to an investigating police inspector, saying that he stayed in London; this and other details lead Lina to suspect. Lina begins to fear that her husband is plotting to kill her for her life insurance, he has been questioning her friend Isobel Sedbusk, a writer of mystery novels, about untraceable poisons. Johnnie brings Lina a glass of milk before bed. Needing to get away for a while, she says. Johnnie insists on driving her there, he speeds recklessly in a powerful convertible on a dangerous road beside a cliff. Lina's door unexpectedly swings open. Johnnie reaches over; when she shrinks from him, he stops the car. In the subsequent confrontation, it emerges that Johnnie was intending to commit suicide after taking Lina to her mother's. Now, however, he has decided that suicide is the coward's way out, is resolved to face his responsibilities to the point of going to prison for the embezzlement.
He was in Liverpool at the time of Beaky's death, trying to borrow on Lina's life insurance policy to repay Melbeck. Her suspicions allayed, Lina tells him. Cary Grant as Johnnie Aysgarth Joan Fontaine as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth Nigel Bruce as Gordon Cochrane'Beaky' Thwaite Sir Cedric Hardwicke as General McLaidlaw Dame May Whitty as Mrs. Martha McLaidlaw Isabel Jeans as Mrs. Helen Newsham, Johnnie's friend Heather Angel as Ethel, Aysgarth's Maid Auriol Lee as Isobel Sedbusk and Aysgarth's friend Reginald Sheffield as Reggie Wetherby, Lina's dancing partner Leo G. Carroll as Captain George Melbeck, Johnnie's employer and cousinUncredited Billy Bevan as Ticket Taker in train Leonard Carey as Burton - McLaidlaws' Butler Clyde Cook as Photographer Alec Craig as Hogarth Club Desk Clerk Vernon Downing as Benson, Inspector's assistant Gavin Gordon as Dr. Bertram Sedbusk, Isobel's brother Lumsden Hare as Inspector Hodgson Aubrey Mather as Executor of General Laidlaw's Will Constance Worth as Mrs. FitzpatrickAlfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films.
In Suspicion, he can be seen 47 minutes into the film mailing a letter at the village postbox. In November 1939, Nathanael West was hired as a screenwriter by RKO Radio Pictures, where he collaborated with Boris Ingster on a film adaptation of the novel; the two men wrote the screenplay in seven weeks, with West focusing on characterization and dialogue as Ingster worked on the narrative structure. When RKO assigned Before the Fact to Hitchcock, he had his own different, credited to Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison, Alma Reville. West and Ingster's screenplay was never produced; the text of this screenplay can be found in the Library of America's edition of West's collected works. In places, the screenplay of Suspicion faithfully follows the plot of the novel. However, a number of major differences exist between its film version. Johnnie Aysgarth's infidelity is not featured in the film: Lina's best friend with whom Johnnie has an affair does not appear at all, Ethel, their maid, does not have an illegitimate son
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1953 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, co-stars Boris Karloff. Inspired by the 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the film follows the story of two American detectives visiting Edwardian London who become involved with the hunt for Dr. Jekyll, responsible for a series of murders. A rash of murders is plaguing London, police are baffled. A newspaper reporter, Bruce Adams, finds one of the murder victims while coming home from a bar at night and calls the police; the next day, two American policemen and Tubby, who are working for the London Police Force, respond to a mob fight at a Women's Suffrage Rally in Hyde Park. Reporter Adams, young suffragette Vicky Edwards and Tubby, all get caught up in the fray and wind up in jail. Vicky's guardian, Dr. Henry Jekyll, bails Vicky and Adams out. Tubby and Slim are thereafter kicked off the police force.
Unknown to anyone, however, Dr. Jekyll has developed an injectable serum which transforms him into Mr. Hyde; when Jekyll notices Vicky's and Bruce's mutual attraction, he has more thoughts of murder, injects himself, transforms once again into Hyde. Meanwhile and Slim decide that in order to get back on the police force they must capture this "monster". While walking down the street that night, Tubby spots Hyde, they decide to follow Hyde into a music hall. A chase ensues, Tubby traps Hyde in a wax museum. However, by the time he brings the Inspector and Slim to the scene, the monster has reverted to Dr. Jekyll and Tubby is once again scolded by the Police Inspector; the "good" doctor, asks Slim and Tubby to escort him to his home. Once at Jekyll's home, Tubby goes off exploring and winds up drinking a potion which transforms him into a large mouse. Afterward and Tubby try to bring news of Jekyll's activities to the Inspector, but the Inspector refuses to believe them; when Vicky announces to Jekyll her intent to marry Adams, Jekyll does not share her enthusiasm and transforms into Hyde right in front of her.
Bent, this time, on murdering Vicky, Hyde attempts to attack her. However, in the nick of time, Bruce and Tubby save her and Hyde escapes. During the struggle, Jekyll's serum needle is dropped into a couch cushion, which Tubby accidentally falls onto, transforming him into a Hyde-like monster. Another mad-cap chase ensues, this time with Bruce chasing Jekyll's monster and Slim pursuing Tubby's monster; the police are frustrated and confused by the monster's impossible running all over London. Bruce's chase ends up back at Jekyll's home, where Hyde falls from an upstairs window to his death, revealing to everyone his true identity when he reverts to normal form. Slim brings Tubby to the Inspector. Tubby bites the Inspector and reverts to himself, much to the chagrin of Slim. However, before Slim and Tubby can be once again derided by the Inspector, the Inspector and his men have each transformed into monsters themselves and chase Slim and Tubby out of the office. Bud Abbott as Slim Lou Costello as Tubby Boris Karloff as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde Craig Stevens as Bruce Adams Helen Westcott as Vicky Edwards Reginald Denny as Inspector John Dierkes as Batley Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was filmed between January 26 and February 20, 1953 and received an "X" rating in Britain because of the scenes with Mr. Hyde.
Furthermore, Boris Karloff only played Dr. Jekyll and did not play Hyde. Once the transformation sequences were over, Hyde was, played by stuntman Eddie Parker, who remained uncredited; the film received a 6.4 film rating on IMDb based on 2,343 user Reviews. Many reviewers complained that, in this version, there was no struggle in the transformation between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, giving the impression that Dr. Jekyll himself was evil and enjoyed the acts of Mr. Hyde. Other reviews complained of the lack of a strong script. Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 6/10 score and the movie stands at an overall rating of 63, it received an audience rating of 3.4 out of 5. One critic, Steve Crum of the Kansas City Kansan, gave the film 3/5, saying, "Bud and Lou meet another monster for infrequent laughs." The film has been released twice on DVD, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Four, on October 4, 2005, again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.
Notes Bibliography Furmanek and Palumbo, Ron. Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0< Wingrove, David Science Fiction Film Source Book Longman Group Ltd. Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the American Film Institute Catalog Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on IMDb Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the TCM Movie Database
The Woman in White (1948 film)
The Woman in White is a 1948 drama film directed by Peter Godfrey and featuring Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Sydney Greenstreet, Gig Young. The screenplay is based on Wilkie Collins' novel The Woman in White. Walking late one night, Walter Hartright sees a mysterious woman in white. A man in a carriage explains that a woman escaped from a nearby asylum; as the carriage drives by, Walter glimpses another man hidden inside. It is Count Alesandro Fosco. Walter reaches his destination, Limmeridge House owned by the Fairlies, where he has been hired to teach drawing. There he meets the occupants: cousin to Miss Laura Fairlie, he meets a guest who has just arrived, Count Fosco. He is suspicious of Fosco; the next morning he meets the wealthy Laura. He is stunned to see a strong resemblance to the woman in white, so much that he mistakes her for the other woman; when told the story about the mysterious woman he encountered, Marian sets out to investigate. She discovers an old letter written by Laura's mother about a distant cousin who looked much like Laura, named Anne Catherick, who came to visit one summer.
Fosco steals this letter. Laura is engaged to Sir Percival Glyde; that evening Walter meets the woman in white, crying in the garden. She says she wants to warn Laura about something, but she disappears. Walter confronts Fosco and Glyde with what Laura has told him – that they are forcing Frederick to allow Glyde to marry Laura for her fortune. Fosco and Glyde deny Marian doesn't believe him. Walter leaves Limmeridge House. Laura marries Glyde. A few months Marian comes back to Limmeridge House only to find all the old servants gone and new servants employed. Fosco and his wife, Countess Fosco have moved in. Fosco and Glyde find Anne who dies in front of Laura and the countess, poisoning her, they fool everyone into thinking that Laura has died. Walter attends the funeral but he realizes at once that it's Anne, dead, he believes. Fosco is attempting to drive Laura mad, she is found by Glyde, but Walter saves her, in the scuffle, Glyde dies. Marian wants Fosco to stop hurting Laura. Marian so goes to him with a bargain: if he signs a confession, stops bothering Laura, Marian will leave the country with him.
Fosco tells Marian the truth: his wife, the countess, is Fredrick's sister who had Anne out of wedlock. Fosco helped cover it up and he married the countess soon after. A year Laura's mother had Laura. Fosco gives some jewels that belonged to the countess, listening in, to Marian, the countess further overhears that he is leaving with Marian; the countess retrieves a long dagger, stabs him to death. The police arrive just as Fosco dies and the countess retrieves the emerald necklace Fosco tormented her with. Walter narrates the ending with the birth of a daughter, they are living with Laura and her son, the Countess Fosco, Anne's mother, is living in the renovated asylum, along with her emerald necklace. The Woman in White – The Woman in White – The Woman in White at the American Film Institute Catalog The Woman in White on IMDb The Woman in White at AllMovie The Woman in White at the TCM Movie Database
Quakers
Quakers called Friends, are a Christian group of religious movements formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, Society of Friends or Friends Church. Members of the various Quaker movements are all united in a belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access "the light within", or "that of God in every one"; some may profess the priesthood of all believers, a doctrine derived from the First Epistle of Peter. They include those with evangelical, holiness and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity. There are Nontheist Quakers whose spiritual practice is not reliant on the existence of gods. To differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers worldwide. In 2017, there were 377,557 adult Quakers, with 49% in Africa. Around 89% of Quakers worldwide belong to the "evangelical" and "programmed" branches of Quakerism—these Quakers worship in services with singing and a prepared message from the Bible, coordinated by a pastor.
Around 11% of Friends practice waiting worship, or unprogrammed worship, where the order of service is not planned in advance, is predominantly silent, may include unprepared vocal ministry from those present. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers in their meetings—Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry; the first Quakers lived in mid-17th-century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, breaking away from the established Church of England; the Quakers the ones known as the Valiant Sixty, attempted to convert others to their understanding of Christianity, travelling both throughout Great Britain and overseas, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of these early Quaker ministers were women, they based their message on the religious belief that "Christ has come to teach his people himself", stressing the importance of a direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ, a direct religious belief in the universal priesthood of all believers.
They emphasized a personal and direct religious experience of Christ, acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God. In the past, Quakers were known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, teetotalism; some Quakers founded banks and financial institutions, including Barclays and Friends Provident. In 1947, the Quakers, represented by the British Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. During and after the English Civil War many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man, George Fox, was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and non-conformists, he had a revelation that "there is one Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition", became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ without the aid of an ordained clergy.
In 1652 he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that "the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered". Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith; the central theme of his Gospel message was. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, after centuries of apostasy in the churches in England. In 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to Fox's autobiography, Bennet "was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord", it is thought that Fox was referring to Isaiah 66:2 or Ezra 9:4. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing Fox's admonition, but became accepted and is used by some Quakers. Quakers described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Children of the Light, Friends of the Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early Christian church.
Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680. But the dominant discourse of Protestantism viewed the Quakers as a blasphemous challenge to social and political order, leading to official persecution in England and Wales under the Quaker Act 1662 and the Conventicle Act 1664; this was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689. One modern view of Quakerism at this time was that the relationship with Christ was encouraged through spiritualisation of human relations, "the redefinition of the Quakers as a holy tribe,'the family and household of God'". Together with Margaret Fell, the wife of Thomas Fell, the vice-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and an eminent judge, Fox developed new conceptions of family and community that emphasised "holy conversation": speech and behaviour that reflected piety and love. With the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for wom
Kitty Foyle (film)
Kitty Foyle, subtitled The Natural History of a Woman, is a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, based on Christopher Morley's 1939 bestseller titled Kitty Foyle. Ginger Rogers won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Kitty Foyle, the dress she wore in the film became a new dress style, known as a Kitty Foyle dress. Kitty Foyle, a saleswoman in a New York boutique working for Delphine Detaille, faces a life-changing decision: marry doctor Mark Eisen or run away to South America with the man she has loved for many years, the already-married Wyn Strafford; as she wrestles with her decision, the film flashes back to her youth in Philadelphia. As a teenager, Kitty gawks at the city's elite "Main Liners" in a parade that precedes their annual Assembly Ball, her father warns against getting carried away with her fantasies. Kitty meets the embodiment of her dreams in an acquaintance of his: Wynnewood Strafford VI. Wyn offers her a secretarial job at his fledgling magazine.
The two fall in love, but when the magazine folds, he does not have the will to defy his social class's strictures by proposing to a woman so far below him socially. With the death of her father and no prospect of marriage with Wyn, Kitty goes to work in New York for Delphine. One day, she presses the burglar alarm button by mistake at Delphine's fashion store, she is attended to by Mark. Mark, playfully blackmails her into a first date. Wyn breaks down and finds Kitty in New York; the two wed, but agree that the only way their marriage can work is if they do not live in Philadelphia. When he introduces her to his family, she gets a chilly reception, she learns that Wyn would be disinherited and left penniless if he does not remain in Philadelphia and work in the family banking business. She realizes, though Wyn is willing to try, he is not strong enough to deal with poverty, she walks out and they are divorced. Kitty returns to New York; when Wyn arranges to meet her, her hopes for a reconciliation are raised, only to be dashed when she sees a newspaper announcement of Wyn's engagement to someone of his own social standing.
She receives a further blow when the baby dies at birth. Several years Kitty reluctantly agrees to open a Philadelphia branch store for her friend Delphine. By chance, she meets their son, she takes the opportunity to entrust the secret return of a family heirloom ring to the boy. The film returns to the beginning, she decides to marry Mark. Katharine Hepburn, who starred opposite Rogers in Stage Door, was offered the title role, but turned it down; the film was adapted by Dalton Trumbo and Donald Ogden Stewart from the 1939 novel Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley. It was directed by Sam Wood. Kitty Foyle was RKO's top film for 1940, earning a profit of $869,000. Reviews from critics were positive. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times expressed disappointment that the story had been softened from the novel due to Production Code restrictions, but wrote of the protagonist that "Ginger Rogers plays her with as much forthright and appealing integrity as one can expect." Variety magazine wrote, "Despite its episodic, at times, vaguely defined motivation, picture on whole is a poignant and dramatic portraiture of a typical Cinderella girl's love story.
Several good comedy sequences directed. Ginger Rogers provides strong dramatic portrayal in the title role." Film Daily called it "one of the most human pictures, produced in Hollywood in many, many moons... a triumph for Ginger Rogers." Harrison's Reports wrote, "Very good!... The story is realistic. "I am inclined to think that it's Miss Ginger alone who makes'Kitty Foyle' a better-than-average film and Kitty herself a proper model for those hundreds of thousands of young things who will now be adding a touch of white to their neckline," John Mosher wrote prophetically in The New Yorker. "Without Miss Ginger, it would be easy to remember how many of the scenes shown in this film have been seen before on the screen."Kitty Foyle was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. Ginger Rogers won for Best Actress, it was nominated for Best Director, Best Sound. In 1951, in a series of articles examining film adaptation, Lester Asheim notes that some films "reproduce the costume and appearance of the novel's prototypes without softening or heightening," but that Kitty Foyle shows the more typical "glamorizing" process of film adaptation: Kitty Foyle is typical, in every aspect of the adaptation, of the daydream character of film characterization.
The glamorizing process carries through from the casting of Ginger Rogers and the Hollywood wardrobe provided her, to such added incidents as Wyn renting an entire nightclub for a night.... While the film retains a scene or two of Kitty's crowded apartment shared with two other girls, such scenes are played for comedy and no attempt is made to convey the day-to-day monotony and routine of the working girl. Rogers' dress became a popular style. Kitty Foyle was adapted as a radio play on the May 5, 1941, episode of Lux Radio Theatre with Ginger Rogers reprising her role. Rogers starred in the April 6, 1946, adaptation heard on Academy Award Theater
Two-Faced Woman
Two-Faced Woman is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, Roland Young. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Garbo plays a wife who pretends to be her own fictitious twin sister in order to recapture the affections of her estranged husband, who has left her for a former girlfriend; the film is regarded as a box-office bomb and an unsuccessful attempt to "Americanize" Garbo in order to increase her United States fan base. By mutual agreement, Garbo's contract with MGM was terminated shortly after Two-Faced Woman was released, it became her last film. Fashion magazine editor Larry Blake marries ski instructor Karin Borg on impulse, but she soon learns he expects her to be a dutiful wife, not the independent woman she was when they met, they separate and Larry returns to New York City, where he takes up again with playwright Griselda Vaughn, with whom he was involved prior to his marriage. Karin comes to New York to thwart the romance and get her husband back, playing her mythical twin sister Katherine Borg, a wild, amoral "modern" woman.
Karin, in the guise of Katherine, fascinates Larry. He plays along seducing his wife's purported twin sister, but stopping short each time. Karin and Larry reunite on the ski slopes and all is forgiven. Greta Garbo as Karin Borg Blake / Katherine Borg Melvyn Douglas as Larry Blake Constance Bennett as Griselda Vaughn Roland Young as O. O. Miller Robert Sterling as Dick Williams Ruth Gordon as Miss Ruth Ellis Frances Carson as Miss Dunbar Pleased with the financial and critical success of Ninotchka, MGM decided to pair Garbo and Douglas in another romantic comedy. George Cukor had directed Garbo in Camille, regarded as her best film. Constance Bennett, a major leading lady during the 1930s whose career was fading, was cast in the supporting role of Griselda through the efforts of her friend Cukor; the screenplay by S. N. Behrman, Salka Viertel, George Oppenheimer was based on a 1925 Constance Talmadge silent film titled Her Sister from Paris, which in turn was based on a play by German playwright Ludwig Fulda.
The studio used the film to promote a new image of Garbo as a down-to-earth sporting type in hopes of increasing her appeal to United States audiences. Garbo's previous image had attracted large European audiences, which were now dwindling due to World War II. Garbo was unhappy during the making of Two-Faced Woman, uncomfortable with the filmmakers' attempts to portray her as a casual "American" type. In addition to scenes where Garbo is seen skiing and swimming, the studio planned to have her dance in a film for the first time in a ballroom rhumba scene. Garbo, not a natural dancer, was forced to take lessons and once hid from her dance instructor in a tree at her home, she said that the film was an embarrassment that "was not good and it could never be made good." The film was produced by Gottfried Reinhardt, with music by Bronislau Kaper, cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg, art direction by Cedric Gibbons, costume design by Adrian. Two-Faced Woman was set for release in late November 1941.
However, although the film received a Production Code seal of approval, the National Legion of Decency rated the film as "C" for condemned — unusual at that time for a major Hollywood release — citing its alleged "immoral and un-Christian attitude toward marriage and its obligations: impudently suggestive scenes and situations: suggestive costumes." The film was condemned by the archbishop of New York, the first time a particular film had been singled out. These condemnations discouraged Catholics from seeing the film. Two-Faced Woman was banned in several cities, including Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, other cities such as Omaha and Milwaukee ordered that scenes be cut; the studio responded by reshooting certain scenes before the film's official release, although George Cukor refused to participate. In particular, a scene was added in which Larry Blake discovers early on that Katherine is his estranged wife Karin under an assumed identity, chooses to play along with her pretense, rather than considering an affair with his wife's twin sister.
The Legion of Decency changed its rating for the amended film from "C", meaning condemned, to "B", meaning morally objectionable in part. In addition to censorship-related changes, the studio cut a number of Constance Bennett's scenes and changed the ending, due to reports that Bennett had upstaged Garbo in many of their scenes together. With the cuts, Leonard Maltin wrote in 2014 that Bennett "steal the film with her hilarious performance." The revamped version of Two-Faced Woman was released in early January 1942. The original, uncensored version of the film still exists, was shown in 2004 at a George Cukor retrospective at the National Film Theatre in London, but has not been released on DVD. Upon the amended film's release in January 1942, Garbo received the worst reviews of her career. John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote of Garbo that "one can feel only that the archbishop who opposed the showing of the film was her one true friend. Of Garbo's folly there is little to say. Just condolences might be enough."
Theodore Strauss of The New York Times wrote: "It is hardly necessary to sit in judgment upon such delicate matters of public interest, inasmuch as the film decisively condemns itself by shoddy workmanship. Miss Garbo's current attempt to trip the light fantastic is one of the awkward exhibitions of the season, George Cukor's direction is static and labored, the script is a stale joke, repeated at length. Consideri
