Lady for a Day

1933
Approved
1h 36m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

4.8K

YOUR RATING

Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee, Barry Norton, Jean Parker, May Robson, and Warren William in Lady for a Day (1933)

A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.

Play trailer1:30

1 Video

22 Photos

Farce Comedy Drama

A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

4.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 4 nominations total

Trivia
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.

Goofs
While Dave the Dude's gang waits inside Missouri Martin's nightclub, Happy McGuire and Dave stand outside and are informed of the presence of the cops. Behind them on the left side of the double doors there is a "Closed" sign but the sign is gone when the interior shot has the two entering the club.

Quotes
Happy McGuire: That should be a cinch.
Butler: I beg your pardon, Sir.
Happy McGuire: I said that should be a leadpipe cinch!
Butler: If I had choice of weapons with you, Sir, I'd choose grammar!

Connections
Featured in Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)

Soundtracks
The Sidewalks of New York
(1894) (uncredited)
Music by Charles Lawlor and James W. Blake
Played during the openng credits

User reviews51

Review

Featured review

Depression-Era Fairy Tale

This movie must have played very well to depression-era audiences. The story of an apple seller who has been lying to her daughter who has done well for herself in Europe is sweet, heart touching and funny.

Great, quotable lines in the script, well written. The outdoors night photography is luminous, everything seems to glow, a scene in an outdoor garden with the daughter and her fiancee kissing behind a glass water fountain is beautiful to this day.

The ideas of friends and strangers coming to a needy person's aid prefigures such later Capra classics as "It's A Wonderful Life". In fact, they would make an excellent double feature together.

In our cynical times, movies like this can be seen as hokey, in fact the name Capra was frequently turned into Capra-corn, even in his day. But the fact that his movies are still treasured and enjoyed today shows that goodness is still an enduring quality and that being drawn to goodness and fairy tales like this gives us hope that those feelings are still in us.

Recommended highly.