{"id":45388,"date":"2019-10-22T23:25:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T06:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=45388"},"modified":"2021-01-23T23:33:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T06:33:34","slug":"kitty-foyle-1940","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=45388","title":{"rendered":"Kitty Foyle (1940)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;A woman can always tell when a man is going to propose.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Poster-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-45392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Poster-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Poster.jpg 666w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the daughter (Ginger Rogers) of a working-class Irish-American (Ernest Cossart) is proposed to by a kind doctor (James Craig), she reflects upon her long-held feelings for an upper-crust publisher (Dennis Morgan) who has suddenly re-entered her life.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cross-Class Romance<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>Ginger Rogers Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Sam Wood Films<\/li>\n<li>Strong Females<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nSam Wood&#8217;s adaptation of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kitty_Foyle_(novel)\">Christopher Morley&#8217;s novel<\/a> is notable as the film that brought Ginger Rogers both her first serious leading role, and an Academy Award. Peary doesn&#8217;t review <em>Kitty Foyle<\/em> in <em>GFTFF<\/em>, but in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> &#8212; where he names Rosalind Russell in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11297\"><em>His Girl Friday<\/em><\/a> as Best Actress of the Year instead &#8212; he notes that &#8220;Rogers&#8217; victory is somewhat tainted&#8221; (given Katherine Hepburn&#8217;s New York Film Critics award-winning performance in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29064\"><em>The Philadelphia Story<\/em><\/a>) &#8220;though it&#8217;s good that she got an Oscar sometime during her career.&#8221; But he adds that &#8220;Kitty Foyle and her performance (and her hairstyles) don&#8217;t really hold up, especially when compared to her best work with Fred Astaire, or with <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26106\"><em>Gold Diggers of 1933<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3968\"><em>Stage Door<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7158\"><em>Vivacious Lady<\/em><\/a>, <em>Bachelor Mother<\/em>, <em>Lucky Partners<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=46289\"><em>Roxie Hart<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=20410\"><em>The Major and the Minor<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28894\"><em>Monkey Business<\/em><\/a>, and others.&#8221; I&#8217;m in agreement with Peary&#8217;s assessment &#8212; though I would also add that the narrative itself leaves much to be desired. While Rogers&#8217; character is admirably independent, it&#8217;s hard to root for either of the men she&#8217;s choosing to be with (for different reasons) &#8212; and since the entire movie is premised on her deliberation between them, we&#8217;re not allowed to focus on, say, her career ambitions. This film is all about the men in Kitty&#8217;s life &#8212; and that&#8217;s not really such a feminist tale after all. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> It was interesting to learn, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0604605\/bio?ref_=nm_ql_dyk_2#trivia\">Dennis Morgan&#8217;s Trivia page on IMDb<\/a>, that &#8220;During the 1940&#8217;s, for six consecutive years, Mr. Morgan received more fan mail than any other star (male or female) at Warner Brothers&#8221;; he was in plenty of titles, but few were apparently all that memorable.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan-1024x755.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-65495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan-1024x755.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan-300x221.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan-768x566.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan-366x270.png 366w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Morgan.png 1387w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ginger Rogers as Kitty Foyle<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers-1024x745.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"466\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-65498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers-1024x745.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers-768x559.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers-371x270.png 371w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Rogers.png 1301w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Creative cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography-1024x764.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"478\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-65499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography-1024x764.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography-300x224.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography-128x95.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography-768x573.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography-362x270.png 362w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Kitty-Foyle-Cinematography.png 1321w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though certainly Oscar completists and Rogers fans will want to check it out once. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0032671\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1888kitt.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/1795\/kitty-foyle#articles-reviews?articleId=79803\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1941\/01\/09\/archives\/kitty-foyle-in-the-cinematic-flesh-at-the-rivoli-invisible-woman-at.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eyeforfilm.co.uk\/review\/kitty-foyle-film-review-by-chris\">Eye For Film Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;A woman can always tell when a man is going to propose.&#8221; Synopsis: When the daughter (Ginger Rogers) of a working-class Irish-American (Ernest Cossart) is proposed to by a kind doctor (James Craig), she reflects upon her long-held feelings for an upper-crust publisher (Dennis Morgan) who has suddenly re-entered her life. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cross-Class Romance Flashback Films Ginger Rogers Films Historical Drama Love Triangle Sam Wood Films Strong Females Review: Sam Wood&#8217;s adaptation of Christopher Morley&#8217;s novel&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=45388\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45388"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65500,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45388\/revisions\/65500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}