Written by 1933 95 min TVG Comedy, Drama Feature Film SD. 96m/B VHS, DVD . Both editions include commentary by Frank Capra Jr., as well as his brief introduction to the 2001 restoration work. Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. Report This. Riskin's version deviated from the original Runyon story primarily in that it linked its central character and a number of plot developments to the millions of Americans who were suffering as a result of the Great Depression. A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day. Will Rogers presented the Academy Award for Best Director, and when he opened the envelope he simply announced, "Come up and get it, Frank!" Lady for a Day has a similar theme in some ways, as people from wildly different backgrounds are thrown together by circumstances and play out a complicated charade. May Robson was nominated Best Actress but lost to Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory, and Robert Riskin lost the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay to Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman for Little Women. Capra, certain he was the winner, ran to the podium to collect his Oscar, only to discover Rogers had meant Frank Lloyd, who won for Cavalcade, instead. A fairy tale to be sure, but one with a touch of reality. Lady for a Day is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family. The film is about a poor woman called "Apple Annie", who sent her daughter, Louise, abroad, and sends most of the money she makes (both by selling apples or hustling) to help her daughter grow up well off. [1], The "Apple Annie" story transformed into Capra's Lady For A Day (and Pocketful of Miracles) has long been considered a natural source for a stage musical and a number of prominent writers, including Jerry Herman, David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr; the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb have all worked on unfinished and unrealized adaptations. Lady for a Day They hit upon a plan to set her up as a lady with the Judge (Guy Kibbee) as her distinguished husband. Lady for a Day (1933) Trivia (20) Add new A number of beggars in downtown Los Angeles were cast in small roles, including the legless man, nicknamed William F. Sauls, whom Capra had remembered as selling pencils when the director was a paperboy. With Montgomery unavailable, Capra approached James Cagney and William Powell, but neither of their respective studios was willing to allow them to work on the project. With Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell. The director finally cast his film with an assortment of character actors under contract to Columbia. Add the first question. It's also notable that Annie admits she was never married. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning. A cute little pick me up for those suffering through the Depression, Lady for a Day is harmless Capra is not memorable Capra. Check out our gallery of the 2021 Oscar nominees in the leading and supporting acting categories, as the characters they so brilliantly played and in real life. — L. B. M. (@batiste_messier) May 6, 2021 Will Annie be exposed as a fraud?Robson and William are terrific. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets The film was also nominated for Best Actress (May Robson) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Riskin). Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Capra also directed its 1961 remake, Pocketful of Miracles. He reminded studio head Harry Cohn he was "spending three hundred thousand dollars on a picture in which the heroine is seventy years old," to which Cohn responded, "All I know is the thing's got a wallop. Shop Lady for a Day [DVD] [1933] at Best Buy. The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the short story "Madame La Gimp" by Damon Runyon. One of the street people says that she can remember when Annie “always looked like that.” (We never know the details of Annie’s history, but her upper-crust origins are clear.) Louise has been led to believe her mother is a society matron named Mrs. E. Worthington Manville who lives at the Hotel Marberry. Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. Director Frank Capra used several real-life panhandlers in the cast. But when the letter comes that the daughter is coming home with a husband to be (and his father, a Spanish count), Annie is in trouble.Dave the Dude (Warren William) a gambler, won't make a bet without getting an apple from Annie as a good luck token. Go ahead." Lady for a Day Synopsis: Apple Annie is an indigent woman who has always written to her daughter in Spain that she is a member of New York's high society. An aging New York City fruit seller named Apple Annie (May Robson) attempts to maintain an outrageous charade. Among Annie's patrons are Dave the Dude (Warren William), a gambling gangster who believes her apples bring him good luck, and his henchman Happy McGuire (Ned Sparks). Comedy, Certificate: Passed But fate – in the form of a sympathetic mayor and governor and their entourages – unexpectedly steps in and allows Annie to maintain her charade and keep Louise from learning the truth before she sails back to Spain with her husband-to-be. She gets unexpected help from Dave the Dude, a well-known figure in underground circles who considers Annie his good luck charm, and who obtains for her a luxury apartment to entertain the visitors - but this uncharacteristic act of kindness from a man with a disreputable reputation arouses suspicions, leading to complications which further cause things to not always go quite as planned. She had a long career as a stage actress and appeared in about a dozen silent films, including CHICAGO with Phyllis Haver, and RUBBER TIRES with Bessie Love. Lady for a Day ★★★½ 1933Delightful telling of the Damon Runyon story, “Madame La Gimp,” about an apple peddler (Robson) down on her luck, who is transformed into a lady by a criminal with a heart. Feel goodiness without too much depth. For a period of time the only existing copy was a 35mm print owned by Capra, until he made a duplicate negative from it and donated a newly minted print to the Library of Congress. He also went to the Downtown Los Angeles neighborhood where he had sold newspapers as a boy and hired some of the street people who congregated there as extras who would add color to the film. Never-wed, poor, rough around the edges Apple Annie has always written to her daughter, Louise, in Spain that she is married and a member of New York’s high society. Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused for robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair...all in the same day. View production, box office, & company info. Lady for a Day is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra. Synopsis Takes its place among the greatest pictures ever made! A simple small-town man inherits a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him. Based on a Damon Runyon short story, Lady for a Day tells the tale of Apple Annie, a cantankerous New York City fruit peddler who has been pretending to be a high-society matron in letters to her daughter. Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. An Iowa family finds adventure, love, and heartbreak, when they spend a week at the state fair. "[1], Riskin had written his screenplay specifically for Robert Montgomery, but MGM refused to loan him to Columbia. A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty. Lady by Choice - Wikipedia It was a remake of the 1933 movie Lady for a Day . May 16 is National Classic Movie Day and the Classic Comfort Movie Blogathon: perfect for that wonderful Capra classic Lady for a Day. She gets unexpected help from Dave the Dude, a well-known figure in underground circles who considers Annie his good luck charm, and who obtains for her a luxury apartment to entertain the visitors - but this uncharacteristic act of kindness from a man with a disreputable reputation arouses suspicions, leading to complications which further cause things to not always go quite as planned.