Kitty

Kitty is a young woman living on the street and picking pockets. Her life changes when the painter Thomas Gainsborough makes her portrait. The picture draws the attention of Sir Hugh Marcy. Marcy decides to use the girl for his own ends. He teaches her how to speak, dress and behave, meaning to place her in society. Kitty rises inside that arrangement, and she knows whose hand is behind the rise. The film builds eighteenth century England as a story about class. The hundred and three minutes are given to a single ascent. Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland take the leads, with Cecil Kellaway also in the cast. Mitchell Leisen’s American film was completed in 1945.