Frank Capra’s final film, a remake of his 1933 success Lady for a Day, is a whimsical tale about Annie (Davis), a kind-hearted elderly woman who sells apples on the streets of New York City, who is helped by a gangster, Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford), and his colourful gang of hoodlums to pose as a high-society lady when she learns of the imminent return of her long-lost daughter Louise (Ann-Margaret), who has been raised in a Spanish convent and believes her mother to be wealthy. Complications arise when a rival gangster threatens to expose Annie’s true identity.

Screening as part of Fasten Your Seatbelts: The Films of Bette Davis.

Notes by David O’Mahony