Kitty Foyle

The movie opens with a young woman, Kitty Foyle, assisting her doctor-sweetheart in delivering a child in a ramshackle tenement. They are a very compassionate pair. Afterwards he proposes marriage, she accepts and agrees meet him at midnight to be immediately married by an all-night Justice of the Peace. But while packing back at her hotel room, in pops an old flame, a wealthy married man who Kitty still desperately loves. He announces he has left his family and is leaving that night at midnight for South America. He still loves her, and wants her to join him. Oh, Kitty, what to do?

The remainder of the film is a series of flashbacks prompted by Kitty's image of herself in the mirror (i.e., her conscience) as it attempts to direct Kitty to the proper decision. Starting with her teenage years growing up working-class Irish in 1920s Philadelphia we learn how poor Kitty met and fell in love with a rich Mainline aristocat, and got herself in such a predicament.

Ms. Rogers won best actress for her role as Kitty, but the rest of the cast is no less deserving. A real movie treat.

A vastly underrated actress outside the realm of song & dance, Ginger Rogers finally scored w/a best actress Oscar for her performance here. Rogers plays a working class perfume hawker torn between the blue blooded beau from back home in Philly & a struggling doctor she meets in New York. A good role in a flawed film, I chuck this one to the director since the script is on point from Dalton Trumbo (Spartacus/The Brave One) but the strength of Rogers turn is let down on an over reliance on flashbacks.

While I am quite fond of Ginger Rogers - both her performances and her personality - "Kitty Foyle" is not an Oscar-worthy film. Yes, she does a great job, but not superior to Hepburn ("The Philadelphia Story"), Davis ("The Letter"), Fontaine ("Rebecca") or Scott ("Our Town") - all nominated actresses in the same category.

The book upon which this film is based was somewhat controversial at the time - abortion, extramarital affairs, etc. - all verboten by the Production Code of the 40s/50s. Yes, they "cleaned up" the story for the screenplay, but it is still somewhat risque for 1940. Most likely, the subject matter contributed to Rogers winning the Oscar. (Of course, "The Philadelphia Story" is a bit suggestive as well - and certainly more sophisticated.)

Distracting to me are the unnecessary "prologue," and Rogers portraying (briefly) a twelve year-old! The scenes with her two female roommates are a welcome comedic interlude. Unlikely is the prospect of Foyle secretly giving her ex-boyfriend's engagement ring to his young son, and expecting the child's mother to never see it.

This is worth viewing, of course, but the Oscar went to the wrong person.

Enjoyed this film starring Ginger Rogers, (Katherine "Kitty" Foyle) playing the role of a young girl who works for a magazine in Philadelphia and was hired by a man during the great depression. This man was Wyn Strafford, (Dennis Morgan) who is very good looking and started to fall in love with her. Kitty loses her job and finds other work selling cosmetics and perfumes and this couple do not see each other for over a year until Kitty meets up with Wyn Strafford who comes from a very wealthy family and they get married. Things quickly change in their lives and because Kitty was a girl who came from a rather poor Irish family this created a problem for the stiff shirts of Philadelphia. There are many flashbacks in this story and there is a great deal to this film which will hold your interest right to the very end. Excellent film and a wonderful old film to enjoy with old songs from the past.

Ginger Rogers gives a good performance as "Kitty Foyle", making it worth seeing even though the film is otherwise a mostly average production. The story is worthwhile, but much of it is rather ordinary material, and it is somewhat slow. The rest of the cast is good enough, but most of the time does not come close to Rogers's level. There is nothing wrong with any of it, but not much of it really stands out.

Kitty, the main character, must make a number of choices during the course of the story, and is forced to weigh her options and her priorities. Rogers is believable and generally effective in portraying Kitty's thoughts and personality. The others in her life are mostly likable, yet most of the time they do not come to life in the way that Kitty does. Fortunately, Ginger is able to carry the load.

Many of us would have loved to see more Astaire-Rogers musicals, but you can see why Ginger wanted a chance to perform more dramatic roles, to show what she could do. This movie as a whole is generally pleasant and always watchable, but nothing special, and a number of her musicals were certainly better films. Nevertheless, it did give her a chance to do something different, and she did it well.