Trottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was known as The Gay Lady in the US, and is a rare British Technicolour film of the period. According to the BFI Screenonline: "British 1940s Technicolor films offer an abundance of visual pleasures, especially when lovingly restored by the National Film Archive. Trottie True is not among the best known, but comes beautifully packaged, gift wrapped with all the trimmings."
Premise
Trottie True is a Gaiety Girl of the 1890s who, after a brief romance with a balloonist, marries Lord Digby Landon, becoming Duchess of Wellwater when he succeeds to the dukedom. Whilst her musical hall background delights the staff it does not delight her in-laws. However, Digby continues to go to the Gaiety Theatre and has an affair with one of the other girls - Ruby Rubato. This becomes common knowledge.
The film was based on a novel published in 1946. The New York Times called it "a typical Gay nineties success story... amuses but never convulses the reader." The exterior shots of the mansion are largely Blenheim Palace. Producer Hugh Stewart read the story when he was recovering from jaundice. He bought the film rights and tried to finance the film through MGM, with whom Stewart had a contract. MGM did not want to make the film but Stewart got it financed at Two Cities. MGM loaned Stewart to Two Cities to produce the film. Stewart says that a number of directors were considered, including Harold French, before going with Brian Desmond Hurst. Jean Kent called it her "favourite film. And Harry Waxman was a marvellous cameraman. They weren't good with the music, though. I had a battle about that." Kent went on to elaborate:
We were scheduled to start and I hadn't heard a word about the music, so I rang up whoever was the head of Two Cities... I finally managed to get half the music done and then I had another argument about the first number. It dissolves from the brown eyed young Trottie to the hazel eyed big Trotttie, which was hysterical. They wanted me to sing something in schottische... I said 'It's a very nice number but I come from the music halls and I tell you you cannot use a schottische at this point. So he changed it to 6/8 time.
Kent says she also had to prevent the filmmakers from cutting away from her singing "which they used to be very fond of, in British films. The whole point of somebody singing the song is for the audience in the cinema, not the people in the movie. So I had to devise ways to keep moving all the time so they couldn't get the scissors in, particularly during the Marie Lloyd number in the ballroom scene after I'd become the duchess." Production of the film was interrupted by a strike from crew members in protest over recent sackings of film workers. Three and a half days of filming were lost due to the strike. However it was completed on schedule.
Trade papers called the film a "notable box office attraction" in British cinemas in 1949.
Critical reception
The New York Times noted "the professional and romantic rise of Trottie True as depicted in "The Gay Lady", which arrived from England at the Sixtieth Street Trans-Lux on Saturday. But this Technicolored rags to riches ascent, which is interlarded with song and dance turns, is something less than original and rarely sprightly. Trottie True's tale is an old one and it hasn't worn well with the years."
Leonard Maltin rated the film two and a half out of four stars, and called it a "lightweight costume picture...most notable aspect of film is its stunning use of Technicolor. Look fast for Christopher Lee as a dapper stage-door Johnnie."
