Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's All Go To The Movies
She's A Lady!
Part XXX
Yes, sometimes? It takes a lady.
And sometimes, that lady is a true lady!
Or so these films would have us believe.
They promise lots of drama, the occasional comedy or musical, and a little bit of dirt!
Let's take a walk down Hollywood Blvd. and shine a light on these magnificent classic films.
This way, if you please. But remember...
Ladies first!
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Lady Audley's Secret
(1915)
When her husband George leaves suddenly for Australia to find work, Helen Talboys, unaware of his whereabouts, assumes that he has deserted her and marries an aristocrat to become Lady Audley. When her look-alike maid dies, Lady Audley conveniently passes off the corpse as Helen Talboys to avoid any possible bigamy charges. After having made his fortune in gold, George returns from Australia and accidentally meets up with his wife at her stepson's villa. Determined to reclaim her, he begins to struggle with her. In the ensuing tussle, Lady Audley throws George down a well and, believing that he is dead, flees. Fearful that her stepson will expose her, Lady Audley breaks into his apartment and steals some incriminating love letters that she had written to George. As her guilty conscience grows, her acts become more desperate until George, who was rescued from the well by the coachman, makes a timely appearance and causes her to fall dead from fright!
Adapted from the 1862 British novel of the same name by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, this American silent drama was directed by Marshall Farnum and stars Theda Bara, Riley Hatch and Clifford Bruce.
The film was less successful than Bara's other films of the period, because it did not feature her in the wildly popular vamp role she had established.
It is now considered a lost film.
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Lady Windermere's Fan
(1925)
Mrs. Erlynne, the mother of Lady Windermere (who doesn't know she is her mother) wants to be introduced in society so that she can marry Lord Augustus Lorton. Lord Windermere, who has helped her financially in the past, invites her to his wife's birthday party. But Lady Windermere thinks she has reason to be jealous, so she decides to leave her husband and go to Lord Darlington, who is pining for her. Mrs. Erlynne finds this out and tries to prevent her daughter from making such a mistake, but all is lost, for Lady Windermere leaves her fan at Lord Darlingtons residence! How does one explain such a thing?
The film has been preserved by several archives. It was transferred onto 16mm film by Associated Artists Productions in the 1950s and shown on television.
In 2002, Lady Windermere's Fan was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
According to Warner Bros. records the film earned $324,000 domestically and $74,000 foreign.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube!
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Lady Barbara
(1970)
This Italian musicarello film was directed by Mario Amendola and stars Renato (Brioschi) dei Profeti and Paola Tedesco.
The musicarello is a film subgenre which emerged in Italy and is characterized by the presence of young singers, already famous among their peers, and songs from their new record album The films almost always consist of tender, chaste love stories along with a desire to have fun and dance without care.
That same year, the song was adapted into English by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. A new cover version, produced by Mickie Most, was performed by Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits, reached #7 in New Zealand and #13 in the UK in 1970. It was the last single of the Herman's Hermits to feature Peter Noone.
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La Califfa
AKA: Lady Caliph
(1970)
As strikes rage on in Italy, an employee, the beautiful and fiery Irene (nicknamed Califfa), whose husband is killed during a demonstration, becomes a passionate militant on behalf of the strikers. She opposes the factory manager, Doberdò, who used to be himself a worker. Irene becomes Doberdò's lover and asks the workers to listen to the industrialist's proposals for a renewal of working terms along with worker participation in factory management. However, the industrialist's ideas are badly received by other industrialists. When he returns from yet another meeting with his lover, Doberdò is killed by assassins.
Adapted from his own novel of the same name, this Franco-Italian social drama was directed by Alberto Bevilacqua and stars Romy Schneider and Ugo Tognazzi.
This was originally announced as a starring vehicle for Anthony Quinn.
This film was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.
The film's music was composed by Ennio Morricone
This film was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.
The film's music was composed by Ennio Morricone
Ugo Tognazzi and Romy Schneider
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Lady Caroline Lamb
(1972)
In Regency England, Lord William Lamb and Lady Caroline Lamb have just gotten married despite the protestations of his mother, Lady Melbourne, in she believing Caroline and her mother being inappropriate, most notably acting wildly "common", not up to the standards that their wealth and titles dictate. While she is guilty of similar acts as Caroline's mother, Lady Bessborough, such as infidelity, Lady Melbourne counters the important difference between them is discretion versus indiscretion in carrying out those acts. What neither William or Lady Melbourne knows about is Caroline's nervous constitution for which she self-medicates. William and Caroline's differences become apparent in their marriage which begin to drive them apart. Caroline becomes mutually attracted to equally wild but poor Lord Byron, they only openly beginning an affair after he becomes famous and wealthy from his published poetry, he becoming the toast of the town and catching the eye of many a young, adoring female. Believing that she is in love with Byron, Caroline goes to extreme lengths to hold onto him while she and William become to need the other emotionally for their own sanity. The problem for William is his up and coming political career which is only hindered by the outrageous behavior of his wife.
This British-Italian epic romantic drama was based on the life of Lady Caroline Lamb, novelist, sometime lover of Lord Byron and wife of politician William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (later Prime Minister). Directed by Robert Bolt, it stars Sarah Miles, Jon Finch, Richard Chamberlain, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Margaret Leighton and Michael Wilding.
This movie shows Lady Caroline Lamb dying "of a broken heart" as a young woman soon after her separation from her husband. In reality, she lived on into middle age, many years after the end of her marriage, and died more prosaically of influenza. Also, Lady Caroline Lamb was addicted to laudanum, which is generally thought to be one of the contributing factors to her premature death. There is no reference to this specific addiction in the movie, although in the first scene Lady Bessborough offers Caroline a tincture of some sort for her nervousness, that tincture which most-likely is laudanum.
Timothy Dalton was contracted to play William Lamb in this adaptation, but was replaced at the last moment. Dalton sued the production company for breach of contract and won.
Two magnificent gala balls were staged for this movie, which featured a cast of around six hundred extras.
Miles and Bolt were not the only married pair involved with this film. In real life, Margaret Leighton and Michael Wilding were also a wedded couple.
This movie's critical and commercial failure dissuaded Robert Bolt from ever directing again and, some say, also led to the break-up of his marriage to Sarah Miles. Bolt and Miles remarried in 1988, the union lasting up until Bolt's death in 1995.
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And that's all for now, folks.
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel.
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Renato dei Profeti in...
Lady Barbara
(1970)
