Dishonored Lady (1947)

Dishonored Lady is a 1947 American crime drama film directed by Robert Stevenson (director) and starring Hedy Lamarr, Dennis O'Keefe, and John Loder (actor). It is based on the 1930 play Dishonored Lady by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes.
It is the story of a beautiful editor at a high-profile Manhattan fashion magazine who becomes a lively party girl at night. With the pressures of her work and her disappointing love life driving her to a breakdown, she seeks out the help of a psychiatrist, who recommends that she leave her job and her lifestyle behind and move into a smaller apartment under another name. Following his advice, she takes an interest in painting and meets a handsome neighbor.

Dishonored Lady was released by United Artists in the United States on May 16, 1947.

Plot

Madeleine Damien is the fashion editor of a slick Manhattan magazine by day and a lively party girl by night. Unfortunately, the pressures of her job, including kowtowing to a hefty advertiser, and her bad luck with men are driving her to a breakdown. She seeks the help of a psychiatrist, and under his orders, quits her job and moves into a smaller flat under a new identity. She becomes interested in painting and a handsome neighbor. He soon finds out about her past when an ex-suitor implicates her in a murder.

Cast

Hedy Lamarr as Madeleine Damien

Dennis O'Keefe as Dr. David Cousins

John Loder (actor) as Felix Courtland

William Lundigan as Jack Garet

Morris Carnovsky as Dr. Richard Caleb

Natalie Schafer as Ethel Royce

Paul Cavanagh as Victor Kranish

Douglas Dumbrille as District Attorney

Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Geiger, landlady

Nicholas Joy as Defense Attorney

Production notes

Production Dates: early May-late Jul 1946 at California Studios

The film is also known as Sins of Madeleine.

In 1936, a US Federal Court said that the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Letty Lynton (1932), based on a novel by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, also plagiarized the Sheldon-Barnes play Dishonored Lady. This has resulted in Letty Lynton being out of distribution since 1936.

Production of the film was supposed to begin no later than January 1945, however problems with the Hays Office delayed production until May 1946. The Hays Office insisted that two affairs-one in Mexico and one in New York-might be "overloading" the picture, and also objected to the "night of sordid passion."

A memo dated April 25, 1946 stated that, despite revisions, the script was unacceptable because of its gratuitous sex and its erences to Madeleine's unsavory family secrets. In the released version of the story, erences to Madeleine's parents were omitted completely. The character of Moreno and the affair in Mexico City were completely excised, and the "night of sordid passion" was not shown. All suggestions that Madeleine was a murderer, or had even contemplated murder, were also removed from the film. In a final studio synopsis in the Code file, Madeleine goes away on a trip hoping the time will come when David and she can be together; the reunion at the film's closing was added later.

Category:1947 films
Category:American crime drama films
Category:Films based on plays
Category:Films directed by Robert Stevenson
Category:United Artists films

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