an Oscar-nominated staircase
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:37 pm
Feb. 4th, TCM is showing Kitty'46 Para. (d. M. Liesen) w. Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland. It was Oscar-nominated for B &W art direction and was an adaptation of a best seller by Rosamond Marshall. Recently watching The Divine Lady '29 1stN (d. F. Lloyd) w. Corrine Griffith (also an adaptation of a novel about Lady Hamilton), I noticed a similarity beyond the borrowing from Pygmalion by both. Each feature a hedonistic but poor nobleman (Milland and Ian Kieth in Divine). When we first meet them they are hanging out with a portrait painter whose enthusiasm for the diamond-in-the-rough title character inspires them to plot the same scheme to get back into the good graces of high society. The two cold cads are so identical, I suspect author Marshall borrowed not just from Pygmalion, but The Divine Lady (book or movie), as well.
There is one definite connection: set decorator on both was Ray Moyer. How much input did he have on the ultra-grand stairway in Kitty? There is a similar one, on a much smaller scale, in The Divine Lady. In the climax, Corrine G. descends it to get the bad news about Nelson. His IMBD bio says Moyer's show biz memoirs reside at the Acadamy's Marg. Herrick Library.
There is one definite connection: set decorator on both was Ray Moyer. How much input did he have on the ultra-grand stairway in Kitty? There is a similar one, on a much smaller scale, in The Divine Lady. In the climax, Corrine G. descends it to get the bad news about Nelson. His IMBD bio says Moyer's show biz memoirs reside at the Acadamy's Marg. Herrick Library.