LADY IN THE DARK (1944)

[drednm]

What a dismal disappointment. Based on a smash hit Broadway show starring Gertrude Lawrence, this stinker traps Ginger Rogers in a lifeless story that drones on for 100 minutes minus almost all the musical numbers from the stage original and thereby losing any meaning.

In the stage show, the three musical numbers showcased Liza's dreams and unhappiness, explaining the problems of the character. Here, two numbers are sort of referred to but never shown. The "Jenny" number is the only breath of life in this cadaver of a film.

Stories abound about producer Buddy DeSylva's hatred for Kurt Weill's music and Mitch Leisen's dislike of Rogers. Great corporate decision to bring these two to the party. Rogers signed a contract with Paramount specifically to get this project and it sure backfired on her.

Despite a good cast, this is a total mess. What should have been a major landmark for Rogers turns into a senseless and distasteful film that seems to have no point other than to show some rotten costumes and hideous hair dos.

Trapped along with Rogers are Ray Milland, Warner Baxter (way too old), Mischa Auer, Jon Hall, and Mary Philips. The film earned 3 Oscar nominations, none of which seem justified. Lawrence's triumph is turned into Rogers' worst film.

The original stage production featured a book my Moss Hart, music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Lawrence's costars were Macdonald Carey, Victor Mature, and Danny Kaye. The original 13 songs were reduced to one number (Jenny) and one background motif (My Ship). Both of these numbers are produced to great effect in Star! starring Julie Andrews.

[Harlowgold]

Her worst film? So you've not seen THE GROOM WORE SPURS? MAGNIFICENT DOLL? (Some would add BLACK WIDOW and TWIST OF FATE).

I don't know who was at fault on LADY IN THE DARK, Leisen or Rogers, but I suspect both were fairly equally guilty. Ginger was in her "great ladies" era and apparently fought Leisen over some of the bawdier bits, a story that seems fairly credible given her famous refusal of BALL OF FIRE and that almost 30 years later she refused to say the line "shit" when touring in COCO. I think Leisen's "dislike" for Ginger started during the production, not existing prior or else either she or he would not have been involved in the production. Ginger always dismissed the film (and vaguely, Leisen) although oddly enough she owned a print of it and loved the costumes that you rightfully pan.

I'm not so sure the stage LADY IN THE DARK was that great anyway, just provocative for it's day. The movie like the Broadway musical was a hit although unlike it, the movie was widely panned. The musical has never had a major revival and a late 1940's radio adaptation with Gertrude Lawrence recreating her stage role wasn't any better than the movie though of course it too had to be sanitized.

(I do love Julie Andrews' "Jenny" in STAR!, one of her very best screen moments).

[drednm]

Yes I've seen all those Rogers films and I'd still list Lady in the Dark as her worst, It's not just a bad film, it fails on almost all levels and has no likable characters at all. Ray Milland is snarky, Jon Hall seems totally inept, and let's not forget Barry Sullivan as the insensitive and brutish psychoanalyst. And those lacquered upswept hair dos are so exaggerated they make Rogers and the other women look like the front ends of DeSotos.

I thought Katharine Hepburn starred in the only national touring company after the Broadway run of Coco. She didn't say "shit" either (at least on the cast album); she said "merde." Rogers starred in the musical at Cohasset, MA in 1971 from August to October.

[entredeuxguerres]

And those lacquered upswept hair dos are so exaggerated they make Rogers and the other women look like the front ends of DeSotos.

Hard to decide which was uglier--the coifs of the '40s, or the cars; by a small margin, I'd say, the coifs. Had lacquer come into use on hair by the '40s?; if so, not in aerosol cans, which had yet to be invented.

Don't think I'll go out looking for this one.

[Mike Gebert]

There's a TV version with Ann Sothern and Carleton Carpenter that seems well spoken of; has anyone seen that?

[entredeuxguerres]

There's a TV version with Ann Sothern and Carleton Carpenter that seems well spoken of; has anyone seen that?

No...but Ann Sothern always deserves a good report.

[drednm]

No idea about aerosol cans but the hair dos are among the most severe and unflattering I've seen in a film. In part it was to make Rogers look unpretty because she was an executive. But all the women have the same DeSoto dos, with Mary Philips especially hideous in a white job.

[Lamar]

The hair had that hard look due to the setting lotion used to hold everything in place. Lucille Ball said she had to use the handle of a hairbrush to crack it so she could wash it out at the end of the day. She had little hair left when she was older.
Rogers does sing "My Ship" on the Lux Radio Theater version. Leisen owned a men's clothing store and that's where Ginger's mannish suits were done. Leisen & the cast weren't amused when Ginger took off on a honeymoon in the middle of filming. My favorite anecdote is Leisen complaining about some sort of spray fog/smoke that hung in the air and didn't move but to be discontinued when the dancers in the dream sequences started developing breathing difficulties. What babies!
Have to agree that the movie is pretty awful but I'd still love to see a print without faded color.

[drednm]

They would have been better off wearing lacquered wigs....

Leisen also supposedly designed Rogers' fur skirt for the "Jenny" number, which caused her all sorts of problems during the dance sequences because of its weight.

Sounds like a mighty unhappy production all round....

[Harlett O'Dowd]

There's a TV version with Ann Sothern and Carleton Carpenter that seems well spoken of; has anyone seen that?

Yes.

It's OK, not the revelation as, say, the TV version of KISS ME, KATE with Drake & Morrison, but it's a decent production.

The Rodgers film isn't *quite* as bad as others have made it out to be. The problem is that the musical sequences were cut to the bone and what remains, apart from "Jenny," is dull. But the book scenes are quite well done and Ginger is fine in the role. Considering the film was made at the height of Breen's power, it's about as well an adaptation of Hart's stage script as could have been hoped for.

And Weill was no worse trashed here than he was with KNICKERBOCKER HOLIDAY and ONE TOUCH OF VENUS. But at least here, the material *around* where the songs are - or should have been - is more than adequately done.

[daveboz]

Regarding Katharine Hepburn and COCO: when she played this in Toronto in 1971, she most definitely used the "shit" line. it was the biggest laugh of the evening.

[Hal Erickson]

There's a TV version with Ann Sothern and Carleton Carpenter that seems well spoken of; has anyone seen that?

Yes. A muddy kinescope but a good production, with elaborately staged musical numbers and good acting and staging in the dramatic sections. Sothern is excellent, and Carpenter is allowed to restore the "nance" elements of his character that had been introduced by Danny Kaye on Broadway but expunged from Mischa Auer's stock performance. Carpenter also does a nice rendition of "Tschiakovsky".