La signora dai capelli rossi

The Lady With Red Hair is about the relationship of Broadway impresario David Belasco and his star creation Mrs. Leslie Carter.

Mrs. Carter was a society socialite whose rather messy divorce and custody battle made her want to seek employment in the theater when she couldn't get a job doing anything else. After a few tries she hook up with David Belasco who molds her into a glamorous stage star from the turn of the last century.

What I found amazing in this whole film was that we never do find out just what in this divorce made her such a notorious woman. The film opens as the divorce proceeding is about to conclude, we never see what it was all about.

We do find out that the terms of the divorce gave her limited visitation rights to her son. That's given as the real reason for her determination to succeed as opposed to possibly trading in on her notoriety. A reason today's audience would definitely understand. In fact why was she billed as "Mrs. Leslie Carter" if it wasn't for the notoriety.

Miriam Hopkins as Carter and Claude Rains as Belasco give a good account of themselves. So do those two old gals Laura Hope Crews as Hopkins's mother and Helen Westley as the owner of the theatrical boardinghouse where they reside. Those two date back to when Mrs. Leslie Carter was a big name on Broadway.

Richard Ainley of the Ainley British theatrical family gives a wooden performance in a part that's underwritten as Carter's second husband. Wasn't Errol Flynn available?

Back in the 1890s divorce in and of itself was scandal. So why weren't we given the salacious details?

I had seen Lady with Red Hair back when it appeared, and didn't remember it as something to cherish. The truth is that, notwithstanding its base in a true story, its screen play is silly and unbelievable. The real merit of the picture is the cast. A constellation of some of the best supporting players of the 30's and 40's make a background for the delicate, intelligent work of the always underrated Miriam Hopkins, and the wonderful, spectacular performance of Claude Rains, who, as usual, is the best thing in the picture. What an actor! He never won an Oscar, but he is in the good company of Chaplin, Garbo and Hitchcock. Perhaps Lady with Red Hair contains his best work in films. See it and enjoy him.

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.

The film charts the unlikely theatrical success of turn-of-the-century stage star Mrs. Leslie Carter (Miriam Hopkins). Already in her 30's when she endured a scandalous divorce in Chicago, she decides to become a theater actress, although having no experience. A rich family friend agrees to back her in a play on Broadway to be written by an incredulous and uncooperative David Belasco (Claude Rains), then one of the stage's leading producers. With Belasco's tutelage, Carter ends up becoming a much admired actress, but not without her ups and downs.

The real Mrs. Leslie Carter had one of her final roles before her death in 1935's Becky Sharp, which may have played a part in Hopkins wishing to do this biopic. From what I can gather, much of the material in the movie is fictitious, designed to make Carter look like more of victimized saint, when naturally the truth is much murkier. One wouldn't also gather why Carter was considered a sensation, as all of the play reenactments in the film are hammy and phony. Hopkins never manages to be likable, and I say this as someone who has liked Hopkins in a number of other things. Rains also gets shout, scowl, yell, thrash around, and then shout some more. Speaking of bad wigs from The Howards of Virginia, Claude sports one here. The most worthwhile scene in the whole movie was a catty dinner scene at a boarding house for theatrical people.

As everyone else has commented, THE LADY WITH RED HAIR is another of those Warner bios that takes liberty with the facts, but manages to be good entertainment.

However, as the very theatrical title lady, MIRIAM HOPKINS gives an over-the-top melodramatic touch to her entire role, making it seem implausible that theater patrons would give her "acting" such a standing ovation. Indeed, the worse part of the film is when it shows Hopkins practicing her art or giving a demonstration of her talent as a stage actress.

The other flamboyant performance is given by CLAUDE RAINS, but rightfully so, since he's playing David Belasco who apparently liked to "ham it up" at every opportune moment whether teaching others how to act or simply acting up a storm in his personal life.

Director Curtis Bernhardt has done nothing to keep Hopkins or Rains from all the theatrical excesses they bring to their characterizations, but we do get some good supporting work from HELEN WESTLEY as the boarding home owner, LAURA HOPE CREWS (as Miriam's mother), JOHN LITEL as a producer, and many other Warner contractees. But RICHARD AINLEY is colorless in the sort of part that could easily have gone to CORNEL WILDE, who instead has a bit part as a wannabe actor at the boarding house. Ainsley's performance is wooden indeed and pales opposite the strident and mannered acting of Hopkins.

Interesting but something about the screenplay suggests that much was altered and cut in producing this film based on Leslie Carter's memoirs. Little JOHNNY RUSSELL appears briefly in two scenes as Carter's son, the one she loses custody of in a court battle. (He played Shirley Temple's little brother in THE BLUE BIRD shortly before this film).