Lady for a Day

Capra liked this and It's a Wonderful Life best among his own films. The source is Damon Runyon's short story Madame La Gimp, adapted by Robert Riskin. Apple Annie is an old, shabby woman selling apples on the street who has spent years writing to her daughter at a convent school in Spain, presenting herself as a wealthy society matron. When the daughter announces she is coming with her fiancé and his father, the lie has to become true for one day. A superstitious gambler who treats Annie's apples as a good-luck charm takes on the job, and the whole neighbourhood builds the set. It received four Oscar nominations: best picture, director, adapted screenplay and best actress for May Robson, who lost to Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory. Capra remade the same story in 1961 as Pocketful of Miracles. Who it is for: viewers who enjoy Depression-era Hollywood optimism and organised kindness among people with nothing. Who it is not for: anyone after realism. The premise runs on fairy-tale logic from beginning to end, and nobody is this good-natured.