Kitty Foyle (1940)
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Kitty Foyle Movie Review
Kitty Foyle is a 1940 drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Ginger Rogers. It’s a standard storyline, but it was elevated by some great touches here and there.
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“Oh, you may have shut the door on brother Wyn,
but, honey, you certainly had no intention of locking it“
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A hard-working, white-collar girl from a middle-class family meets and falls in love with a young socialite, but she soon clashes with his family. A predictable Cinderella-type story, this was obviously a very feminist movie for its time, but nowadays its impact is somewhat blunted. The plot is so clichéd that most of the plot points felt obvious.
The only difference is that great structure of the 40s movies with the flashbacks and the beginning being the same as the ending. This time around, once we reach the end, the beginning changes, and that was very cool. This is by far the only interesting and memorable point in an otherwise very predictable flick.
Ginger Rogers won an Oscar for this role over the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Joan Fontaine. It remains a contested win, but in my opinion she was worthy of the award as she was so terrific that she elevated the material at hand. Having previously starred in countless fluffy musicals, they were obviously surprised that she could carry a dramatic movie, which she did and then some. She is very charming and likable throughout the film’s run.
Her fashion here is also memorable and it proved influential back in the day. I wish that the male characters were as memorable, but unfortunately neither Dennis Morgan nor James Craig did anything for me. They were both forgettable. I do wonder whether bigger names would have changed anything or the characters were just typical stereotypes to begin with.
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Kitty Foyle was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, both undeserved. Sam Wood’s direction is solid, but not that remarkable. The editing is the strongest suit of the movie and the cinematography and score are solid, but the script was just not particularly inspired. I did see the appeal that drove many people back then to it, but there are much better dramas from this period in particular.
