Kitty Foyle (1940)

Set in Philadelphia, a young working class girl (Ginger Rogers) falls in love with the wealthy son (Dennis Morgan) from a socially prominent Main Line family. Their class differences place an impediment in their relationship. Based on the best selling novel by Christopher Morley and directed by Sam Wood (GOODBYE MR. CHIPS). This romantic soap opera is an okay entertainment but hardly memorable although it was a big hit in its day and earned Rogers an Oscar for best actress. Rogers is fine but her winning over three superb near iconic performances from Bette Davis (THE LETTER), Katharine Hepburn (THE PHILADELPHIA STORY) and Joan Fontaine (REBECCA) is well ... mind boggling! The movie has been cleaned up considerably from the novel. In the book, Rogers' Kitty has an affair with Morgan's character and gets pregnant and an abortion. In the movie, she marries him and loses the baby after they divorce. Wood's film isn't all that different from countless other movies about poor shop girls or secretaries falling in love with rich men, some with happy endings, others not but all pretty predictable. With James Craig, Gladys Cooper, Florence Bates, Eduardo Ciannelli, Cecil Cunnigham and Kay Linaker.