|
Kitty (1945 Film)
''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. 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. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Leisen
James Mitchell Leisen (October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) 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. He directed his first film in 1933 with '' Cradle Song'' and became known for his keen sense of aesthetics in the glossy Hollywood melodramas and screwball comedies he turned out. His best known films include Alberto Casella's adaptation of ''Death Takes a Holiday'' and ''Murder at the Vanities'', a musical mystery story (both 1934), as well as ''Midnight'' (1939) and ''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941), both scripted by Billy Wilder. '' Easy Living'' (1937), written by Preston Sturges and starring Jean Arthur, was another hit for the director, who also directed ''Remember the Night'' (1940), the last film written by Sturges before he started directing his scripts as well. ''Lady in the Dark'' (1944), '' To Each His Own'' (1946), and '' No Man of Her Own'' (1950 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or born within earshot of Bow Bells, although it most commonly refers to the broad variety of English native to London. Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation, also widely spoken in and around London, as well as in wider southeastern England. In multicultural areas of London, the Cockney dialect is, to an extent, being replaced by Multicultural London English—a new form of speech with significant Cockney influence. Words and phrases Etymology of Cockney The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in passus VI of William Langland's ''Piers Plowman'', where it is used to mean "a small, misshapen egg", from Middle English ''coken'' + ''ey'' ("a cock's egg"). Concurrently, the mythical land of l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Richards (actor)
Gordon Richards (27 October 1893 – 13 January 1964) was an English actor who had an active international career on the stage and in television and film for more than 50 years. He began his career performing in theatres in London's West End in 1909, and made his Broadway debut in 1913. He appeared in numerous plays and musicals on Broadway through 1951. Active as a performer in both television and film, he appeared in 35 Hollywood films during his career. Life and career Born in Gillingham, Kent, England, Richards was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London where his fellow classmate was Roland Young. He began acting professionally on the London stage at the age of 16 in 1909. He became a member of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson's theater company; a group with which he toured to the United States in 1913-1914. He made his Broadway debut with that company on October 20, 1913 at the Shubert Theatre as the Nubian Sentinel in George Bernard Shaw's '' Caesar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Blore
Eric Blore Sr. (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End of London, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appeared in variety. In the 1930s Blore acted mostly in Broadway productions. He made his last London appearance in 1933 in the Fred Astaire hit ''Gay Divorce''. Between 1930 and 1955 he made more than 60 Hollywood films, becoming particularly well known for playing butlers and other superior domestic servants. He retired in 1956 for health reasons, and died in Hollywood in 1959 at the age of 71. Life and career Early years Blore was born in Finchley, a north-London suburb on 23 December 1887, son of Henry Blore and his wife Mary, ''née'' Newton.Parker, p. 77 He was educated at Mills School, Finchley, and after leaving school he worked for an insurance company."Mr Eric Blore", ''The Times'', London, 3 March 1959, p. 12 He was drawn to a thea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sara Allgood
Sarah Ellen Allgood (30 October 1880 – 13 September 1950), known as Sara Allgood, was an Irish-American actress. She first studied drama with the Irish nationalist Daughters of Ireland and was at the opening of the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1904, she had her first big role in ''Spreading the News'' and was a full-time actress the following year. In 1915, she toured Australia and New Zealand as the lead in ''Peg o' My Heart''. Her acting career continued in Dublin, London, and the U.S. She appeared in a number of films, most notably being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Beth Morgan in the 1941 film ''How Green Was My Valley''. She became an American citizen in 1945 and died of a heart attack in 1950. Early life Allgood was born on 30 October 1880 at 45 Middle Abbey Street in Dublin, then still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the time, a daughter of Margaret ( Harold) and compositor George Allgo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Hoey
Dennis Hoey (born Samuel David Hyams, 30 March 1893 – 25 July 1960) was a British film and stage actor, best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in six films of Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Early life Hoey was born Samuel David Hyams in London to Russian-Jewish parents, another source says Irish and Russian-Jewish parents, who earned a living by running a bed and breakfast in Brighton, on the coast of the English county of East Sussex. He received his formal education at Brighton College, and originally planned to be a teacher. He served in the British Army during World War I. After a career as a singer, which included entertaining British troops during his war service, Hoey moved into theatre-acting in 1918, and later into cinema films. In 1931 he moved to the United States, and commenced a career in Hollywood. Film Hoey's first film was '' Tell England''. He is best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in six Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. He also port ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Diary Of A Chambermaid (1946 Film)
''The Diary of a Chambermaid'' (1946) is a drama film about a newly hired servant who severely disrupts a wealthy family. The film was based on the 1900 novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau and the play ''Le journal d'une femme de Chambre'', written by André de Lorde, with André Heuse and Thielly Nores. The film was directed by Jean Renoir, and starred Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith, Hurd Hatfield, and Francis Lederer. It was named the eighth best English-language film of 1946 by the National Board of Review. Plot In 1885 France, chambermaid Celestine begins her new position at the Lanlaire family home, a rural mansion, with the intention of moving up the social ladder. She starts working on her new employer, Monsieur Lanlaire, and he soon takes a liking to her, preferring her company to that of his domineering wife. Soon the eccentric neighbor, Captain Mauger becomes quite obsessed with having her working for him instead, and offers to marry her as reward for her comi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) 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 film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and ''The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the List of films considered the best, greatest films ever made. He was ranked by the British Film Institute, BFI's ''Sight & Sound'' poll of critics in 2002 as the fourth greatest director of all time. Among numerous honours accrued during his lifetime, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Awards, Academy Award in 1975 for his contribution to the motion picture industry. Renoir was the son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the uncle of the cinematographer Claude Renoir. He was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an ''auteur''. Early life and early career Renoir was born in the Montmartre district of Paris, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diction
Diction ( la, dictionem (nom. ), "a saying, expression, word"), in its original meaning, is a writer's or speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story.Crannell (1997) ''Glossary'', p. 406 In its common meaning, it is the distinctiveness of speech: the art of speaking so that each word is clearly heard and understood to its fullest complexity and extremity, and concerns pronunciation and tone, rather than word choice and style. This is more precisely and commonly expressed with the term enunciation or with its synonym, articulation.Crannell (1997) Part II, Speech, p. 84 Diction has multiple concerns, of which register, the adaptation of style and formality to the social context, is foremost. Literary diction analysis reveals how a passage establishes tone and characterization, e.g. a preponderance of verbs relating physical movement suggests an active character, while a preponderance of verbs relating states of mind portrays an introspective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, 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 message picture, social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir, ''The Hitch-Hiker,'' in 1953. Among her other directed films, the best known are ''Not Wanted'' (1949), about unwed pregnancy (she took over for a sick director and refused directorial credit); ''Never Fear'' (1950), loosely based upon her own experiences battling paralyzing polio; ''Outrage (1950 film), Outrag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment by the Bridegroom, groom, or his family, to the bride, or her family, dowry is the wealth transferred from the bride, or her family, to the groom, or his family. Similarly, dower is the property settled on the bride herself, by the groom at the time of marriage, and which remains under her ownership and control. Dowry is an ancient custom that is already mentioned in some of the earliest writings, and its existence may well predate records of it. Dowries continue to be expected and demanded as a condition to accept a marriage proposal in some parts of the world, mainly in parts of Asia, The custom of dowry is most common in cultures that are strongly patrilineal and that expect women to reside with or near their husband's family (patriloca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debtors' Prison
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Historical Perspective on Bankruptcy" , ''On the Docket'', Volume 2, Issue 2, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Rhode Island, April/May/June 2000, retrieved December 20, 2007. Destitute people who were unable to pay a court-ordered judgment would be incarcerated in these prisons until they had worked off their debt via labour or secured outside funds to pay the balance. The product of their labour went towards both the costs of their incarceration and their accrued debt. Increasing access and lenience throughout the history of bankruptcy law have made prison terms for unaggravated indigence obsolete over most of the world. Since the late 20th century, the term ''debtors' prison'' has also sometimes been applied by critics to criminal justice syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
