Kitty Foyle (film)
| Kitty Foyle | |
|---|---|
 Title card for the film's trailer |
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| Directed by | Sam Wood |
| Produced by | David Hempstead Harry E. Edington |
| Written by | Dalton Trumbo Donald Ogden Stewart |
| Starring | Ginger Rogers Dennis Morgan James Craig |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Robert De Grasse |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 27, 1940 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Kitty Foyle, subtitled The Natural History of a Woman, is a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Ernest Cossart and Gladys Cooper.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers), a saleswoman for Delphine Detaille (Odette Myrtil), faces a life-changing decision: marry doctor Mark Eisen (James Craig), or run away to South America with the man she has been in love with for years, the already-married Wyn Strafford (Dennis Morgan). 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" as they attend their annual Assembly ball. Her father (Ernest Cossart) warns her against getting carried away with her fantasies. Ironically, 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 deeply 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 fire alarm button by mistake at Delphine's fashion store. She pretends to faint to cover her blunder, and is attended to by Mark. Mark, aware she is faking it, playfully blackmails her into a first date.
Wyn finally breaks down and comes for Kitty. The two wed, but agree that the only way the marriage can work is if they do not live in Philadelphia. When he introduces her to his family, she gets a chilly reception. She also 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 that, 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, where she learns that she is pregnant. 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 class. She leaves without seeing him. She receives a further blow when the baby dies at birth.
Several years later, Kitty reluctantly agrees to open a Philadelphia branch store for her friend Delphine. By chance, she waits on Wyn's wife and 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.
[edit] Cast
- Ginger Rogers as Kitty Foyle
- Dennis Morgan as Wynnewood 'Wyn' Strafford VI
- James Craig as Dr. Mark Eisen
- Eduardo Ciannelli as Giono (as Edward Ciannelli)
- Ernest Cossart as Pop
- Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Strafford
- Odette Myrtil as Delphine Detaille
- Mary Treen as Pat
- K. T. Stevens as Molly (as Katharine Stevens)
- Walter Kingsford as Mr. Kennett
- Cecil Cunningham as Grandmother
- Nella Walker as Aunt Jessica
- Edward Fielding as Uncle Edgar
- Kay Linaker as Wyn's Wife
- Richard Nichols as Wyn's Boy
[edit] Production
Katharine Hepburn was offered the title role but turned it down.
The film was adapted by Dalton Trumbo and Donald Ogden Stewart, from the eponymous 1939 novel by Christopher Morley. It was directed by Sam Wood.
[edit] Critical reception
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. Ginger Rogers won for Best Actress. It was also nominated for Best Director (Sam Wood) and Best Sound (John Aalberg).[1]
In 1951, in a series of articles examining film adaptation, Lester Asheim, notes that some films "reproduce the costume, housing, 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.[2]
Rogers' dress became a popular style, taking the name of the film.[citation needed]
The film had a national re-release in 1955.
[edit] Adaptations to Other Media
Kitty Foyle was adapted as a radio play on the May 25, 1941 episode of Lux Radio Theater with Ginger Rogers reprising her role. Rogers also starred in the April 6, 1946 adaptation heard on Academy Award Theater. On March 3, 1947 it was produced for The Screen Guild Theater, starring Olivia de Havilland.
Kitty Foyle was also a TV soap opera starring Kathleen Murray as Kitty Foyle
[edit] References
- ^ "The 13th Academy Awards (1941) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/13th-winners.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ Asheim, Lester (Summer 1951). "From Book to Film: Mass Appeals". Hollywood Quarterly 5 (4): 341. ISSN 1549-0076. OCLC 56138080.
[edit] External links
- Kitty Foyle (film) at the Internet Movie Database
- Kitty Foyle (film) at the TCM Movie Database
- Kitty Foyle (film) at AllRovi
