Fairly early on in the history of this blog, I did a post on the 1993 movie Lady for a Day. It was directed by Frank Capra who, at the end of his career, remade it and slightly expanded the storyline under the title Pocketful of Miracles. The last time TCM showed Pocketful of Miracles, I recorded it, and finally got around to watching it so that I could do the review here.
It's the early 1930s, which means that there's already a Depression on, and it's still in the era of Prohibition. So there's a large financial gap between those out of jobs and those who have amassed fortunes in the illicit part of the economy. In the former is Annie, better known as Apple Annie (Bette Davis). She sells apples to make a meager living; one of her regular buyers is a guy called Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford). Dave is a superstitious dude, buying the apples from Annie because he thinks they bring him good luck. But instead of -- or maybe in addition to -- bringing him luck, he's also brought the presence of one Queenie Martin (Hope Lange).
This time around, Queenie is the daughter of a former acquaintance of Dave's. Her dad amassed gambling debts, and when he couldn't pay, he was killed. Queenie is hoping she can do something to show good faith. Dave, influenced by Annie's advice, gives Queenie a nightclub and makes her a star. Indeed, she's able to pay off the debts with the proceeds from her club, although she's eventually going to have to close once Franklin Roosevelt gets elected President and helps get Prohibition ended.
But that's a subplot, of course. The main story involves Annie. She's got a daughter Louise who somehow wound up being raised by nuns in Spain for reasons that I don't think are mentioned well enough in either version of the movie. Louise is all grown up, and has actually done well for herself, finding a boyfriend Carlos who is the son of a count, Count Romero (Arthur O'Connell). Louise (played by Ann-Margret at the beginning of her career) wants to bring her fiancé and her future father-in-law to meet Mom, which is where things hit a serious hitch.
Mom, of course, peddles apples to make a few bucks. But she's been lying for years to Louise. Instead, with the help of a hotel doorman, she's been getting hotel stationery and claiming to be living in one of those grand old apartment hotels. Annie just knows that when Louise finds out the truth, she'll be heartbroken. Worse, once the truth is revealed, Louise's fiancé will no longer want to marry her. Queenie and the others come up with the idea to put on a charade for just long enough to keep the Romeros in the dark until they head back to Spain that Annie really is a society lady with a judge for a husband and high-class friends. But will the charade work?
Well, if you've seen Lady for a Day, you'll know that the answer is yes, because a movie like this really wouldn't do with a downbeat ending. Having said that, I think Lady for a Day is a better movie for a host of reasons. One is that it was a contemporary film, having been released in 1933. Pocketful of Miracles is instead a period piece, so all of the backlot shooting really feels more out of place than a 1933-set movie actually filmed in 1933.
Pocketful of Miracles is also a good (or bad) 40 minutes longer, given in part to a new subplot about a Chicago gangster visiting New York as well as some nightclub numbers for Hope Lange. Lady for a Day is brisk; Pocketful of Miracles feels plodding. So of the two movies, I'd definitely recommend Lady for a Day well before I'd recommend Pocketful of Miracles.
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