Lady for a Day
Directed by Frank Capra
Written by Robert Riskin from a story by Daymon Runyon
1933/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Judge Henry G. Blake: Never in all my questionable career have I gazed upon such divine loveliness.
Frank Capra’s build up to his Oscar for It Happened One Night (1934) is an excellent urban fairy tale.
Apple Annie (May Robson) lives a meager existence on the streets of New York City selling apples. Her best customer is Dave the Dude (Warren William), a gambler that believes her apples are lucky. Annie has a daughter she has not seen for years who was sent to Europe for school. Annie has maintained the persona of a wealthy woman by her access to the stationary of a luxury hotel and an accomplice who mails her letters. Then there are two pieces of bad news. One, her contact is fired. Two, her daughter Louise (Jean Parker) has fallen in love with the son of a Spanish count and announces she will arrive soon with her fiance and his father in tow so the families can meet. Annie slides into a deep funk and stops selling apples.
Dave’s response is to organize a team of his low life cronies and try to teach them high society manners. His girlfriend nightclub owner Missouri Martin (Glenda Farrell) cleans up Annie very nicely and helps with the crash course in decorum. A pool shark judge (Guy Kibee) with a glib tongue is enlisted to pose as Annie’s husband. There are many suspenseful moments leading up to a truly fairy tale ending.
Despite a little schmaltz, this is one of my favorite Capra movies. Robson is just wonderful. It was nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Writing, Adaptation. I had never heard Glenda Farrell sing before and she delivers a truly boffo rendition of “I Wanna Man”. For his last feature film, Capra would remake this story as A Pocketful of Miracles (1961), starring Bette Davis and Glenn Ford..
