The Lady Is Willing

The Lady Is Willing (DVD) (*)

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Language Selections:
English ( Mono )
Portuguese ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Mono )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
91 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1942 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Mitchell Leisen

Written By:
James Edward Grant

Actors:
Marlene Dietrich ..... Elizabeth Madden
Fred MacMurray ..... Dr. Corey McBain
Aline MacMahon ..... Buddy
Stanley Ridges ..... Kenneth Hanline
Arline Judge ..... Frances
Roger Clark ..... Victor
Marietta Canty ..... Mary Lou
David James ..... Baby Corey
Ruth Ford ..... Myrtle
Sterling Holloway ..... Arthur Miggle
Harvey Stephens ..... Dr. Golding
Harry Shannon ..... Detective Sergeant Barnes
Elisabeth Risdon ..... Mrs. Cummings
Charles Lane ..... K.K. Miller
Eddie Acuff ..... Murphy

Synopsis:

Bold, eccentric Broadway performer Lisa Madden befuddles her handlers by coming home with a baby she picked up on the street. She wants to keep the baby but has to find a husband to make adoption viable. Why not her new obstetrician Dr. McBain? She offers him help with his research on rabbits in exchange for marriage - and he accepts. The marriage of convenience turns into a marriage of real love. When Dr. McBain's ex-wife comes looking for money, Lisa suspects something and leaves New York. However, a serious illness with the baby brings them together again as McBain operates to try and save the baby's life.

Marlene Dietrich came to the attention of Hollywood with a bang when she starred in The Blue Angel (1930). For the next five years she was one of the top box-office attractions, but like most actors pigeon-holed into a role (in Dietrich's case, it was that of a femme fatale), she was unable to sustain her popularity as audience tastes changed. In 1939 she scored an unexpected hit playing the saloon-girl 'Frenchy' in the comedic western Destry Rides Again opposite James Stewart and she was a hot property once again. By 1941, her popularity had proved to be temporary and she was in need of another box office smash. Dietrich chose to make The Lady Is Willing (1942), a light comedy about a diva who suddenly decides to adopt a baby. Unfortunately, it did nothing to revive her popularity.

Production began on August 11th and two weeks later on August 25th, Dietrich suffered an injury on the set. Director Mitchell Leisen remembered later, 'We had only been shooting a few days when she hurt her foot. She was very late that morning because she said her astrologer, Carroll Righter, had predicted that she'd have an accident that day. She made her chauffeur drive very slowly to the studio just to be on the safe side. We started in, and she picked up one of the twins who were being used for the baby. I didn't see exactly what happened, but she was walking behind the couch and tripped on a little red wagon. As she fell, she turned herself over so she landed on her back with the baby on top of her, and in doing so, she cracked the little bone of her ankle. It must have been very painful for her, but there was never any question of recasting. She got some orthopedic shoes and we went right on. We had to trick it up a little so that the audience wouldn't see her limp. The set had a mirrored wall, so every time she had to cross the room, we'd start her out with one step on her good foot, then cut to a reaction shot of Fred [MacMurray, Dietrich's co-star] sitting on the couch with the reflection of her double in the mirror behind him crossing the room. Then we cut back to Marlene as she was arriving and she took one step into the scene with her good foot. We could always angle the camera so it wouldn't photograph itself in the mirror, but putting the lights where Marlene wanted them and not picking them up in the mirror was sometimes very hard.'

Dietrich ended up in a cast but it didn't stop her in her single-minded pursuit of the happily married and notoriously faithful MacMurray. For most of her career Dietrich had made it a habit to seduce her leading men and her track record was excellent, which is why she couldn't understand how MacMurray could be immune to her charms. When she complained to Leisen about it, he said, 'Listen, Marlene, Fred's so much in love with his wife Lilly, he couldn't care less about any other woman, so you lay off. Just make the picture.' MacMurray later said, 'I had never had anything like this happen on a picture before and it was very embarrassing.'

Mitchell Leisen directed this romantic comedy with melodramatic overtones, starring Marlene Dietrich in a sympathetic role as famed stage star Elizabeth Madden. Elizabeth longs for motherhood but has no husband. Her desire appears to be fulfilled when she finds an abandoned baby, but she doesn't have a clue on how to raise it. She finds divorced pediatrician, Dr. Corey McBain Fred MacMurray, to help her with the child. Elizabeth names the child after him and makes Corey an offer. Since she's single, she cannot adopt the child. But if Corey would marry her in name only, she could be the adopted mother and Corey could stay in a section of her apartment where she would support his research. Corey agrees to the deal, but it's not too long before Corey and Elizabeth fall in love.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 07 February, 2008.

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