Lady For A Day
Takes its places among the greatest pictures ever made!
A Cinderella fairy tale set in the early 1930s, Lady For A Day is a delightfully charming mix of drama and comedy that earned four Academy Award nominations and propelled Frank Capra to the top ranks of popular filmmakers. This was Capra's first major success, establishing the model for the "Capra-esque" films that followed and his first collaboration with legendary screenwriter Robert Riskin, a partnership that produced such Oscar-winning classics as It Happened One Night, Mr. Dees Goes To Town and You Can't Take It With You.
Apple Annie, a cantankerous New York City fruit peddler, has been pretending that she's a high-society matron in letters to her grown daughter now living overseas. When her daughter and aristocratic fiancé plan to visit, Annie panics and turns to her best customer, Dave the Dude, a racketeering gangster. Dave and his cronies hilariously transform Annie into the grandest of dames and cast themselves as her entourage! Based on Damon Runyon's (Guys and Dolls) short story "madame La Gimp," Lady For A Day is "a twentieth century fairy tale...and a really great movie" (The Hollywood Reporter)! Frank Capra would revisit this story as the remake, A Pocketful of Miracles (1961), his final film.
Member Reviews
Lady For A Day - TheWiz
Frank Capra is a genius in my book, so let's get that one on the record before I tear into this flick. Everyone has to have a beginning and this is Frank's. The plot is simple. Poor lady pretends to be rich when in reality she is a pauper. Her daughter, who believes that she is rich, is coming to visit. A hoodlum who thinks that the old lady brings her luck, turns her into a lady for the duration of her daughter's visit and all ends well. Frank is a straight up person and his better movies stand the test of time because of it. Unfortunately, this one didn't do it for us. We found the storyline to be dated. I'd say PG 8.One of Frank Capra’s Earliest Successes. - Gregg
A woman named Apple Annie, (May Robson) who sells not surprisingly apples on the streets of New York, has been maintaining her daughter abroad in boarding school despite her very modest lifestyle. Thus far she has maintained the illusion for her daughter through correspondence that she lives a lavish lifestyle rubbing shoulders with the elite. This illusion is threatened though, when Annie finds out her daughter who is engaged to marry a Spanish nobleman, is coming to visit her along with her fiancé and his father who wishes to meet her family before blessing their union.
The film is based on a short story Damon Runyon and adapted by one of Capra’s most frequent collaborators Robert Riskin. The script features a nice (Capraesque) story though there is a bit of a dark side to it as well, including some examination of the depression era conditions which existed at the time. The story also has both witty dialogue and a feel or vibe we associate with 1930’s New York, courtesy of both Runyon's original story and Riskin's adaptation in which Capra was quite involved.
The performances are a mix; some are quite good for the era even low key, while others are quite stiff or stilted. The standouts in addition to May Robson's Oscar nominated performances are Guy Kibbee as "The Judge" and Ned Sparks as "Happy".
While not as well known or refined as Capra's later works it does show the hallmarks of his later successes. Once such aspect is the pacing which he maintains by having the actors speed up there delivery and by using wipes for many of his scene changes.
The picture would be nominated for four Oscars; including Best Picture, Best Director – Frank Capra, Best Writing, Adaptation – Robert Riskin, and Best Actress – May Robson. The nominations were significant as they were the first for Columbia Pictures which at the time was a lower tier studio.
The movie was remade as Pocketful of Miracles in 1961 with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford.
Member Reviews
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Lady For A Day - TheWiz
Frank Capra is a genius in my book, so let's get that one on the record before I tear into this flick. Everyone has to have a beginning and this is Frank's. The plot is simple. Poor lady pretends to be rich when in reality she is a pauper. Her daughter, who ...One of Frank Capra’s Earliest Successes. - Gregg
A woman named Apple Annie, (May Robson) who sells not surprisingly apples on the streets of New York, has been maintaining her daughter abroad in boarding school despite her very modest lifestyle. Thus far she has maintained the illusion for her daughter through ...