La bribona del armiño

Paulette Goddard reached one of her cinema high points in portraying the title role in Kitty. The film is part Pygmalion, part Forever Amber, and part Oliver Twist and all entertainment.

She's a diamond in the rough, a rare beauty who was bonded out of fondling home to Sara Allgood who runs a Fagin like enterprise for girls. But Paulette has found a way to make a more honest living, she's posing for Sir Thomas Gainsborough. She's discovered doing just that by a couple of Georgian blades, Ray Milland and Patric Knowles.

Milland finds her later and discovers her origins, but the painting she posed for has come to the attention of Lord Reginald Owen who would like to get to know the lady. Milland sees opportunity here and together with his aunt Constance Collier starts tutoring Paulette like Henry Higgins did with Eliza Doolittle on the finer points of genteel manners and speech.

He tutors her well and Paulette's beauty does the rest. It's a pity that Kitty was not done in color, perhaps had it been made even the following year Paramount might have invested in it.

What they did invest in and I'm sure this was at the insistence of director Mitchell Leisen was in Art&Set design. Leisen who did this before he became a director caught all the mood and ambiance of the late 18th Century Great Britain. The Art&Set Design earned Kitty its only recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts&Science with an Oscar nomination in that category.

Leisen also did well by his players. I did so love the bickering about art with Cecil Kellaway as Gainsborough and Gordon Richards as Sir Joshua Reynolds. Also take note of Dennis Hoey as the first of two husbands Goddard acquires going up the social ladder.

Believe me, Scarlett O'Hara had nothing on Kitty.

This Pygmalion/Grifters hybrid set in 18th Century England does Paramount proud with its sumptuously designed and photographed story of romance greed and deceit. It is the romance (one sided as that might be for most of the film) however that predominates with the opulent costumes, set design and the charm of its stars Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland as bawdy and immoral partners in crime that gives Kitty a ribald charm.

Sir (sic)Hugh Marcy (Milland), a penniless Henry Higgins with character of even less worth browbeats Cockney Kitty into being a lady which later will get him out of debtors prison and allowing herself to be wife and widow to two wealthy husbands in under a year. All the while she loves the execrable Marcy who remains condescending, yearning for a life of pimpdom ("If I had twelve like you I'd be rich").

Goddard leads the cast with a convincing transition in both nuance and voice even if at first the Eliza Dolittle takes a little getting use to. Milland is an excellent cad with his selfish disdain also beautifully inflected and postured.

There's a half dozen supporting performances worth noting with special mention to Reginald Owen and Cecil Kellaway as the artist Thomas Gainsborugh who aides and abets the scam artists. Who would have thought.

Everyone does their job well on Kitty and it shows in the sum of its parts that are all all excellently honed by this excellently assembled team.

I remembered this one from TV a hundred years ago. Paulette Goddard has the title role, and she is quite beautiful and completely convincing. Real-er than Eliza Doolittle, she slips in and out'a Houndsditch slang, but she is never comic or plays it broad. She is a lady long before she marries into royalty.

Her persistent love of Hugh (played at his caddish-sexy best by Ray Milland) is the engine that drives the story. Plenty of good supporting roles, including Sara Algood, Cecil Kallaway (playing Gainsborough),Eric Blore, and that divinely handsome eternal man-who-loses-the-girl, Patric Knowles.

I loved it - and though I am not a great Ray Milland fan, I find he can be very convincing as a lover. His only better example of it is "Golden Earrings" with Miss Marlene Dietrich. And as for Miss Goddard, we never saw enough of her to type-cast her - feisty, spirited, yes, but a little unexpected in the depth of her performance, and a very lovely lady to boot.

This is what movies used to be - good characters (somebody to root for), an intelligent story, and Glamour. I recommend this picture highly!

Amusing and witty story of a street girl (Paulette Goddard) in 18th century London, who rises to become a duchess.

Of particular note is Constance Collier, showing off a brilliant flare for comedy as Lady Susan Dowitt, an aging courtesan who instructs Goddard in matters of gentility. Constance had a long career on stage and screen going back to the silent era, and this film displays her talents as a fine comedienne.

If you have not seen this film, you are missing a great classic film. Director Mitchell Leisen's skill with art design, his precise handling of actors, and an attention to detail are quite obvious. What is also obvious is that the picture's sets and furniture have that grandiose William Hearst feel to it. Later, I was not surprised to find out that Leisen had indeed borrowed items from Hearst . Maybe the publishing magnate was hoping that Paramount's director would cast main squeeze Marion Davies in the title role. That obviously did not happen. But we do have Paulette Goddard, who despite the dazzling array of Hearst treasures, is perhaps the most ornate piece of set décor on screen.