Kitty (1945 film)

Kitty is a 1945 film, a costume drama set in London during the 1780s, directed by Mitchell Leisen, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall published in 1943, with a screenplay by Karl Tunberg. It stars Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Constance Collier, Patric Knowles, Reginald Owen, and Cecil Kellaway as the English painter Thomas Gainsborough. In a broad interpretation of George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion story line, the film tells the ragstoriches story of a young guttersnipe, cockney girl.

Gainsboroughs portrait, The Anonymous Lady, creates a stir, as people try to guess who the subject is. The Duke of Malmunster buys both that painting and Gainsboroughs The Blue Boy. When the duke asks Gainsborough who the model is, Sir Hugh claims she is his aunts ward. The duke admits he may have been mistaken in having Sir Hugh dismissed from his position in favor of the dukes nephew, and in exchange for an introduction to Kitty Gordon, offers to reinstate him. Sir Hugh, who had planned to avenge his dismissal, changes his mind in favor of monetary gain.He and his aunt, Lady Susan Dowitt, teach Kitty how to pose as a lady of fashion. What Sir Hugh does not count on is the attraction Kitty develops for him. When Hugh is sent to debtors prison, Kitty charms the wealthy ironmonger Jonathan Selby into marrying her, using part of her dowry to free Hugh. Hugh is furious, but has to accept the situation. ........

Source: Wikipedia