Lady with Red Hair (1940)

Director:

Curtis Bernhardt

Writers:

Mrs. Leslie Carter (memoirs)
Brewster Morse (story) ...

Release Date:

30 November 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

A messy divorce leaves Mrs. Leslie Carter shunned by Chicago society for being an adulteress and forbidden from having custody of her son...

Plot Keywords:

Ambition | Adulteress | Actress | Divorce | Show Business

Cast

Miriam Hopkins	...	Mrs. Leslie Carter
Claude Rains	...	David Belasco
Richard Ainley	...	Lou Payne
Laura Hope Crews	...	Mrs. Dudley
Helen Westley	...	Mrs. 'Ma' Frazier
John Litel	...	Charles Bryant
Mona Barrie	...	Mrs. Hilda Brooks
Victor Jory	...	Mr. Clifton
Cecil Kellaway	...	Mr. Chapman
Fritz Leiber	...	Mr. Foster
Johnny Russell	...	Dudley Carter (as Johnnie Russell)
Selmer Jackson	...	Henry DeMille

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #6636)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Louis Payne, the husband of Mrs. Leslie Carter in real life, coached Richard Ainley, who was playing him in the movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: None of the Broadway plays mentioned in the movie were performed by Mrs. Leslie Carter. Her Broadway debut was in a play called "The Ugly Duckling" in 1890, not "The Way of Beauty." Her second play was "Zaza," not "The Lady From France." It is not known why the names of her plays were changed.

Quotes:

Mrs. Leslie Carter: I'm going to be an actress.
Mrs. Dudley: Oh, now you start that again! You don't know what you're talking about. It takes years of training to become a successful actress.
Mrs. Leslie Carter: I can walk and talk and shout as well as any other!

Soundtrack:

London Bridge is Falling Down

SECOND use of "Oz" background music in another film

This film was released a year after "The Wizard of Oz," and I was surprised to hear some of that classic's music being utilized in a scene here. The music in question from "Oz" is played over the opening scenes of Dorothy and Toto (puzzlingly entitled "Trouble In School"), and several times throughout the film. In "Lady with Red Hair," the same music is heard in scenes involving the lead character's young child.

Interestingly, in 1951, the film "Too Young to Kiss" utilized the exact same music over the opening credits.

Being that 1939's "Oz" came first, I can only assume the later films "borrowed" composer Harold Arlen's score.

CORRECTION: I have been informed that the above-mentioned tune is actually not original to "Oz," but is a classically composed children's tune.