Kitty (1945)

An 18th century London wench gets involved with the nobility.

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Rosamond Marshall (novel), Karl Tunberg,

Stars:

Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Patric Knowles

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paulette Goddard	...	Kitty
Ray Milland	...	Sir Hugh Marcy
Patric Knowles	...	Brett Harwood Earl of Carstairs
Reginald Owen	...	Duke of Malmunster
Cecil Kellaway	...	Thomas Gainsborough
Constance Collier	...	Lady Susan Dowitt
Dennis Hoey	...	Jonathan Selby
Sara Allgood	...	Old Meg
Eric Blore	...	Dobson
Gordon Richards	...	Sir Joshua Reynolds
Michael Dyne	...	Prince of Wales
Edgar Norton	...	Earl of Campton
Patricia Cameron	...	Elaine Carlisle
Percival Vivian	...	Dr. Holt
Mary Gordon	...	Nancy

Storyline

London, 1783: Kitty, a saucy wench of the slums, meets the painter Gainsborough by stealing his shoes. He paints her as an "anonymous lady" who excites the interest of his noble friends, notably penniless Sir Hugh Marcy, who schemes to pass Kitty off as a genuine lady (a formidable task) and marry her off for financial gain. But Kitty has her own ideas about the uses of matrimony. Lots of decolletage.

---

Plot Keywords:

rags to riches | british high society | painting | impersonation | art | 

---

Taglines:

She made a career out of love.

---

Genres:

Drama | History

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

La duchesse des bas-fonds

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

---

Quotes

Dobson: Here, take this tea up to her ladyship.
Kitty: How'll I find 'er?
Dobson: Drunk as usual.

---

Soundtracks

"TAMBOURIN"
(uncredited)
Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Danced by uncredited actress (character Signorina Baccelli)

User Reviews

One of Paramount's gems, locked in the vault(?)

Other IMDb comments on this one tell all that ought to be said about this lavish feast, unaccountably mounted in black-and-white when Technicolor was obviously called for. I suspect that the iron control that Natalie Kalmus exercised on almost every Technicolor film made through at least the mid-Forties discouraged many a producer from adding the extra expense to the budget, burdening his crew with the cumbersome three-strip cameras and the hellishly hot lighting they required, and the high cost of the final prints. Now that virtually every film is made in color, we forget that making a film in color prior to the introduction of Technicolor's own single-strip process and its rivals (i.e., Metrocolor, Warnercolor, DeLuxe Color, etc.) was a very big deal, indeed. Which is not in the least meant to say that Hollywood's artisans did not achieve some memorably beautiful work using black-and-white cameras. "Kitty" is a prime example, with a luxurious production and a cast fully able to flesh out the script's frequently funny evocation of a very pre-modern England. Even on a TV broadcast which I caught many years ago, this one was a thoroughly entertaining and eye-filling treat, and it would certainly merit a VHS and/or DVD release in my estimation.