''Kitty'' is a 1945 film, a costume drama set in London during the 1780s, directed by

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 fi ...

, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall (published in 1943), with a screenplay by

Karl Tunberg Karl Tunberg (March 11, 1907 − April 3, 1992) was an American screenwriter and occasional film producer. His screenplays for ''Tall, Dark and Handsome'' (1941) and '' Ben-Hur'' (1959) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original ...

. It stars

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career a ...

Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985. He is remembered for his Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival Award-winning ...

Constance Collier Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) 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 insul ...

Patric Knowles Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995), better known as Patric Knowles, was an English film actor. Born in Horsforth, West Riding of Yorkshire, he made his film debut in 1932, and played either first or second fi ...

Reginald Owen John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs. Career The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...

, and

Cecil Kellaway Cecil Lauriston Kellaway (22 August 1890 – 28 February 1973) 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' ...

as the English painter

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

. In a broad interpretation of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's '' Pygmalion'', the film tells the rags-to-riches story of a beautiful young

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 b ...

guttersnipe Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymak ...

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

. 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 Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

. 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 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 Historic ...

, Kitty charms wealthy industrialist Jonathan Selby into marriage, using her

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 ...

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

as Kitty. To acquire a Cockney accent, Goddard shared a room for a time with the mother of actress

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. T ...

, who had a very pronounced one. She learned upper-class

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 meanin ...

from Constance Collier. Upon seeing this film, the director

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 era to the end of the 1960s. His films '' ...

decided to cast Goddard in his film '' The Diary of a Chambermaid''. *

as Sir Hugh Marcy *

as Brett, Earl of Carstairs *

as Duke of Malmunster *

as Lady Susan Dowitt, Sir Hugh's aunt *

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 Davi ...

as Jonathan Selby *

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 So ...

as Old Meg, the head of the thieving band to which Kitty belongs at the beginning *

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 appe ...

as Dobson, Sir Hugh's servant * Gordon Richards as Sir

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

Michael Dyne Michael Bradley Dyne (August 19, 1918 – May 17, 1989) was a British-American television and film screenwriter. He was also an actor, and wrote one stage play. Dyne was the son of sculptor Musgrave Bradley Dyne. He was born in London, educated i ...

as H. R. H. The Prince of Wales *

Edgar Norton Edgar Norton (born Harry Edgar Mills; August 11, 1868 – February 6, 1953) was an English-born American character actor. Early years Norton was born in Islington in London, England, on August 11, 1868, as Harry Edgar Mills, one of eight childr ...

as Earl of Campton *Patricia Cameron as Elaine Carlisle *Percival Vivian as Dr. Holt * Mary Gordon as Nanny *

Anita Sharp-Bolster Anita Sharp-Bolster (28 August 1895 – 1 June 1985) was an Irish-born American actress who appeared in 88 films and 12 TV series from 1928 to 1978. She was sometimes billed as Anita Bolster. Early life She was born 28 August 1895 in Glen ...

as Mullens (credited as Anita Bolster) * Heather Wilde as Lil * Charles Coleman as Majordomo *

Mae Clarke Mae Clarke (born Violet Mary Klotz; August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in ''Frankenstein'', and for being o ...

as Molly *

Al Ferguson Al Ferguson (19 April 1888 – 4 December 1971) was an Irish-born American film actor. Born in County Wexford, Ireland, he appeared in nearly 300 films between 1912 and 1956. Billed as Smoke Ferguson, by 1912 he was making Westerns for Selig P ...

as Footman (uncredited) *

Gibson Gowland Gibson Gowland (4 January 1877 – 9 September 1951) was an English film actor. Biography Gowland was born in Spennymoor, County Durham. He started work as a sailor and later became the mate on a ship. For several years from the age of 25 h ...

as Prison Guard (uncredited) * Douglas Walton as Philip (uncredited)

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. 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. The novel was published that month. ''The New York Times'' described the released film as being "robust entertainment". By January 1946, the book had sold almost 900,000 copies. In the original novel, Kitty was a prostitute. The

Breen Office The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

, 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. In March 1944, Mitchell Leisen was announced as the director and

was cast as Gainsborough. 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 Nikolai Lukits (November 26, 1897 – January 20, 1992) 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-inspir ...

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

. In May 1944, before filming began, Goddard signed a new contract with Paramount to make two films a year over seven years. Filming started in May 1944. Leisen reportedly spent over $25,000 on recreations of Gainsborough portraits. Goddard made the film after returning from entertaining the troops in India and Burma. Milland made it immediately prior to '' The Lost Weekend''. The ending of the film was re-shot in December 1944.

Reception

Box office

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

Awards

The film was nominated for one

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (

Hans Dreier Hans Dreier (August 21, 1885 – October 24, 1966) was a German motion picture art director. He was Paramount Pictures' supervising art director from 1927 until his retirement in 1950, when he was succeeded by Hal Pereira. Hans Dreier was born i ...

Walter H. Tyler Walter H. Tyler (March 28, 1909 – November 3, 1990) 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 Coun ...

Samuel M. Comer Samuel M. Comer (July 13, 1893 – December 27, 1974) was a set decorator who worked on over 300 films during a career spanning four decades. He won four Academy Awards and was nominated for another 22 in the category Best Art Direction. He guid ...

Ray Moyer Ray Moyer (February 21, 1898 – February 6, 1986) 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 Ange ...

Radio adaptation

''Kitty'' was presented on ''Hollywood Players'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

November 5, 1946. The adaptation starred

References

External links

*
theodorelukits.org
{{Thomas Gainsborough 1945 films 1945 romantic drama films 1940s historical romance films American historical drama films American romantic drama films American black-and-white films Cultural depictions of George IV Films scored by Victor Young Films based on American novels Films based on romance novels Films directed by Mitchell Leisen Films set in 1783 Films set in London Paramount Pictures films Thomas Gainsborough 1940s historical drama films American historical romance films 1940s American films