La signora dai capelli rossi

Like almost all bio-pics from this era, "The Lady With Red Hair" plays fast and loose with the facts. While the general facts are true, the life of an early stage and screen star, Mrs. Leslie Carter, have been changed liberally to make for a more interesting tale. A few of the changes include her flop in her first performance (it was actually a hit) and her son becoming estranged from her (in fact, the child sided with her against his father--and was disowned as a result).

The film begins with the divorce trial of Mr. and Mrs. Carter. All the reasons for this and what led to this isn't mentioned--other than the fact that she (Miriam Hopkins) was seen as an adulteress. In the end, she loses the case and her millionaire ex-husband is given custody of their young son. In a desperate attempt to earn money, she heads to New York and has some very naive expectations about becoming a star. However, surprisingly, she meets the great Belasco (Claude Rains) and he molds her into a star.

After years of being a star, Mrs. Carter has the nerve to have a personal life. When she marries another actor, Belasco writes her off--vowing never to speak to her again--and vice-versa. What follows is a lean period--when jobs are scarce and she is at her lowest. But, being a trooper down deep, she manages to pull it together and make a career for herself on her own. Oddly, however, this feud and her subsequent success was handled way too fast--creating little tension and ending very abruptly--a major handicap for the film. However, it's still worth watching--as Hopkins is at her best.

I had seen Lady with Red Hair back when it appeared, and didn't remember it as something to cherish. The truth is that, notwithstanding its base in a true story, its screen play is silly and unbelievable. The real merit of the picture is the cast. A constellation of some of the best supporting players of the 30's and 40's make a background for the delicate, intelligent work of the always underrated Miriam Hopkins, and the wonderful, spectacular performance of Claude Rains, who, as usual, is the best thing in the picture. What an actor! He never won an Oscar, but he is in the good company of Chaplin, Garbo and Hitchcock. Perhaps Lady with Red Hair contains his best work in films. See it and enjoy him.

David Belasco is not a forgotten name - he played too important a role in Broadway from 1880 - 1931 (when he died). He was a prolific playwright, and two of his works still retain the stage - although as operas (MADAME BUTTERFLY and THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST, both composed by Puccini). But his real forte was directing and producing, for he got the most out of his stars. As Claude Rains says in this film, when asked if he could save Mrs. Leslie Carter's acting ability, "I'm David Belasco! I can make a telegraph pole look good!"

Belasco was not flawless. He was an egomaniac, who insisted on total obedience to his direction if anyone sought him as an acting mentor (as Mrs. Carter did). He was also determined to be memorable as a personality, going about in a suit reminiscent of the Roman Catholic Church (he basically dressed like a priest). While he did improve the acting of his period, his taste in drama tended to be of the melodramas and sentimental play variety. Brooks Atkinson (in his book, Broadway) dismissed him as a ham and poseur, but he was better in bringing a professional structure to acting. Too frequently in that period actors were not as prepared or controlled to give their audiences their money's worth of good acting.

Mrs. Leslie Carter was a minor socialite from the midwest who wanted to go on stage. In the movie she is played (rather well) by Miriam Hopkins. Mrs. Carter got involved in a messy divorce from her husband, in which she lost custody of her only son. Under Belasco's tutalage she became one of the leading female stars of her age. She did try to resume her relationship with the son, but she was so involved in building her art and stage reputation her son was nearly ten when she saw him again. The relationship was never resumed. As for her career it blossomed, but she decided to remarry. Belasco expected to be consulted and wasn't, so he broke with her.

After a decade of floundering, a rapproachment with Belasco was arranged, and her career resumed it's previous success.

As an interesting slice of theatrical history THE LADY WITH RED HAIR (which, ironically, is a black and white film) is worth watching. Rains and Hopkins give their typically best work in their lead roles. I would definitely recommend the film.

The Lady With Red Hair is about the relationship of Broadway impresario David Belasco and his star creation Mrs. Leslie Carter.

Mrs. Carter was a society socialite whose rather messy divorce and custody battle made her want to seek employment in the theater when she couldn't get a job doing anything else. After a few tries she hook up with David Belasco who molds her into a glamorous stage star from the turn of the last century.

What I found amazing in this whole film was that we never do find out just what in this divorce made her such a notorious woman. The film opens as the divorce proceeding is about to conclude, we never see what it was all about.

We do find out that the terms of the divorce gave her limited visitation rights to her son. That's given as the real reason for her determination to succeed as opposed to possibly trading in on her notoriety. A reason today's audience would definitely understand. In fact why was she billed as "Mrs. Leslie Carter" if it wasn't for the notoriety.

Miriam Hopkins as Carter and Claude Rains as Belasco give a good account of themselves. So do those two old gals Laura Hope Crews as Hopkins's mother and Helen Westley as the owner of the theatrical boardinghouse where they reside. Those two date back to when Mrs. Leslie Carter was a big name on Broadway.

Richard Ainley of the Ainley British theatrical family gives a wooden performance in a part that's underwritten as Carter's second husband. Wasn't Errol Flynn available?

Back in the 1890s divorce in and of itself was scandal. So why weren't we given the salacious details?

As a biographical film, "The Lady With Red Hair" (the story of how director /producer/playwright David Belasco transformed notorious society divorcee Mrs. Leslie Carter into an international stage star) is certainly not in a league with that other Warner's biopic of similar vintage, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (what is?), but "Lady" is an enjoyable film in its own right--AND shares quite a few traits in common with the Cagney classic.

Like "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "The Lady With Red Hair" brims over with old -time show-business flavor. (Among other things, both films feature delicious theatrical boarding-house sequences as well as the inevitable scenes set backstage and in theatrical managers' offices.) Also, in "Lady" as in the Cohan biopic, the supporting cast is made up of familiar and beloved character actors of the period, all doing the sort of top-notch work we remember them for.

Need I add that, again like "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "The Lady With Red Hair" doesn't let the truth get in the way of telling a good story? But, also like "Dandy," "Lady" does manage--gloriously!--to convey the esssence of its show-business-giant hero's larger-than-life personality. Everyone knows that Cagney limned Cohan for all time in his brilliant and affectionate portrayal in "Yankee Doodle Dandy"--but few moviegoers realize that Claude Rains did a similar service for David Belasco in "The Lady With Red Hair"- -and did it with a panache that almost equals Cagney's.

Rains-as-Belasco perfectly captures that legendary showman's galvanic personality in all its outsized glory. Rains gives a tremendously enjoyable , superbly observed, and remarkably true-to-life performance as the man all Broadway once called "The Wizard." To watch Claude Rains in action (looking in every shot as if he's having a helluva good time!) in "The Lady With Red Hair" is to see David Belasco leap to life on film as if he can't wait to shake things up on the Main Stem once again.